Petr Svoboda

Petr Svoboda ( born February 14, 1966 in Most, Czechoslovakia ) is a former Czech ice hockey player who played from 1984 to 2000 for the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning in the National Hockey League.

Career

As a junior he played for the CHZ Litvinov, where he also began his professional career. After a very good performance at the Junior World Championships, he succeeded during the European Junior Championship in Germany in 1984 to settle his aunt living in Munich. Shortly thereafter, he was selected by the Montreal Canadiens during the NHL Entry Draft in 1984 in the first round as the fifth. It was very surprising that he was chosen as early and as long it was unclear whether he would ever approved for the Draft. He himself was at the draft in the Montreal Forum in attendance.

He moved immediately to North America. After he had survived a violation of the preparation, he sat down at once in his first season in 1984/85 in the NHL by. In the second year he was able to win the Stanley Cup. He distinguished himself as a good skater, with very hard shot and puck strong leadership. But especially to appreciate his ability to concentrate well. He showed a very consistent performance and made very few careless mistakes. At an early age he was plagued by numerous injuries that threw him back again shortly.

At the end of the 1991/92 season he moved to the Buffalo Sabres. Here he remained until shortly before the end of the 1994/95 season, when the Philadelphia Flyers committed him in exchange for Garry Galley.

For the Flyers, he played in the team to Eric Lindros for one of the co-favorites for the Stanley Cup. At the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano in 1998, he played after his flight for the first time at senior level for the Czech national ice hockey team. His teammates had to bring him there his Czech passport. He reached with his team the final against the Russian team. The game remained scoreless until after a faceoff, the Pavel Patera had won against Sergei Fyodorov, with a slap shot scored the only goal of the game and thus secured the gold medal for his country Svoboda. However, he never played in a World Cup for his country.

During the season 1998/99 he moved to the Tampa Bay Lightning. It played there the next season and played the first Czech to be the thousandth NHL game before a head injury ended his career in December 2000. He hoped for some time on his comeback, but in May 2002 he officially declared his resignation.

NHL stats

Sporting successes

Personal Awards

• European Junior Championships All-Star Team: 1983
• Participate in the NHL All-Star Game: 2000