Islanders: Matt Moulson hired as pro scout with Leafs, retires from on-ice hockey

Who didn't love Matt Moulson? The former New York Islanders forward has called it a career after a 21-year professional career. The Toronto Maple Leafs made a number of updates to their management yesterday and in addition, they announced Moulson as well as former Bridgeport Islander (then Sound Tiger) Chris Bourque, have been hired as pro scouts.

Moulson, now 38 years old, spent four-plus seasons with the Islanders and became an overwhelming fan favorite between the 2009-10 season and 2013-14 season. He was a three-time 30-plus goal scorer having found immediate chemistry with John Tavares on the first line. During the 2013-14 season, Moulson was packaged in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres that netted the Islanders Thomas Vanek. He played 44 games with the Sabres that season before he was again traded to the Minnesota Wild for Torrey Mitchell and two second-round draft picks. Moulson went into free agency that summer and returned to the Sabres for the next four seasons.

In 650 career NHL games, Moulson scored 176 goals, and 193 assists for a total of 369 points. That's not bad for a ninth-round selection in the 2003 NHL draft, 263rd overall.

A quarter of the way through the 2017-18 season, Moulson found himself in the AHL with the Ontario Reign where he would remain until 2019. He then signed with the Hershey Bears where he would remain until he announced his retirement from on-ice play. Moulson was named captain of Hershey in the 2020-21 season.

Moulson will remain in hockey off the ice, now working as a pro scout for the Maple Leafs. He'll join a scouting department that consists of Jackson Maxwell, Mike Penny, Richard Pollock, Jim Roque, and Tom Watt.