Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast retires after missing season with neck injury
Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast is retiring after missing this season with a neck injury sustained in the 2023-24 regular-season finale.
Fast, 33, announced his decision Monday.
'I never took for granted the privilege of playing in the best league in the world,' Fast said in a statement issued by the team.
'I am grateful for all of the teammates, coaches, staff and fans from the Rangers and Hurricanes who made my time in the NHL so special, and for my family for everything they did to help me achieve and live my dream. I'd also like to thank Nassjo HC and HV71, organizations that played a vital role in my development into an NHL player.'
Fast hadn't played since April 2024 when Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson cross-checked him from behind into the boards. Carolina was headed to the playoffs and resting numerous players in a game that had no bearing on the standings.
'That's the part that just makes you sick, to be honest with you,' coach Rod Brind'Amour said that night. 'You're just trying to get through the game without having that. I'm not sure where that's going to go.'
Fast wore a neck brace when he spoke with reporters during end-of-year interviews roughly a month later.
'It's definitely one of the toughest periods of my career,' Fast said after the Hurricanes fell to the Rangers in Round 2 of the playoffs.
The team announced in August that
Fast had neck surgery and would miss the 2024-25 season
.
Fast first signed with Carolina in October 2020, then re-signed to a two-year, $4.8 million extension in July 2023.
He had six postseason goals during Carolina's run to the 2023 Eastern Conference final, including an overtime winner in Game 2 of the first-round series against the New York Islanders
and the series clincher
against the New Jersey Devils in a five-game second-round series.
Fast played 703 career regular-season games in the NHL with the Rangers and Hurricanes over 11 seasons, tallying 91 goals and 157 assists. He was a sixth-round draft pick by the Rangers in 2010.
___
AP NHL playoffs:
https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup
and
https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC Sports
5 minutes ago
- NBC Sports
NHL is expanding use of Hawk-Eye measuring and tracking. It may eventually solve some on-ice issues
Commissioner Gary Bettman at the NHL general managers meeting this spring had a clear answer for when the league might be able to use tracking technology to determine a variety of things with certainty, from high-sticking to whether a puck fully crossed the goal line. 'When we're certain that it works,' Bettman said at the time. 'We will test it and re-test it, but we haven't hesitated to spend the money or the time on technology to improve the game.' The NHL is taking another step in that innovation with the expansion of the use of Hawk-Eye measuring and tracking technology as part of a new technology partnership with Sony. The same technology that has become omnipresent in tennis to determine whether the ball is in or out has evolved to the point that it could in help hockey officials and the league's situation room make more precise calls for close plays on the ice. 'We're closer — we keep getting closer,' NHL executive VP of business development and innovation David Lehanski said. 'It's going to be a solution that includes multiple inputs and different types of technology. ... Likely it will be a combination of active tracking in the puck, in the players, the jerseys — wherever it might be — optical cameras and maybe some other type of technology that all need to get stitched together.' The league has used Sony's Hawk-Eye technology for the past decade as part of Synchronized Multi-Angle Replay Technology (SMART) services in every team's arena to make replay reviews and coach's challenges faster and more accurate. It also helps organizations keep track of player health and safety. The technology has improved to the point where cameras capture 29 skeletal points on each player and three more on sticks. 'What that enables us to do is to have an incredibly high-fidelity, low-latency view of the athletes' movements in real time,' Hawk-Eye Innovations CEO Rufus Hack said. 'The NHL have a real clear vision around what they're going to do with this, but obviously it's still very much in the early stages of what that could look like for them.' Lehanski said a mix of various tech elements could help on the ice with everything from penalties to positioning on the ice. Off the ice, beyond animated telecasts and visualizations that will continue, the league is hoping Sony cameras can get the home viewing experience closer to in-arena excitement. '(It's about trying to) bring that game experience into everyone's homes,' Sony president of imaging products and solutions in the Americas Theresa Alesso said. 'As the cameras get better and smaller and lighter, get those angles to the game into someone's living room is really important.'
