The Edmonton Oilers have called a 4:00 pm EDT (2:00 pm local) press conference where Ryan Smyth will announce his retirement from the NHL. For Smyth, it brings his 19-year NHL career to a close in the city where he started it all.
The 38-year-old Smyth has scored 10 goals and added 13 assists in 70 games with the Oilers this season. He has 386 goals and 456 assists for 842 points in 1,268 career NHL games with the Oilers, New York Islanders, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings.
Smyth did not talk to the media after last night’s game. Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins said, “I think Ryan Smyth, with his stature and where he’s at in his career, has earned the right to let us know whether he’s going to play next year or not on his terms. It is not for me to let you guys know what I know. I have way too much respect for that young man to do that.”
Smyth was drafted 6th overall by the Oilers in the first round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. He played in Edmonton until a tearful trade deadline trade to the New York Islanders in 2007. In 2011 he was traded back to the Oilers, and has played his last three seasons in Edmonton.
In 2006 he helped lead the Oilers to within one-game of the Stanley Cup, in a cinderella run that ended in a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
The left-wing who was nicknamed “Captain Canada” for his record of always answering the bell for his country. He was a captain of Team Canada at the World Championships six times. He was a member of the 2002 Gold Medal winning Canadian team at the Salt Lake City Olympics. He also has a World Cup, two World Championship gold medals, a World Championship silver medal, a World Junior gold medal, and a Spengler Cup.
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