National Hockey League centre Sam Gagner of London, Ontario retired on Thursday at the age of 35 according to Adam Kierszenblat of The Hockey News. He has been hired as the director of player development for the Ottawa Senators. This past season Gagner did not play a National Hockey League game. However, he captained Team Canada at the Spengler Cup and played 19 games for the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League.
In all, Gagner played 17 National Hockey League seasons. He was with the Edmonton Oilers on three separate occasions. Gagner was there from 2007 to 2014, 2019 to 2020, and 2023 to 2024. He also was with Arizona Coyotes in 2014 to 2015, the Philadelphia Flyers in 2015 to 2016, the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2016 to 2017, the Vancouver Canucks from 2017 to 2019, the Detroit Red Wings from 2020 to 2022, and the Winnipeg Jets from 2022 to 2023.
Gagner played 1043 NHL regular season games. He had 197 goals and 332 assists for 529 points. Gagner was a -139 with 450 penalty minutes, 141 power-play points, five shorthanded points, 19 game-winning goals, 2108 shots on goal, 3446 faceoff wins, 333 blocked shots, three hat tricks, 447 hits, 333 takeaways and 468 giveaways.
On February 2, 2012, Gagner had one magical game. He had four goals and four assists for eight points in an 8-4 Oilers win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Gagner tied the Oilers record for most points in a game and most points in a period (five). Wayne Gretzky of Brantford, Ontario also had three goals and five assists on November 19, 1983 in a 13-4 Oilers win over the New Jersey Devils, and four goals and four assists on January 4, 1984 in a 12-8 Oilers win over the Minnesota North Stars. Meanwhile, defenseman Paul Coffey of Weston, Ontario had two goals and six assists for eight points in a 12-3 Oilers win over the Detroit Red Wings on March 14, 1986.
The other Oiler with five points in a period was Jari Kurri. He had two goals and three assists for five points in the second period in an 8-2 Oilers win over the Los Angeles Kings on October 26, 1984. In the Oilers win over the Blackhawks, Gagner had three goals and two assists for five points in the third period.
