Former Fourth Overall Pick and Longtime Blue Jacket Announces His Retirement
Back in 2003, the Blue Jackets drafted Nikolai Zherdev, and now, over 20 years later, he's officially announced his retirement from playing professional hockey.
The Columbus Blue Jackets haven't managed to land many superstars in their 20+ year history, but in 2003 they believed that they had done just that in the 2003 NHL Draft.
With the No. 4 overall pick, the Blue Jackets selected Ukrainian winger Nikolai Zherdev, and with his combination of great size, skills and skating, the hope was that he could lead this team into the future.
Unfortunately, that didn't end up happening, as he played just four seasons with the team and six overall in the NHL with one in New York and one in Philadelphia, with 115 goals and 261 points in 421 games played, showing that he could be a long-time player in the NHL.
Zherdev retires after a career in Europe and the NHL
Despite that promise shown in his first six seasons, Zherdev would return to Europe to continue his playing career, spending 11 seasons in the KHL before three seasons in other leagues, ending in 2021/22.
Now, the 40-year old has made his retirement official, announcing that he has retired from professional hockey after a very good career that saw him have some very successful years in the NHL and in Europe.
Given his size and his early production, it's somewhat surprising that Zherdev never made more of a career for himself in the National Hockey League, with career highs of 54 and 61 points in two of his first four seasons, but ultimately he went on to have a solid career overseas, and now we'll wait to see what the future holds.
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