It’s never easy for a professional athlete to announce his retirement, especially when they are forced to do so because of injuries. On Monday, Stefan Matteau, the son of former NHLer Stephane Matteau, announced his retirement.
The son was drafted 29th overall by the New Jersey Devils at the 2012 draft and only played 44 games in the organization before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 2016 in return for Devante Smith-Pelly.
Matteau played 12 games with the Canadiens registering a single assist before spending the following season with the St. John’s Ice Caps. In 67 games with the Habs’ AHL affiliate picking up 25 points.
He then signed a contract with the Vegas Golden Knights as a free agent, but couldn’t establish himself there either. In the end, he played with their AHL affiliates, the Chicago Wolves before spending time in the Columbus Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche organisations.
He spent the 2022-23 season in Europe playing in both the Swedish and the German leagues, before returning to North America where he played two more seasons with the Jackets’ AHL club, the Cleveland Monsters.
In his last two seasons, he was limited to 15 games because of various injuries. He was the Monsters’ captain this past season but couldn’t even play in the post season as he couldn’t get healthy.
His retirement message sounds a bit like Carey Price’s message when he decided to hang them up, Matteau wrote:
