Why did Sven Bartschi retire at early age of 30? Exploring reason behind former Golden Knights winger calling it quits

Modified Aug 03, 2023 18:38 GMT

Sven Bartschi, a left winger who departed the NHL for Europe this summer, has announced his retirement from the game with two seasons remaining on his deal with NL team SC Bern, according to Swiss publication Blick. The team has yet to comment on the matter.

He returned to Switzerland last summer after more than 10 years in North America. In the PostFinance Arena, the former junior of Langenthal experienced a difficult first season.

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In 36 games for the Bernese, Sven Bärtschi scored only 14 scorer points, including four goals.

Due to physical ailments and a lack of confidence, Sven Bartschi was banished to the stands for a few games by then-coach Toni Söderholm.

Sven Bartschi's NHL career

Sven Bartschi, who played for the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and Vegas Golden Knights between 2012 and 2022, is retiring at the age of 30. He scored 138 points in 292 games.

His career's first three and a half years were spent in Calgary, which took him with the 13th overall choice in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. It was after his 85-point performance in 66 games with the Portland Winter Hawks of the WHL.

A promising career, however, was swiftly interrupted by concussion difficulties following a transfer to the Vancouver Canucks in 2015. He would never play more than 70 games in a single season with the team, and after his first concussion was disclosed in 2016–17, he never played more than 53.

Although he was never able to settle in Calgary, he did put up some respectable statistics in a middle-six position with the Canucks before injuries hampered his performance. In the 2016–17 season, he had his finest season to date, tallying 18 goals, 17 assists, and 35 points in 68 games while averaging around 16 minutes each contest.

Sven Bartschi continued to fall down the depth chart after four injury-plagued seasons with the Canucks. He spent the most of the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons in the minors on assignment with the AHL's Utica Comets. When he scored 46 points in just 43 games during his debut season with Utica, it appeared as though he had regained his mojo.

However, after failing to make it out of the Canucks training camp in 2020–21, his performances soon declined.

The next offseason, he joined the Vegas Golden Knights as a free agent, where he had a dull show for their minor league club, the Henderson Silver Knights.

In November 2021, he did play in one game for Vegas, skating for 13:54 in a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. His last NHL game will be that one.

Sven Bartschi produced far less than expected when playing in his hometown of Bern last season, scoring only four goals in 36 appearances.