After the lockout ended, he re-signed with the Sabres to a one-year, $1 million deal. On 26 April 2013, Hecht announced his retirement from the NHL to reporters in the locker room following the Sabres' final regular season game against the New York Islanders. Following his retirement from the NHL, Hecht announced his intention to return to Mannheim to finish out his career. In 2015, he won his third German championship with the Adler squad. The first two titles came before his NHL career, in 1997 and 1998. Hecht played a total of three additional years in Germany before retiring from professional hockey in 2016. International play Hecht appeared in four games with Team Germany at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. He scored a goal and an assist as Germany finished eighth. He had been named to the team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. He was injured, however, in his last NHL game before the Olympic break and was unable to play. He played in four World Junior Ice Hockey Championships for Team Germany between 1994 and 1997, and shares the record for most games played in World Junior Ice Hockey Championships together with Switzerland's Björn Christen. Coaching career Hecht was named player development coach for Adler Mannheim on August 2, 2016. He served as assistant to Marco Sturm, head coach of the German men's national team, during the 2016 Deutschland-Cup. In July 2017, Hecht was promoted to the assistant coach position at Adler Mannheim and parted company with the club in May 2018 to take care of getting his coaching licenses. Hecht also worked for German TV as ice hockey pundit, on March 29, 2022, he returned to Adler Mannheim as assistant coach. Career statistics Regular season and playoffs International References External links 1977 births Adler Mannheim players Buffalo Sabres captains Buffalo Sabres players Edmonton Oilers players German ice hockey coaches German ice hockey left wingers Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Living people Olympic ice hockey players of Germany Sportspeople from Mannheim St. Louis Blues draft picks St. Louis Blues players Worcester IceCats players