One of the most tenured and peculiar goaltenders to ever take to the ice called it a day.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, it was announced that longtime NHL goaltender Anton Khudobin announced his retirement from pro hockey at the age of 39.<\/p>\n
Anton Khudobin has announced his retirement from professional hockey.<\/p>\n
Selected by the @mnwild<\/a> in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Anton spent time in the ECHL and AHL between 2007 and 2010 before making his @NHL<\/a> debut for the Wild on February 4, 2010, picking up a victory in his first\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/31cEuC3DUQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NHL Alumni (@NHLAlumni) August 5, 2025<\/a> <\/p>\n Khudobin first broke into the NHL in 2010 with the Minnesota Wild<\/a>, the team that took him in the seventh round of the 2004 NHL Draft. After a couple of seasons mostly spent in the minors, the native of Kazakhstan gained some notoriety backing up Tuukka Rask with the Boston Bruins<\/a> during the lockout-shortened 2013 season.<\/p>\n That led to Khudobin signing with the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> in the summer of 2013, giving him a shot at being a No. 1 goaltender in the NHL for the first time. The experiment didn\u2019t pan out, which resulted in Khudobin being traded to the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> in June 2015. He would return to Boston as a free agent in July 2016, being reunited with Rask, serving as a capable backup for two more years.<\/p>\n Khudobin would join the Dallas Stars<\/a> in the summer of 2018, working behind Ben Bishop. However, the veteran got a break in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he carried the Stars to an improbable run to the final, ultimately losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>.<\/p>\n That was the peak for Khudobin. He spent parts of the next two seasons with Dallas before playing for the majority of 2022-23 with its American Hockey League affiliate, the Texas Stars. His last NHL game came on March 23, 2023, with the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a>, the team to which Khudobin was traded before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n In 260 career regular-season appearances, Khudobin had a record of 114-92-33, with a goals-against average of 2.52, a .916 save percentage and 11 shutouts. In 27 postseason games, he went 14-10 with a 2.63 GAA and a .919 SV% and one shutout.<\/p>\n Khudobin rounded out his pro career in 2023-24, splitting time with the Kontinental Hockey League\u2019s Sibir Novosibirsk and Sokol Krasnoyarsk of the VHL.<\/p>\n Along with his time in the pros, Khudobin also experienced success on the international stage. He won gold with Russia at the 2004 IIHF Under-18 Men\u2019s World Championship and the 2014 IIHF Men\u2019s World Championship. He also won silver at the 2005 and 2006 IIHF World Junior Championships and the 2015 Men\u2019s Worlds.<\/p>\n