- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare announced his retirement Thursday after 10 NHL seasons
- His 700 regular-season games are the most by any French-born player in league history
- Read below for the Cup Final runs, the Olympic farewell, and his goodbye message
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is done.
Bellemare, 41, announced his retirement Thursday, capping a career that left him as the most-played French-born player in NHL history. He logged 700 regular-season games, more than any player from France has ever reached.
The league sent him off with a tip of the cap:
Bellemare shared the news in a post on Instagram, and he framed it the way only he would.
“And so comes the time for me to join the privileged group of individuals that make a statement about the end of their professional career,” he wrote.
He finished with 138 points (64 goals, 74 assists) across stops with the Flyers, Golden Knights, Avalanche, Lightning and Kraken from 2014-15 through 2023-24. Tack on another 15 points in 85 playoff games.
None of it came easy. Philadelphia signed Bellemare as an undrafted free agent in June 2014, and he made his NHL debut at 29 after five seasons in Sweden with Skelleftea AIK. He became just the ninth player born in France to reach the league.
Bellemare got close to the top twice. He reached the Cup Final with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018 as one of the Original Misfits, then again with Tampa Bay in 2022.
His last shift alongside NHL talent came in February at the Milano Cortina Olympics, where he captained France. He scored his country’s only goal in a 5-1 loss to Germany, then made clear the international run was finished.
Watch Bellemare reflect on that loss and his future in the game:
The Thursday post carried a heavier tone than he expected.
“It is with a bigger sorrow than I expected that I say my goodbyes as a player,” he wrote.
No French player ever lasted longer in the NHL than Bellemare.
