Nedved announces retirement from hockey

Former NHL forward Petr Nedved, who has spent the past seven seasons playing in Europe, has retired from professional hockey at age 42.

CBC reported Nedved made the announcement Thursday after Bili Tygri Liberec, his team in the top Czech Republic professional league, was eliminated in the playoffs.

"I can hardly find anything as beautiful as hockey in my life," Nedved said, according to CBC.

Nedved was fourth in the Czech league with 50 points this season and had 19 goals in 49 games. He had one assist in five games for Czech Republic at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

In 1989, Nedved left Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia to join the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League, and after totaling 65 goals and 80 assists in 71 games, the Vancouver Canucks selected him with the second pick of the 1990 NHL Draft.

Nedved joined the Canucks as an 18-year-old for the 1990-91 season and had 10 goals and 16 points in 61 games.

In 15 NHL seasons, Nedved had 310 goals and 717 points in 982 games with the Canucks, St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Phoenix Coyotes and Philadelphia Flyers.

He scored at least 30 goals in a season four times, topped by a 45-goal, 99-point season with the Penguins in 1995-96.

After splitting the 2005-06 season between the Flyers, Oilers and the American Hockey League, Nedved returned to the Czech Republic, where he played one season for Sparta Praha then six seasons with Liberec, where he was captain.

Nedved won a silver medal playing for Canada at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.