Veteran winger Jannik Hansen announces his retirement

Veteran winger Jannik Hansen is hanging up his skates. After spending this past season in the KHL, the 33-year-old Hansen told Lars Fink of TV 2 Sport in Denmark he has decided to call it a career, citing lingering injury issues.

Hansen, 33, was a fixture in Vancouver’s lineup for the better part of a decade after being selected in the ninth round (287th overall) in 2004. He played in 565 games with Vancouver, providing capable secondary scoring. Hansen was flipped to San Jose midway through the 2016-17 campaign as part of the trade that saw the Canucks acquire young winger Nikolay Goldobin. While Hansen made an impact down the stretch that season, his second and final season with the Sharks didn’t go as well and was limited to just 46 games.

That resulted in limited interest in free agency, which resulted in Hansen trying the KHL as he signed with CSKA Moscow for the 2018-19 season. He played in 45 games CSKA Moscow, picking up 18 points. Hansen's retirement opens up a spot with CSKA, one that could very well wind up being filled by Goldobin.

Hansen wraps up his playing days with 626 games between Vancouver and San Jose, collecting 109 goals and 147 assists and career earnings of more than $15.5M, per CapFriendly.