Pierre Turgeon retires from NHL

Forward Pierre Turgeon has decided to call it quits after 19 seasons in the NHL, including the last two with the Colorado Avalanche.

Turgeon, a 38-year-old fromRouyn-Noranda, Que., officially announced his retirement Wednesday.

Nagging groin and calf injuries limited Turgeon to just 17 games during the 2006-07 campaign with Colorado.

Turgeon told a news conference he and his family discussed his injuries and retirement at the end of last year.

"At one point we did decide, as far as retiring, but we wanted to take all summer really to think about it and just to make sure," he said. "And at the end of the summer it was the same answer."

"Two years ago we thought about it before moving from Dallas to Colorado, but we didn't … it was just time"

Turgeon counted scoring 500 goals and playing in the last game at the Montreal Forum among his career highlights.

"I keep a very fond memory of the evening when, as the team captain for the Montreal Canadiens, I carried the team torch from the Forum to the Bell Centre."

Turgeon was selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1987 NHL draft ahead of such future superstars as Brendan Shanahan and Joe Sakic.

He went on to score 515 goals and amass 1,327 points in 1,294 career games with the Sabres, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars and Colorado.

Turgeon won the Lady Byng Trophy as the league's most sportsmanlike and gentlemanly player in 1993 with the Islanders after posting career highs in goals (58) and points (132).