Steve Bégin Retires

The Calgary Flames announced today the retirement of Steve Bégin from the National Hockey League.

“Steve had a career marked with great diligence and effort,” said Flames President of Hockey Operations Brian Burke.

“On behalf of the Calgary Flames Organization and ownership group, I congratulate him on his 15 year NHL career and wish him success in his future endeavors.”

Bégin’s career concludes after playing 524 career NHL games, 159 of those games with the Calgary Flames.

The 35 year old native of Trois Rivieres, Quebec was in his second tour of duty with Calgary after suiting up for the Flames from 1997-2003 playing in a total of 159 games and scoring 15 goals, seven assists for 22 points and 212 penalty minutes.

He rejoined the Flames as free agent for the 2012-13 campaign after taking the prior season off due to a hip injury.

Following his return in the truncated 2012-13 season, Begin was nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy by the Calgary Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association (PHWA) which goes to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

He once again attempted to continue his career with the Flames organization this season but decided on retirement after a reoccurrence of the hip injury during training camp.

Over the course of 15 NHL seasons, Begin also played with Montreal, Dallas, Boston and Nashville recording 56 goals, 52 assists for 108 points while accumulating 561 penalty minutes.

Begin was originally drafted by the Calgary in the 2nd round with the 40th overall pick in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft.

He was a member of the Flames American Hockey League team in Saint John, NB who captured the 2001 Calder Cup. Begin was named the playoffs MVP, receiving the Jack Butterfield Trophy.

STEVE BEGIN – CENTRE

BORN: Trois Rivieres, QC     DATE: June 14, 1978

HEIGHT: 6’0”                         WEIGHT: 195 lbs.

SHOOTS: Left

ACQUIRED: 2nd round, 40th overall, in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft