NHL center Matt Stajan retires after 14 seasons

TORONTO (AP) — Matt Stajan retired Tuesday after 14 seasons in the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames.

The 35-year-old two-way center announced his decision in a statement through the NHL players’ union.

He had 413 points (146 goals, 267 assists) in 1,003 NHL games — more than five seasons in Toronto and more than eight in Calgary. He spent last season with the German club EHC Red Bull Munich.

Stajan is from Ontario and rooted for the Maple Leafs, who drafted him in 2002. He scored for Toronto in his first NHL game in 2003. In the 2009-10 season, he had a career-high 57 points with Toronto and Calgary.

"As a kid growing up in Mississauga ... it was my dream to one day play in the NHL," Stajan said. “To have had this dream come true and have been able to play the sport that I love so much for so many years is something I feel extremely fortunate and grateful for. The memories that I have made will truly last a lifetime."

Off the ice, Stajan and wife Katie had deep ties to Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre following the death of son Emerson shortly after birth in 2014. The hospital renamed an emergency unit in honor Emerson, and the Emerson Stajan Foundation has been created.