Former NHLer Ryan Spooner announces retirement

A familiar name for NHL fans is officially hanging up his skates.

HK Dukla Trencin, a team in the Slovak Extraliga, announced on Wednesday that forward Ryan Spooner has retired from hockey.

Spooner, 34, played just five games for HK Dukla Trencin this season, putting up a goal and three assists for four points.

The Ottawa native was initially selected out of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) by the Boston Bruins in the second round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. After spending his first few professional seasons splitting time between the Bruins and their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Providence Bruins, Spooner became a full-time NHLer in the 2015-16 season, in which he notched 13 goals and 36 assists for a career-best 49 points in 80 games for Boston.

Midway through the 2017-18 season, the Bruins traded Spooner to the New York Rangers as part of the package sent in exchange for forward Rick Nash.

In November of the 2018-19 season, Spooner was traded from the Rangers to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for forward Ryan Strome. At that season’s trade deadline, the Oilers dealt him to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Sam Gagner. The 11 games he played for Vancouver to finish that season were his last in the NHL.

Over 325 NHL games in his career, Spooner scored 48 goals and added 119 assists for 167 total points.

After leaving the NHL, Spooner played professionally for seven-plus years in Europe, spent mostly in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). His best campaign in Europe came in the 2023-24 season with the KHL’s Omsk Avangard, in which he had 23 goals and 38 assists for 61 points in 65 games.

Internationally, Spooner represented Canada at the 2010 IIHF Under-18 World Championship, where he had two goals in six games.