After 18 NHL seasons forward Bill Guerin is calling it a career.

He announced his retirement today and will "symbolically" retire as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the last NHL teams he played for.

Guerin was part of the notable group of American-born players to rise to prominence in the 1990s and at the turn of this century.

Selected fifth overall by the New Jersey Devils in 1989, Guerin joined the Devils in 1991-92 and would play for them until mid-way through 1997-98. He was part of the Devils first Stanley Cup championship team in 1995.

He would go on to play nearly four seasons with the Edmonton Oilers until dealt to the Boston Bruins late in 2000-01. That season would also be his best, scoring 40 goals and 85 points split between the Oilers and Bruins.

Guerin spent 2 1/2 season with the Bruins, scoring a career-high 41 goals with them in 2001-02, then signed with the Dallas Stars as a free agent in 2002. After three seasons with Dallas he moved on to the St. Louis Blues in 2006-07 as a free agent and was dealt at the February trade deadline to the San Jose Sharks.

After that he spent nearly two seasons with the NY Islanders until dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins late in 2008-09, where he played on Sidney Crosby's line and played an important leadership role in helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup that year.

When the Penguins opted not to re-sign him this past summer Guerin joined the Philadelphia Flyers on a tryout basis but was released prior to the start of this season.

Guerin's career stats as a power forward are impressive, with 429 goals and 856 points in 1,263 regular season games, and 39 goals and 74 points in 140 playoff games.

Twelve times Guerin netted 20 or more goals, including 40-plus goal seasons and 3 thirty-goal campaigns. He was also known for his physical play, and rang up more than 100 penalty minutes in a season 8 times.

He played on two Stanley Cup championships, made the NHL's second all-star team in 2002 and was the NHL All-Star game MVP in 2001.

Guerin has also earned his place amongst the very best American-born players in NHL history.