Robyn Regehr to retire after 15 NHL seasons

Veteran defenseman Robyn Regehr announced his intention to retire in a conversation with reporters following the Los Angeles Kings’ season-ending 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

“That was probably the last professional game I’ll play,” he said.

Regehr, who turns 35 one week from Sunday, spent 15 seasons with the Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings. He played under Kings coach Darryl Sutter on the 2003-04 Calgary team that lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“He’s not only a good player, he’s a great person, and the best thing about when we got Robyn here was there’s a lot of young defensemen here, and if you look at their seasons, they’re going to learn a lot from Robyn Regehr, all those young players,” Sutter said. “Robyn and Greener are the quarterbacks back there in the locker room and in terms of professionalism, and every one of those other guys, they’re going to miss Robyn. They’re going to have to take a step forward now.”

In his final game, he totaled two shots on goal, three hits and a plus-one rating in 21 minutes and 54 seconds. Jarret Stoll retrieved the game puck during the team’s postgame celebration as a memento.

“That was for Reggie, and whether he wants it or not, I thought it’d be a good thing,” Stoll said.

There had been private hints during last summer that this could be Regehr’s final season in an NHL uniform.

“I talked to Dean just after I got here and he asked me how long I thought I could play for him and I told him that I thought I could give him two hard years and we’ll see what the body is like after that,” he said. “But I think it’s time to move on to the next chapter in life.”

“There’s a lot that goes into a decision like that and I’ve been thinking about it for a little while. You’ve got to think about where your body’s at and how it’s holding up and not holding up and there’s family decisions and all kinds of stuff that are involved with a decision like that. It’s a big decision, but I think we’ve decided.”

In 1,089 career games, Regehr totaled 36 goals, 199 points and a plus-30 rating.