April 23, 2024
Jake Voracek hasn't skated since November 2022 but hadn't put an official wrap on his career until this week.
The former Flyers winger announced his retirement at age 34, via CNN Prima News in his native Czechia, after a run of 15 seasons and 1,058 NHL games played, but also with numerous concussion issues that had piled up toward the end.
Voracek, originally drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets at seventh overall in 2007, was shipped to Philadelphia in the summer of 2011 as part of the trade package to acquire Jeff Carter, which coupled with the simultaneous and sudden dealing of former captain Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn, had completely re-tooled the Flyers on the fly.
The core of the team had shifted to a rising star in Claude Giroux, while Voracek and Simmonds rapidly stepped up as the other pieces to it, though arguably through the most turbulent and middling decade in Flyers history.
Voracek, who was a skilled playmaking winger, went on to spend 10 seasons in Philadelphia, using his size and speed to constantly barrel through the neutral zone and keep checkers shielded away from the puck. He amassed 604 points as a Flyer (177 goals and 427 assists) in 727 games, earned an All-Star nod in 2014-15, and put up a single-season best 85 points (20 goals, 65 points) in 2017-18 during a run where Giroux had put himself in the Hart Trophy conversation while the Flyers were rocketing toward the playoffs.
.@NHLFlyers Jakub Voráček has announced his career is over. Naturally been expected for a while
— Alexander Appleyard (@avappleyard) April 23, 2024
Also said he enjoys coaching a lot.
That had 12 concussions over career.
Happy to have more time for family.
Congrats on a great career @jachobe! #Flyershttps://t.co/Fa9Pi0ToOT
The Flyers of that era could never sustain that success consistently, however, and looking for a shakeup after a dismal 2021 season, former GM Chuck Fletcher dealt him back to Columbus for Cam Atkinson, where he would go on to play in 90 more games before the injuries just became too much.
Voracek spent this past season back home in Czechia, coaching the power play for ELH's Rytíři Kladno, a club owned by hockey legend and former Flyers teammate Jaromir Jagr.
Ironically, and perhaps fittingly as well, Simmonds and Carter have also recently retired after lengthy and commendable careers themselves.
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