Joe Pavelski officially retires after 17 seasons in the NHL

This just in, long-time NHL forward Joe Pavelski has officially announced his retirement after 17 years.

The 40 year old hangs up the skates after 17 seasons, 1332 regular season games and 201 Stanley Cup Playoff games. In total he put up 476 goals and 1068 pints split between the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars. Not bad for a 7th rounder...

"I think I'm ready to step away from the game on the playing side of things and go from there," Pavelski told NHL Morning Skate on SiriusXM earlier today. "There's no plan to play. I didn't want to use the 'r' word, I guess, right away. Just for the fact that there isn't... nothing set in stone but that is the plan that we're not playing. I wanted just a little bit of extra time (after the season) to think about it."

"I was pretty comfortable with that plan then so I didn't want to keep people hanging and thinking and talking about certain things, but it's a pretty clear outlook. Over the last month, we've given it some more thought. ... It's just a great time for us as a family, as a career."

After the Stars were eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final, Pavelski hinted at retirement but he wouldn't exactly spill the beans. He admitted though that he was probably done.

"This was it for me. It was known for a while, probably," Pavelski said June 4. "The plan is not to play next year. … I don't want to say this is official, but the plan is not to be coming back. There will be more to come on that. Everything is still so raw, nothing official. There will be more words. I'm going to need a little bit of time to really put it together and figure it out that way. Most likely that was it and couldn't ask for a better opportunity and a better group of guys to be around."

Today, Pavelski makes it official and walks away from the game with no regrets.