Canadian left winger Taylor Leier, 31, announced his retirement on Monday via his personal Instagram account and explained is reasons. “Hockey has been my life, my passion, and my identify for as long as I can remember,” Leier wrote. “My decision hasn’t been easy, but after undergoing a second shoulder surgery to repair a fracture sustained last season, I was diagnosed with degenerative changes in the joint.” Originally from Saskatoon, Sask., Heise played junior hockey for the WHL [http://thn.com/whl]’s Portland Winterhawks and played parts of three NHL seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers before spending the last five seasons of his career in Europe – in Czechia with Oceláři Třinec, in Germany with Adler Mannheim and the Straubing Tigers and in Sweden with Linkoping HC. He finished his career in 2024-25, where he played a total of three seasons in two separate tours of duty. Leier was chosen in the fourth round, 117th overall, by Philadelphia in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Between 2015 and 2018, he played 55 NHL games for the Flyers, scoring two goals and adding five assists and 10 penalty minutes. He spent the majorithy of that time in the AHL [http://thn.com/ahl] with the Leigh Valley Phantoms. Midway through the 2018-19 season, Leier was traded to the Buffalo Sabres [http://thn.com/buffalo] in exchange for Justin Bailey, and played the next season and a half with the Rochester Americans before heading to Europe in 2021. Photo © Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
