František Kaberle

Frantisek Kaberle ( born November 8, 1973 in Kladno, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech professional ice hockey player in 1929 has a contract with HC Plzeň since 2011. During his career in the National Hockey League he played more than 500 NHL games for the Carolina Hurricanes, the Atlanta Thrashers and the Los Angeles Kings.

Kaberle comes from a traditional hockey family, he is the brother of Tomáš Kaberle, who also currently in the NHL playing for the Boston Bruins and the son of Frantisek Kaberle Sr., who was an international success in the 1970s for the Czechoslovakian national team.

Career

During his youth, he played for Poldi Kladno, where he also began his professional career. In 1995, the then 21 -year-old to Sweden and played in the Elitserien for the MoDo Hockeyklubb. During this time he participated regularly in the Ice Hockey World Championships and in 1996 and 1999 with the Czech national champion. After his younger brother Tomáš had made ​​the jump to the NHL in 1998, he also came to the fore of NHL scouts.

For the 1999/2000 season he was in the squad of the Kings, but often it was used at the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the IHL and the Lowell Lock Monsters in the AHL. In mid-March, he was then released along with Donald Audette to the Atlanta Thrashers. In return, Kelly Buchberger and Nelson Emerson came to Los Angeles.

In Atlanta, he then managed a breakthrough in the NHL and was the defense of the new team safety. As the team during these years could not qualify for the playoffs, he continued to take for his country at the World Championships and was part of 2000 and again in 2001 to win the world title.

In July 2004, he signed as a free agent with the Carolina Hurricanes, but the season was due to a strike, and he bridged the time in his home at HC Rabat Kladno and in Sweden, the MoDo Hockeyklubb. For the season 2005/ 06 he was finally able to play for Carolina and won with the team the Stanley Cup. In the deciding game, he contributed the decisive goal. At the Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006, he won in the course of this season with his national team the bronze medal.

A shoulder injury in the following season prevented him to build on the outstanding performance of the preseason. He could enter only in February in the season and scored in his first game the winning goal. Also in the 2007/ 08 season, he ranks among the top performers of defense at the Hurricanes.

End of July 2009, František Kaberle from the Carolina Hurricanes bought out his contract and then moved to his hometown club, the HC Geus Okna Kladno. A Jar later he moved within the Extraliga for HC Pardubice. For the 2011/12 season he joined the HC Plzeň 1929.

Awards and achievements

Internationally

NHL stats

(End of season 2010/11)