NBC Sports
6 minutes ago
- NBC Sports
Suns reportedly hire Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as head coach
Vincent Goodwill joins Dan Patrick to unpack the fallout of Tom Thibodeau's firing, explaining why he believes the Knicks will keep an "open mind" in their search before previewing the NBA Finals. PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns hired Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as their head coach, opting for a young, emerging leader to rebuild a franchise that has regressed over the past few seasons, a person familiar with the search told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the hire hasn't officially been announced. Ott will be the team's fourth head coach in four seasons and replaces Mike Budenholzer, who was fired following a miserable 36-46 season that ended without a trip to the playoffs despite the high-priced trio of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. The 40-year-old Ott has worked for the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and the Cavaliers. He also worked as a video coordinator under Tom Izzo at Michigan State, which is where Suns owner Mat Ishbia played as a walk-on from 1999 to 2003. It remains to be seen if Durant or Beal will be on next season's roster — both could be moved in trades. Booker seems like the only player on the roster who is truly untouchable after 10 seasons in the desert, including four All-Star appearances. Ott and fellow Cavs assistant Johnnie Bryant were the two finalists for the job. Both worked under Kenny Atkinson, helping lead Cleveland to a 64-18 record this season, which was the best record in the NBA's Eastern Conference. Ishbia and general manager Brian Gregory led a lengthy, deliberate search that lasted 1 1/2 months and included more than a dozen candidates. Gregory also has Michigan State ties as a former assistant coach. ESPN first reported the hiring. Ott takes over a franchise that's had a quick rise and fall over the past five years. The Suns made the NBA Finals in 2021 with a core that included Booker, Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Chris Paul, Cameron Johnson and coach Monty Williams, but lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Phoenix had the best record in the NBA the next season before losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the second round. Ishbia blew up that nucleus shortly after purchasing the team in 2023, trading for superstar Kevin Durant, but the Suns lost again in the postseason's second round, this time to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets. Williams was fired following the season, which started the franchise's sideline shuffle. The Suns traded for three-time All-Star Bradley Beal and hired coach Frank Vogel during the ensuing offseason, but the group never seemed to gel. Phoenix was swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the opening round of the playoffs in 2024, leading to Vogel's firing. Budenholzer replaced Vogel before last season, but the Suns didn't even make it to the play-in tournament in 2025.
10 minutes ago
TNT's Kenny Albert wraps up a memorable 9-month stretch with the Stanley Cup Final
Getting to call a Stanley Cup Final for the third time on national television would qualify as the top moment of the year for most announcers. For TNT's Kenny Albert, it is another accomplishment in a year that has been filled with many, especially over the past nine months. Wednesday's Game 1 between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers will be Albert's 1,483rd call in hockey, football or baseball for a national network. He moved past his father, the legendary Marv Albert, into fourth place among North American announcers during last Wednesday's Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final between Florida and Carolina. 'To be listed along with some of the all-time greats who I watched growing up and then got to know a lot of them personally, it's a proud moment when you see that you're included in that group,' Albert said. 'My schedule definitely is a bit of a jigsaw puzzle between the various sports and networks, but very fortunate to work for and with so many great people.' Albert surpassed the 500 games mark in both the NFL and NHL within a six-month period. He became the first NFL play-by-play announcer to reach 500 games on one network last October when the Philadelphia Eagles hosted the Cleveland Browns in a game televised by Fox. He has been with Fox Sports since its beginning in 1994. He surpassed 500 national NHL games on Dec. 18 when the Philadelphia Flyers faced the Detroit Red Wings on TNT. Albert has been TNT's top hockey announcer since it got the rights in 2021. All told, Albert has done 534 NHL, 512 NFL, 421 baseball and 15 NBA games on a national broadcast or cable network. That is on top of his other duties as New York Rangers radio voice and backup for New York Knicks television games on MSG Network. Albert's versatility to do a plethora of different sports was something he picked up from his father. Even though Marv Albert's signature sport was the NBA, he also did the NFL and NHL along with hosting the baseball pregame show during the late 1980s on NBC. 'I've always loved the variety,' Kenny Albert said. For all of the aforementioned accomplishments, though, the highlight of Albert's year so far was calling Alex Ovechkin's 895th NHL goal on April 6 to break Wayne Gretzky's career record. Albert's call during the second period, when the Washington Capitals star set the record against the New York Islanders, relayed excitement while also mentioning the goal number and then going silent so that the crowd and scenes from the crowd could take over. 'In a championship situation or big moment, I don't usually write something out, but I do throw some words around in my mind just to be ready,' Albert said. "I was thinking something with his nickname, the Great Eight, the great Gretzky. When he tied the record, Joe Beninati (the Capitals TV announcer) used something similar to that, so I wanted to shift over to something else and not use some of the same words he did. 'When it happened, it just came out naturally. I mentioned No. 895 and then I just got out of the way. It was very important after the call to just lay out and let the production folks do their thing. Let the pictures and sound tell the story.' According to TV database research compiled by Un/Necessary Sports Research, the late Bob Cole, who called the games for CBC's 'Hockey Night in Canada' for 50 years, leads the way at 1,722 (all hockey) games; followed by Dick Stockton, who did basketball, baseball and football for CBS and Fox, with 1,544; and Canadian play-by-play announcer Chris Cuthbert with 1,539. Cuthbert, the current lead voice for 'Hockey Night in Canada' will surpass Stockton if the Stanley Cup Final goes six games. Kevin Harlan is sixth at 1,477 and should surpass Marv Albert (1,481) for fifth during Week 5 of the upcoming NFL season. This will be the 11th Stanley Cup Final for Albert, including eight on radio, but the first where he has called a rematch from the previous year. This is the first final rematch since the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 and the second over the past 40 years. 'It has a chance to be one of the all-time great championship series," Albert said. "These same teams played a scintillating seven-game series last June. Star power on both sides. Edmonton attempting to win Canada's first Cup since 1993. Florida looking to repeat. Can Connor McDavid match Wayne Gretzky and Sidney Crosby and win his first Stanley Cup against the team that beat his club in the Cup Final the year before? I can't wait.'
