Veteran center announces retirement from NHL after 13 seasons
Veteran center Artem Anisimov has retired, the NHLPA confirmed Tuesday. The 36-year-old hangs up his skates after a 13-year run in the NHL with four different teams.
It marks the end of a very respectable career for the Russian center, whom the Rangers selected in the second round of the 2006 draft. A solid two-way pick out of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl organization, he was in North America with AHL Hartford one year later and had cracked New York’s NHL roster as a full-timer beginning with his age-21 season.
Anisimov was an extremely reliable middle-six piece over his first few seasons. After making the Rangers’ opening-night roster for the first time in 2009, he would go nearly two-and-a-half years without missing a game.
Anisimov churned out 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in his first NHL campaign before having his best year in New York in his sophomore year, finishing fifth on the team in scoring in 2010-11 with 44 points (18 G, 16 A) while averaging 16:12 per game and taking over 700 draws.
The 2012 offseason brought an end to Anisimov’s time in Manhattan, however. He was one of many pieces sent to the Blue Jackets in that summer’s blockbuster swap that sent Rick Nash to New York.
His tenure in Columbus was met with a bit less fanfare, struggling a bit with injuries and seeing slightly diminished possession impacts compared to his time with the Rangers. He did, however, set a career-high in goals with 22 while with the Jackets in 2013-14, helping the franchise to its second playoff appearance in team history.
A pending unrestricted free agent entering the 2015 offseason, it was clear Anisimov’s long-term future wasn’t in Columbus. He was sent to the Blackhawks in a swap that essentially amounted to a one-for-one deal with Brandon Saad going the other way, with none of the minor assets included in the trade having any long-term relevance.
Unfortunately for Anisimov, he joined Chicago on the back end of its championship window and never captured a ring with it. But he did have the best years of his career in the Windy City after signing a five-year, $22.75M extension. He hit the 20-goal mark three years in a row and earned Selke votes in 2016.
After totaling 155 points in 291 games with the Hawks, he was sent to the Senators for Zack Smith. Injuries finally caught up to him after a relatively healthy career, though, limiting him to 68 appearances over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.
He never landed another NHL contract after becoming a UFA in 2021, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. After spending the 2021-22 campaign back home with Lokomotiv, he played out the last two campaigns on AHL deals with the Flyers’ and Rangers’ affiliates in search of another NHL try that never came.
