Brandon Sutter announces retirement after release from PTO with Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers announced on Sunday that they have released center Brandon Sutter from his professional tryout contract, with Sutter announcing shortly after that he will be retiring from hockey.

Sutter, 34, issued the following statement through the Oilers website:

“I’m grateful for the opportunity that Ken, Jay and the Oilers organization have provided to me the past few weeks. You need to be 100 percent healthy to compete in the NHL, and although my health continues to improve, in consideration of my health and family, I am officially retiring from hockey.

Thank you to the Oilers, Canucks, Penguins and Hurricanes, as well as all my past coaches, trainers and teammates for the incredible experiences throughout my 13 seasons in the NHL.“

Sutter had played three preseason games for the Oilers, with one assist in that span coming in the 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, his former team. Sutter also finished with a -1 rating, two penalty minutes, one hit, and five shots in those three games.

Sutter retires after 13 seasons in the NHL with the Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes. He totaled 152 goals, 137 assists and 289 points in 770 regular season games, as well as 9 goals, 9 assists and 18 points in 50 playoff games.

Sutter was a former 11th overall pick of the Hurricanes in the 2007 NHL Draft, and made his professional debut a year later for the Canes. He spent four seasons with them before he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2012 along with Brian Dumoulin and the eighth-overall pick in the draft (which would become Derrick Pouliot) in exchange for Jordan Staal. Sutter then spent three seasons in Pittsburgh before he was traded to the Canucks in the 2015 offseason along with a third round pick (which eventually became William Lockwood) in exchange for Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening and a second round (that became Filip Gustavsson). Sutter spent his final six seasons in Vancouver before the Canucks let him walk to free agency in 2021, and he failed to garner any NHL interest for two years before his PTO with the Oilers.