Buffalo Sabres and German national team forward Jochen Hecht announced the end of his NHL career on 26th April after the Sabres' 2-1 shootout victory over the New York Islanders. He signed a two-year contract with his hometown team Adler Mannheim.

"The last few weeks, I kind of decided, or we, my family, decided to go back and start our life in Germany," Hecht said. "That's where we want to go back."

In his international career, Hecht appeared in four games with Team Germany at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, scoring a goal and an assist as Germany finished eighth. He was also named to the national team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, but was injured in his last NHL game before the Olympic break and was unable to play.

Appearing in six World Championships, he recorded 11 points in 38 games. His last international tournament was the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where he had one point in four games for Germany.

The 35-year-old German is a 14-year NHL veteran who spent the last 10 years of his career in Buffalo, also playing for the St. Louis Blues and the Edmonton Oilers. He signed a one-year contract before this season after being limited to 22 games last season due to post-concussion symptoms.

Hecht finished with five goals and nine assists in 47 games this season, and in honour of his service to Buffalo was the Sabres' final shootout participant in his last game for the team. He had 186 goals and 277 assists in 833 career regular-season games, and added 14 goals and 18 assists in 59 playoff games.