Oscar Klefbom officially announces his retirement

Former Edmonton Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom hasn't played a professional hockey game since 2020 and now it appears he'll never play another game again.

The 31 year last suited up for the Oilers when he was 27 years old and looked like he was going to be a mainstay of the team's core moving forward. But a chronic shoulder injury forced him to miss the entirety of the 2020-21 season, then the 2021-22 season and so on and so on. It's now been nearly five years since the Swedish blueliner played a game and today he officially announced his retirement in an interview with Swedish publication Hockey Sverige.

"Now it's over," Klefbom said in the emotional interview. "It's hard to talk about it."

"It was a choice I made,"Klefbom said. "I talked to Edmonton that I wanted to lay very low with what was going to happen and what the situation is. They were perfectly fine with that. From my side, it was also because I thought it was so difficult to talk about it."

The smooth skating blue liner with a bomb of a shot finishes his career with 34 goals and 122 points in 378 NHL games, all with the Oilers.

"I am very happy with my career. I'm just grateful that I got the chance to play as many games as I did - even though it was as an injury. I gained a lot of trust, got to take part in a fantastic journey. There are really two sides to the coin – because although I am grateful, I would have liked to be (on the ice) today.

At just 31 years old, Klefbom wants to remain in the sport but he isn't sure exactly in what role just yet.

A heartbreaking announcement, but an expected one to be sure. All the best to Klefbom in the next phase of his life.