Oft-injured Avalanche forward Matt Calvert officially retires

Avalanche depth forward Matt Calvert, a pending unrestricted free agent, announced his retirement Thursday following a threeyear run in Colorado.

Calvert, 31, played just 18 games last season because of multiple injuries, including lingering concussion-related problems. He was on the injured list to end the Avs’ past three seasons, each coming late in the second round of the playoffs.

Calvert’s statement via the NHL Players Association: "I've been lucky enough to play the game I love since I was five years old. I never played to make it to the NHL. I played to compete. I played for my teammates. I played for the fans. I played for my family. I played because I loved to battle, and I played to win. I dreamt of becoming an accountant when I was 18 years old and three years later, I was playing in the NHL. My favourite parts of the ride were the locker room and the fans. It wasn’t the same without the fans cheering us on this last year. We feed off of them.

The fans make the game special. It was an absolute honour to wear the Columbus Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche jerseys throughout my career. I would bleed for those organizations any day. Thank you to the best parents in the world. You sacrificed everything to give me the opportunity to play in the National Hockey League. You mean the world to me and I wouldn’t have played a game without you. Thank you to my brothers for pushing me to be the best I could be. Thank you to my beautiful wife Courtney, and my boys Kasey and Beau for being my biggest fans.

Thank you to my extended family for all the support. Thank you to every coach and GM that pushed me to be my best. Thank you to the Wagons. Thank you to all the special people I met along the way. What an amazing journey. I feel like the luckiest person in the world to have had this opportunity. I look forward to skating on the outdoor rinks with my boys in retirement. I love you all!”

Calvert played 566 games over 11 NHL seasons, the first eight with Columbus. He signed a three-year contract with the Avs on July 1, 2018, and played a full 82-game regular season in 2018-19. He was limited to 50-of-70 games in 2019-20 and 18-of56 last season.