FILE - Finland's Valtteri Filppula warms up for a men's semifinal hockey game against Slovakia at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 16, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, file)

Valtteri Filppula, Finland’s only Triple Gold Club member, announces his retirement

HELSINKI (AP) — Valtteri Filppula has decided to retire from hockey at age 41 after playing one final season at home in his native Finland.

Filppula announced Tuesday he is calling it a career. He is one of just 30 players — and the only Finn — in the Triple Gold Club for winning the Stanley Cup, Olympics and world championships.

He was a trusted, two-way forward for the Detroit Red Wings during their Cup run in 2008. Filppula captained Finland to its first Olympic hockey gold medal at the Beijing Games in 2022.

Filppula played 1,222 regular-season and playoff games in the NHL with Detroit, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and the New York Islanders from 2005-21. He continued playing in Europe, helping Genève-Servette HC win the Swiss league in 2023 and the Champions Hockey League in ’24.

He played for Helsinki-based Jokerit in Finland’s second-level Mestis league this past season.

FILE – In this June 4, 2008 file photo, Detroit Red Wings center Valtteri Filppula, of Finland, holds the Stanley Cup after the Red Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup hockey finals in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE – Geneve-Servette’s forward Valtteri Filppula lifts the trophy after winning at the Champions Hockey League Final game between Switzerland’s Geneve-Servette HC and Sweden’s Skelleftea AIK, at the ice stadium Les Vernets, in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. (Cyril Zingaro//Keystone via AP, File)

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