Former NHLer, 2018 Olympian announces retirement at 36-year-old

After parts of 12 seasons playing professional hockey, former NHL forward and 2018 Winter Olympian Bobby Butler has announced his retirement.

Butler began his career playing for the Ottawa Senators for parts of three seasons, before making stops with the New Jersey Devils, Nashville Predators and the Florida Panthers.

After spending the entire 2014-15 season in the AHL, Butler decided to head overseas to play in Sweden with MODO and in the KHL with Medvescak Zagreb and Nizny Novgorod, but return to North America in 2017.

The 36-year-old was named to the United States' 2018 Winter Olympic roster after a strong start to the AHL season with Milwaukee. He took a few years off between 2019 and 2022 to work as the Director of Hockey Operations for the Worcester Jr. Railers and as a volunteer assistant coach for Holy Cross.


Butler returned to professional hockey in January 2022, signing in the ECHL for the Worcester Railers and played for them until the end of the 2022-23 season.

Congratulations to Bobby Butler on a lengthy professional hockey career and all the best in retirement!