NHL prospect FORCED to retire at young age due to HEART issues

We have been seeing over this past year, multiple young players being forced to retire due to issues.

Mikael Hakkarainen was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks back in 2018, 139th overall.

Making his way over from Finland, Hakkarainen had a very successful career in the USHL before getting brought up to the AHL.

While Hakkarainen never did crack an NHL lineup, he did bounce around between the ECHL and AHL between 2019-2021.

Hakkarainen was the piece that went back to the Vegas Golden Knights last summer in exchange for Marc-Andre Fleury. He did not play in any games unfortunately though, and went back to play in Europe.

Hakkarainen was unable to play this season and now we know why. It has now been announced that his hockey career is over.

According to sources the 24-year-old has been diagnosed with congenital heart disease.

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