OFFICIAL UPDATE: Markus Naslund has indeed retired. TSN has the report here. Naslund's cap hit was $4 million which will be a considerable savings for the cap-strapped Blueshirts. It became clear once new Head Coach John Tortorella implemented his system that Naslund just simply could not keep up. That savings may be enough to keep Nik Zherdev and some of the other UFA's and RFA's around.
According to Larry Brooks of the NY Post, Markus Naslund has informed teammates and management that he will retire.
The former Canuck had one year remaining on his contract worth $3 million.
In his only season on Broadway, Naslund scored 24 goals along with 22 assists for 46 points. The native of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden began his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1993 - 94. He was traded to Vancouver in 1995 - 96.
His career season was in 2002 - 03 when he scored 104 points.
This is a bit of a surprise as Naslund showed some signs of slowing, but still had a productive season on an offensively-handicapped team. He played in all 82 games for the Rangers during the regular season.
His $3 million will be a tremendous help for the Rangers and their salary cap.
