Jozef Balej

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Position	Right Wing
Shoots	Right
Height Weight	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 187 lb (85 kg)
Swiss-A Team F. Teams	Fribourg-Gottéron Vancouver Canucks New York Rangers Montreal Canadiens
Nationality	Slovakia
Born	February 22, 1982, Myjava, SVK
NHL Draft	78th overall, 2000 Montreal Canadiens
Pro Career	2002 – present

Jozef Balej (Born - February 22, 1982 in Myjava, Slovakia) is a Slovak Professional Hockey Right Winger in the Nationalliga A who has played for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.

[edit] Playing Career

After leaving Slovakian hockey, Balej came to Canada in the 98-99 season to play for the junior Thunder Bay Flyers in the USHL. He was then traded to the Rochester Mustangs midseason (both teams now defunct). He played the next three seasons for Portland of the WHL.

Balej was drafted 78th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. After signing a NHL contract, he spent most of his time in the minors, playing only 4 games for the Canadiens, before being traded to the New York Rangers on 2 March 2004 with a draft pick for Alexei Kovalev. Balej has played 17 NHL games, scoring 1 goal and 4 assists for 5 points. He was traded on October 7, 2005, from the Rangers, along with a conditional draft pick, to the Vancouver Canucks, in exchange for Fedor Fedorov.

In the summer of 2006, Balej was given a qualifying offer by the Vancouver Canucks, but opted to play in Switzerland for Fribourg-Gottéron. His current NHL status remains a restricted free agent of the Vancouver Canucks.