The news passed quickly and quietly last week, lost in the hype surrounding phenom Connor Bedard as the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL entry draft and the impending start of NHL free agency.
Former Penguin, Stanley Cup Champion Forced to Retire after Multiple Concussions
Patric Hornqvist.
The troubling story took me back immediately to a conversation I had with Hornqvist in a back hallway outside the Penguins locker room at PPG Paints Arena a number of years ago. He had just returned to the lineup after his third or fourth concussion — really, there were too many to count — when I asked him if he worried that his style of play eventually would end his career. As Sidney Crosby said of Hornqvist at around that same time, "He's a guy who will continue to go to the front of the net, no matter what. He only knows one way to play."
"I can't be worried about that," Hornqvist said, biting off his words and sending me a how-dare-you-ask-that look. "If I don't play that game, I'm not in this league. I want to play, so I'm going to keep going there."
Hornqvist played it for 16 seasons before two more concussions early last season with the Florida Panthers finally forced him out at 36. I'm guessing he has no regrets. He made $57.4 million in his career, according to spotrac.com. He also won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins.
Hornqvist had an amazing run, earning the respect of coaches and teammates and the admiration of fans wherever he played.
"His on-ice play speaks for itself and what he does for our team," Mike Sullivan said after the Penguins' second of consecutive Cup seasons in 2017. "He's a unique player for us. He's really good in front of the net. He's great in the battle areas. He plays a fearless game. That's what makes him what he is."
It's easy to forget the trade that brought Hornqvist to Pittsburgh from Nashville in June 2014 was not well received. It was Jim Rutherford's first trade as the new general manager and turned out to be one of his best, even though it cost the Penguins Evgeni Malkin-favorite and 40-goal-man James Neal.
"We knew we were giving up goals," Rutherford said later. "But we had enough players that could score goals. We were looking to get a different type of player. We were looking for a passionate player, a good team guy, good in the locker room. We were looking for a guy who brought the energy shift by shift and the puck pressure and the net presence. [Hornqvist] has got an edge to his game. ...
"He is such an upbeat guy. I've never met a player like him. He never has a bad day. We could lose 10 in a row and he'd be in the locker room as if we'd won 10 in a row. He keeps things going in there."
Sullivan once went so far as to say he missed Hornqvist's positive chatter on the bench when Hornqvist was out.
Sullivan also liked a lot of the goals Hornqvist scored.
Hornqvist averaged 22 goals in his six seasons with the Penguins with a high of 29 in 2017-18. He added 22 more goals in 66 playoff games.
Two of those postseason goals were especially noteworthy:
Hornqvist's overtime goal won Game 4 against Washington in 2016. His goal at 18:25 of the third period broke a scoreless tie and turned out to be the game-winner in the Cup-clinching Game 6 at Nashville in 2017.
The Penguins rewarded Hornqvist in February 2018 with a five-year contract extension with an average salary of $5.3 million. But his time here did not end well. Rutherford traded him to Florida in September 2020 for Mike Matheson and Colton Sceviour. Rutherford said he did the deal because the team wanted to get younger and faster and because he saw Hornqvist's ice time diminishing, especially on the power play where he had been such a force.
Hornqvist said he was "blindsided' by the trade. There were reports he was so upset that he dumped his Penguins gear in the driveway of his Cranberry Township home and left it there. He agreed to waive his no-trade clause to "go to a team that wants me. Pittsburgh didn't want me."
Hornqvist didn't play last season after December because of the two concussions. He missed the Panthers' run to the Stanley Cup final, although he was hardly forgotten. He continued to work with the team during practices and morning skates.
"He has a joy about being at the rink every day," Florida coach Paul Maurice said during the final. "He has won two Cups, and that matters. He does not take the game for granted. He works as hard today as he did on the first day of camp.
"If you think you're going to have a light day, Patric is not going to allow that to happen. He's half doctor, half coach. You come off the bench after these wins and he's just so happy for the guys. He's in all the meetings. He has ideas. He has been there."
Hornqvist has returned to his native Sweden, but Panthers general manager Bill Zito said at the draft last week that he hopes to bring him back to the Florida organization in some undefined capacity.
I have just one question:
Why not the Penguins?
