Longtime NHL forward Tyler Ennis announced his retirement today, per an announcement from his first and most tenured team, the Sabres. The 34-year-old was playing with Adler Mannheim in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) but has terminated his contract and stepped away from the game after sustaining a neck injury during Champions Hockey League play last November.
Ennis gave the following statement on his retirement, translated from German:
After working hard to get healthy with our great team, I ultimately decided to quit hockey. I would like to thank [Mannheim general manager Daniel] Hopp, my teammates, the coaches, our medical staff and of course our great fans for their support. I will continue to cheer on the Adler Mannheim vigorously in the future.
The diminutive, versatile forward was a true top-six threat in his early days with the Sabres, but multiple serious injuries in his prime forced him into a depth scoring role as he remained effective later into his 30s. An unrestricted free agent since the end of the 2021-22 campaign, Ennis has spent the last 18 months playing overseas with Mannheim and SC Bern in the Swiss National League. Before sustaining the career-ending neck injury, Ennis had five assists through seven games with Mannheim and posted 13-20–33 in 37 games with Bern last season.
The Sabres selected Ennis with the 26th overall pick of the 2008 draft, their second selection of the first round, selecting hulking defenseman Tyler Myers 14 picks earlier. Ennis spent one season in junior hockey after his draft, lighting up the Western Hockey League with the Medicine Hat Tigers and recording seven points in six games for Canada at the 2009 World Juniors as the John Tavares-led squad captured gold. He made the transition to the pro game the following year, spending most of the season with AHL Portland, with whom he finished second in scoring with 23-42–65 in 69 games.
His strong minor-league showing earned him a full-time gig in Buffalo the following season. His rookie campaign wasn’t strong enough to get him Calder Trophy recognition, but it wasn’t bad by any means. His 20 goals and 49 points both finished fourth on the Sabres that year, part of a ninth-place offense that led Buffalo to its most recent playoff berth.
Ennis’ production increased the following season, producing at a 58-point pace. There was one key issue: a left ankle injury limited him to 48 games on the year. He would play 80 games in a season just once more throughout his career, in 2013-14. That Sabres team was one of the least memorable of the modern era, finishing with only 21 wins and 52 points. Ennis led that squad in goals with 21, earning himself a five-year, $23MM extension that summer as a result.
He again led the Sabres in scoring in 2014-15, posting 20 goals and 46 points on a team designed to tank for Connor McDavid in the 2015 draft. The lottery balls gave them the second-overall pick, though, giving them Jack Eichel as a consolation prize.
Unfortunately for Ennis, that season was his last near the top of a team’s depth chart. Upper-body and groin injuries limited him to a combined 74 games over the following two seasons, during which time his production tanked – just eight goals and 24 points – while seeing his ice time dip below 15 minutes per game. That was the end of Ennis’ tenure in Buffalo, as they dealt him and Marcus Foligno to the Wild in June 2017 in exchange for Jason Pominville and Marco Scandella.
In Minnesota, Ennis regained his health but not his production. His lone season with the Wild saw him post 8-14–22 in 73 games, averaging fourth-line minutes on the season. The Wild bought out the final season of his $4.6MM cap hit contract that summer, making him a UFA.
He didn’t last long on the open market. Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas signed Ennis to a one-year, $650K contract to continue his career in Toronto one week after Minnesota bought him out. While he saw even more limited usage than he did with the Wild, Ennis’ 12 goals for Toronto were his first time reaching double digits in four years.
Ennis stayed in Canada but made an intra-provincial move the following summer, signing a one-year deal for a more increased role with the Senators. He responded well, posting 16-21–37 in 70 total games in 2019-10, including a deadline move to the Oilers shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the regular season. His 14:43 average that season was the most he’d averaged since leaving Buffalo.
He continued to bounce between Edmonton and Ottawa over the following two seasons, returning for second stints in each city. Between 2020 and 2022, Ennis recorded 27-43–70 in 157 games while seeing third-line minutes. Still a capable point producer, it was puzzling not to see him field any offers in the summer of 2022 and head overseas to continue his pro career.
There had been rumblings of a PTO for Ennis during last year’s training camp cycle, but none came to fruition. The 5-foot-9 forward wraps up his NHL career with 144-202–346 in 700 games, including 13 game-winning goals and a 15:10 time-on-ice average per game.
PHR wishes Ennis well in his recovery from his neck injury and congratulates him on a spectacular career.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
This could be a bad move for Ennis, Edmonton and Toronto will show serious interest in the aging forward, It’s just a matter of time!
He is hurt……..evidently it may be a season ending injury, and now he calls it a career. Isn’t that what you want nearly every 33yr+ player to do? LOL
Your sarcasm was noted, by the way.
What’s with the worship of youth, Wilf? If a guy is a useful player and a long time journeyman in the league does he not deserve the respect of his peers and if he desires and a team is willing a spot to play? Every other profession honours its elders with promotions and supervisory roles (though sometimes it’s not good not all who are aged are better at the job) but I mean give the guy a break he’s still a young man. Nice career Ennis you made despite the size limitations the game placed on you. We’ll done!
Hey Wilf I’d be curious what you think about the unstoppable Jaromir Hagr, or how about super Joe Pavelski who at almost 40 still puts up big numbers…cmon contradict yourself ;)
Jager isn’t playing against the highest available competition and because he’s not in the world’s greatest sports league it doesn’t bother me at all, Pavelski is a fantastic story and I root for him for sure but he is also THE rare exception to the rule, I have just always wondered why teams overpay for a guy who won’t get any bigger, Better, Faster, Ir younger. Ovechkin is breaking down everyday more and more and yet he’s getting 12.5 million, Nobody can justify that egregious mismanagement.
Have you not learned the concept of ‘leverage’? You seem old enough to have encountered it at some point.
So you’re more saying why do teams overpay for old guys. I totally understand that concern, I never like my team throwing money at old guys in a cap world though I’m torn out of respect for the “old” guys who’ve toiled in the NHL for years…but in a cap world you’re right it’s not wise for a team to overpay for an old guy and so many do.
That’s always been my issue, Once a guy is about 32 and goaltenders around 34 I’m be going 1 or 2 seasons at a time contractually, The Nylander deal is going to age horribly.
One more point about Pavelski, He’s not getting an outrageous amount of money, Nill handled that contract perfectly.
Not one of Botterill’s better moves. Marcus Foligno should have been a Sabre for life.