Calgary Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff has decided to retire from professional hockey, according to multiple reports on Tuesday morning.
Miikka Kiprusoff to retire, according to multiple reports
Many have speculated that Miikka Kiprusoff was not going to return to the NHL next season. According to multiple accounts, that will be the case.
Derek Leung
The initial report came from Juha Hiitelä of Urheilusanomat who translated a tweet from Mikael Hoikkala of STT that stated Kiprusoff informed the Finnish National Team that he was retiring.
Kiprusoff has told to Finnish national team that he is retiring. "If Calgary has not announced it, you guys can do that." #Flames #Kipper
— Juha Hiitelä (@jhiitela) June 25, 2013
Later on Tuesday morning, Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet tweeted that the Columbus Blue Jackets have requested permission from the Flames to engage in discussions with Kiprusoff about returning next season. Kypreos believes Kiprusoff will not change his stance on retiring.
This news comes a few days after Calgary general manager Jay Feaster stated that Kiprusoff was leaning toward retirement. However, Feaster insinuated that his decision could change over the course of the offseason.
According to a previous report from former coach Mike Keenan, Kiprusoff negotiated his current contract under the expectation that he would retire before the final year. While the 36-year-old goaltender carries an annual average value of $5.8 million against the salary cap, he is only being paid $1.5 million in actual salary in 2013-14, which is a serious decline from the $5 million-plus he earned in the first five years of the deal.
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