He hasn’t played a competitive hockey game in more than two years, but Slovak goaltender Jaroslav Halák never officially ended his career … until now.

“I’m done,” he said in a recent interview with Tomáš Prokop of Denník Šport. “I’ll never wear the pads again.”

Halák played 25 games for the New York Rangers in 2022-23 backing up all-star goalie Igor Shesterkin. Since then, there was a PTO with the Carolina Hurricanes in the autumn of 2023 that lasted only two weeks. Then in February of 2024 he signed with his hometown club, Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extraliga, but that didn’t lead to any games either.

“We agreed on the last day of the transfer period, which was already a pretty crucial date in the season,” Halák was quoted last summer. “After signing, I evaluated all the pros and cons.”

His last real shot was last summer, when he was hoping to get one final chance to try out for an NHL team.

“Last year I completed summer training,” Halák said. “I wanted to go on the ice in Boston, but when nothing came of it, I told myself it was pointless. After that I didn’t even try anymore. I’m officially ending my career. I would like to thank my family, friends, fans and especially my wife Petra, who has been by my side my entire career.”

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As recently as two weeks ago, there were rumblings that a Czech team was interested in Halák.

“Maybe there was something, but it went away,” Halák dismissed. “I wanted to stay in America, especially for the kids, since they go to school there and the sports training there is better than in Europe.”

So Halák, who turned 40 in May, won’t play long enough to match the uniform number 41, which he wore for much of his career.

A native of Bratislava, Halák was a ninth-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Between 2006 and 2023, he played 581 NHL regular-season games and 39 more in the playoffs for the Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals, New York Islanders, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks and Rangers.

The defining year of Halák’s career was 2010. That February, he backstopped Slovakia to a fourth-place finish at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, playing all seven of his team’s games while posting a 2.41 goals-against average and .911 save percentage. Then in April and May, he led eighth-seeded Montreal to playoff upsets over Alexander Ovechkin’s Capitals and Sidney Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins in the first two rounds.

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Halák finishes with 295 career NHL wins. He admitted last summer that getting to 300 wins was part of his motivation for wanting to continue, but he’s since backed off that stance.

“It’s been two years and I’ve come to terms with not reaching 300,” he admitted. “Looking back on my career, it’s been a good one. It would have been nicer with 300 wins, but I’ll be happy with 295.”

Now, his focus is primarily on his children. At least two of them are trying to follow in his footsteps.

“Since my son Nathan has been a goalie for three years, I’ve been focusing on him,” said Halák. “This year, my older daughter Inna joined him. Since January, she’s been trying to be a goalie as well.”

Photo © Eric Bolte-Imagn Images.

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