Thomas Greiss has ended his career as an ice hockey goalkeeper. The Füssener played 14 seasons in the North American professional league NHL.
This was reported by the NHL.com website on Wednesday (07/12/2023), when asked, the former German national player said that he was “officially retired”.
Greiss was last under contract with the St. Louis Blues, since July 1 he was a free agent and therefore without a team.
San Jose Sharks first stop in the NHL
Greiss was drafted in the third round of the 2004 draft by the San Jose Sharks, who later gave him his first NHL contract. Greiss played 14 seasons in the North American professional league, appearing in a total of 368 regular-season games.
Apart from his time with the Sharks, the goalie also played for the Phoenix Coyotes, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Islanders, the Detroit Red Wings and most recently in St. Louis.
Twice Olympic Games with Germany
In the future, Greiss, who took part in the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Games with the German national team, would like to focus on his life off the ice. “I’m now looking forward to the next quieter chapter with more time for the family,” said Greiss: “There were a few considerations, but in the end I looked at a few offers that didn’t really appeal to me. I was ready to take the step and I look forward to doing some new things in my life.”
Affair about likes on Instagram
Greiss hit the headlines in 2016. At that time, Deutschlandfunk reported that the goalkeeper liked posts with right thoughts on Instagram. Among them was a post that compared Hillary Clinton to Adolf Hitler. Clinton was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 2016. She lost to Donald Trump, the scandalous right-wing populist. Greiss has repeatedly expressed sympathy for Trump. He later apologized for liking the Hitler comparison.