From French phenom to NHL veteran, the 700-game "original misfit" concludes a storied 20-year career spanning back-to-back Swedish championships, multiple continents, and the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Pierre-Édouard Bellemare has announced that he is hanging up the skates. After 700 games in the NHL and 20 years playing pro hockey, the French forward is calling it quits.
Before he came to North America at the age of 29, he played in Sweden for a number of years. Bellemare started his career playing for Leksands IF, before joining Skelleftea AIK, where he won back-to-back championships in 2012-13 and 2013-14.
It wasn't until 2014-15 that he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers and joined the NHL. He spent three years with the organization playing in 237 games and scoring 34 points.
After that, he became one of the original misfits with the Vegas Golden Knights. In which time, he played for two seasons with them and scored 31 points. He would then go on to play two seasons with the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning, ending his career with the Seattle Kraken.
In 700 NHL games, he scored 64 goals and 74 assists for 138 points.
After his time in the NHL came to an end, he joined Ajoie HC in the Swiss league, where he played for two seasons.
Bellemare also represented his country a few times; the most recent time was in the 2026 Winter Olympics.