Pierre-Marc Bouchard retires due to concussion history
Former Minnesota Wild forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard has decided to retire.
Swiss Hockey News reports the 31-year-old Bouchard has chosen to stop playing based on his concussion history. Bouchard has spent the last two seasons with EV Zug of National League A in Switzerland.
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Bouchard released a statement on EV Zug's website.
Unfortunately, after thoughts, I decided to retire from hockey. It was a very hard decision to make but I know it is the right one for my family and I. I would like to thank EVZ organisation, my team mates, coachig staff and all the fans for those two great years. I will never forget my time in Zug. I wish all the best to EVZ for the future.
Head injuries have dogged Bouchard’s career for several years. A big hit by Nate Thompson in March of the 2008-09 season started Bouchard’s concussion woes.
He played the season opener in 2009-10 but missed the rest of the season because of concussion symptoms. He then missed the first 23 games of the 2010-11 NHL regular season with concussion issues.
Bouchard, the eighth-overall pick in the 2002 NHL Draft, also missed 41 regular season games in 2011-12 with concussion problems after a big hit from Winnipeg Jets defenseman Zach Bogosian.
Hockey Wilderness documented Bouchard’s long battle with concussions with the Wild in 2013.
Before the head injuries started to pile up for Bouchard, he was a solid scorer for the Wild. In 2007-08 Bouchard set a career-high with 63 points in 81 games. The year before he scored 20 goals. In his NHL career, Bouchard notched 356 points in 593 games played. Bouchard had a short stint with the New York Islanders in 2013-14, and notched nine points in 28 games played.
This year he was named MVP of National League A with 72 points in 53 games played.
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