Patrik Štefan

Patrik Štefan
Date of birth	September 16, 1980
place of birth	Příbram , Czechoslovakia
size	188 cm
Weight	95 kg
position	center
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	1999 , 1st round, 1st position Atlanta Thrashers
Career stations
1996-1998	HC Sparta Prague
1998-1999	Long Beach Ice Dogs
1999-2006	Atlanta Thrashers
2004-2005	Ilves Tampere
2006-2007	Dallas Stars
2007	SC Bern

Patrik Štefan (born September 16, 1980 in Příbram , Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czech ice hockey player who was active in the National Hockey League for the Atlanta Thrashers and the Dallas Stars .

Career

Štefan began his professional career at HC Sparta Prague . In 1996 and 1997 he took part in the Junior World Championships, where he attracted international attention. In his second season in Prague he was brought into the International Hockey League (IHL) by the Long Beach Ice Dogs . In 1998 he received a trial contract for 25 audition games, this was actually only supposed to bridge the time of the Olympic break at his home club in Prague and give Štefan the opportunity to present himself in North America . He was able to record ten assists and five goals. At that time, he was counted among the most likely first five NHL draft picks in the following entry draft. Due to his birthday, he missed the minimum age for the draft by one day, so that Štefan should not be eligible for election until 1999. In the meantime, Štefan had received a lot of ice age with the Ice Dogs and also had assignments in the special teams . Štefan was set up by the Ice Dogs as a play- making center .

A return to Europe was out of the question for Štefan and he signed up for another season with the Long Beach Ice Dogs. His contract stipulated that Štefan should be on leave of absence from the Ice Dogs to participate in the Junior World Championship, but due to a neck injury in November 1998, Štefan fell out for a long time and could not take a place in the Czech national team . This season he could only complete 33 games, but convinced with a total of 35 points. At the 1999 NHL Entry Draft , he was drawn first overall by the Atlanta Thrashers.

The Thrashers immediately put Štefan on in the 1999/2000 season . In his first season in the NHL Štefan could not meet the high expectations that the public, the club officials and his teammates placed on him. He finished the season with just five goals and 20 assists. The following season Štefan was demoted to the AHL for a short time and ran for five games for the Chicago Wolves , the farm team of the Atlanta Thrashers. Štefan was able to return to the Thrashers and was built up again with the rising ice ages. In the following seasons Štefan often formed a series with Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley , who were three and one year younger than Štefan, respectively. The three were therefore often called the "Kid Line".

After five seasons with the Thrashers there was a change for Štefan: The NHL teams excluded their players during the 2004/05 lockout . Štefan then looked for a new employer in Europe and played for Ilves Tampere in the Finnish SM-liiga . In 37 games in the regular season, Štefan could achieve 13 goals and 28 assists. In the seven play-off games up to the elimination of Tampere, he was able to add one goal and seven assists. After the season in Finland, Štefan returned to the NHL and ran again for the Thrashers in 2005/06 . With 24 points, he only played himself in 252nd place in comparison with the other NHL strikers.

In the summer of 2006 the Thrashers Štefan exchanged together with the defender Jaroslav Modrý for Niko Kapanen and a drawing right in the draft with the Dallas Stars . In Dallas plagued him several injuries in the 2006/07 season , which is why he could only play 41 games and only scored eleven points.

His contract was not renewed in Dallas in the summer of 2007 because it had until September also committed no other NHL team he signed with SC Bern of the National League A . After only three games and one goal for SC Bern, Stefan had to end his career due to a chronic injury.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Play-offs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1996-97	HC Sparta Prague	EL (Cz)		5	0	1	1	2		7th	1	0	1	0
1997-98	HC Sparta Prague	EL (Cz)		27	2	6th	8th	16		-	-	-	-	-
	Long Beach Ice Dogs	IHL		25th	5	10	15th	10		10	1	1	2	2
1998-99	Long Beach Ice Dogs	IHL		33	11	24	35	26th		-	-	-	-	-
1999-00	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		72	5	20th	25th	30th		-	-	-	-	-
2000-01	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		66	10	21st	31	22nd		-	-	-	-	-
2001-02	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		59	7th	16	23	22nd		-	-	-	-	-
	Chicago Wolves	AHL		5	3	0	3	0		-	-	-	-	-
2002-03	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		71	13	21st	34	12		-	-	-	-	-
2003-04	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		82	14th	26th	40	26th		-	-	-	-	-
2004-05	Tampereen Ilves	FNL		37	13	28	41	47		7th	1	6th	7th	4th
2005-06	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		64	10	14th	24	36		-	-	-	-	-
2006-07	Dallas Stars	NHL		41	5	6th	11	10		-	-	-	-	-
2007-08	SC Bern	NLA		3	1	0	1	0		-	-	-	-	-
Tbsp (Cz) total				32	2	7th	9	18th		7th	1	0	1	0
IHL total				58	16	34	50	36		10	1	1	2	2
NHL overall				455	64	124	188	158		0	0	0	0	0
AHL total				5	3	0	3	0		0	0	0	0	0
FNL total				37	13	28	41	47		7th	1	6th	7th	4th
NLA total				3	1	0	1	0		-	-	-	-	-

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

• Patrik Štefan at eliteprospects.com (English)
• Patrik Štefan at hockeydb.com (English)
• Patrik Štefan at eurohockey.com