Former Jets Defenceman Zach Redmond Retires

Zach Redmond has announced his retirement from professional hockey.

Winnipeg Jets alumni Zach Redmond has officially retired from professional hockey, and is moving into a coaching role, effective immediately. 

The Buffalo Sabres - to whom the 35-year-old spent the final season of his NHL career - have appointed Redmond as the team's player development coach, replacing Nathan Paetsch, who recently shifted to the Rochester Americans' staff. 

Redmond, a product of Traverse City, Michigan, was drafted 184th overall in the seventh round of the 2008 NHL Draft by the then Atlanta Thrashers. 

He made the move to Winnipeg and began his professional career with the St. John's IceCaps. Redmond played parts of three seasons in St. John's, while dabbling in and out of the Jets' lineup. 

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound blueliner suited up in 18 games for Winnipeg, scoring twice and adding five assists for seven points, to go alongside 12 penalty minutes. 

Redmond is infamously known for his recovery following a drastic on-ice incident in Carolina while skating during a Jets practice in 2013. His femoral artery was sliced in an accident involving Antti Miettinen's skate, to which the then 24-year-old lost half his body's blood and needed repairs to arteries, veins, tendons and muscles to the tune of 200 stitches. 

Although recovering from the accident, he never quite managed to cement a role within the NHL. Redmond bounced in and out of the minors over the next seven seasons. He played a total of 133 NHL games between the Jets, Colorado Avalanche, Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres, scoring nine goals and 38 points. 

He also had 70 goals and 227 points in 373 AHL games. In 2019, Redmond was named the recipient of the AHL's Eddie Shore Award as the league's top defenceman. 

Redmond took his game overseas for the final three years of his career, suiting up for Germany's EHC Munchen from 2020-23.