Petr Nedvěd

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Position Center
Shoots Left
Height
Weight		 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
196 lb (89 kg)
NHL Team
F. Teams		 Edmonton Oilers
Vancouver Canucks
St. Louis Blues
New York Rangers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Phoenix Coyotes
Philadelphia Flyers
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada &
Flag of Czech Republic Czech Republic
Born December 9, 1971,
Liberec, CS
NHL Draft 2nd overall, 1990
Vancouver Canucks
Pro Career 1990 – present

Petr Nedved (born on December 9, 1971 in Liberec, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech-born Canadian professional ice hockey player. He plays center for the Edmonton Oilers in the National Hockey League.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Nedved was born Petr Nedvěd in Liberec, Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic) to Jaroslav and Sona Nedvěd. He left Czechoslovakia as a refugee on January 2, 1989 at the age of 17 after playing in an international midget tournament in Calgary. Nedved was the star of the tournament, with 17 goals and nine assists. He decided to defect to Canada because of the limited opportunities in Czechoslovakia under communist rule, which was very strict regarding athletes leaving the country to pursue professional careers elsewhere. He did not tell his parents about the decision, and with $20 and the help of another Czech who defected, whom Nedved refuses to identify even today, he declared his defection at a Calgary police station. In an interview in the Newark Star Ledger, Nedved said that the "fear of regret" was the overriding reason to defect. For ten months until the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia in the Velvet Revolution, Nedved's parents were forced to make calls imploring Nedved to come home.

Nedved married supermodel Veronika Vařeková in 2004. In early 2006, when playing for the Phoenix Coyotes, Nedved asked for a trade to an Eastern Conference team to be closer to Vařeková who works primarily in New York City. However during the summer of 2006, Nedved and Vařeková separated. Nedved now lives in Southern New Jersey.[1]

[edit] Playing career

After defection, Nedved played one season for the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League and was drafted 2nd overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. He currently plays for the Edmonton Oilers and has previously played for the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Phoenix Coyotes, and Philadelphia Flyers.

Before coming to Edmonton, Nedved had a rocky stint with the Philadelphia Flyers. After an October 18 game when the Flyers lost 9-1 to the Buffalo Sabres, Flyers assistant GM Paul Holmgren announced that Nedved, Niko Dimitrakos, and Nolan Baumgartner would all be waived and that Nedved and Dimitrakos would play for the Philadelphia Phantoms.[2] Holmgren also stated that it was unlikely that either of them would be called up to play for the Flyers again.[3] However, all three survived the waivers process and [4]Nedved was called back up to the Flyers on November 8 only to be placed back on waivers on December 10. General Manager Paul Holmgren confirmed that Nedved would not be called back again, effectively ending his Flyers career.[5]

He was put on re-entry waivers on January 1, 2007 and it was expected that he would be claimed by the Ottawa Senators. However, on January 2nd, Nedved was claimed by the Edmonton Oilers, whom he played for briefly during the end of the 2003-04 NHL season. Another former team, the New York Rangers also claimed him off waivers that day, but since Edmonton was lower in the standings, they were able to keep him.[6] Oilers' GM Kevin Lowe is hopeful that Nedved will recapture his form, playing alongside fellow countrymen such as Petr Sykora and Ales Hemsky on his second stint with the team.

Outside of the NHL, Nedved played for Sparta Praha (1997-1998, 2004-2005) of the Czech hockey league, the Las Vegas Thunder of the IHL, (1998-1999), and the aforementioned Thunderbirds of the WHL. He represented Canada at the 1994 Winter Olympics winning a silver medal.

[edit] Transactions

  • June 16, 1990- Vancouver Canucks 1st round draft choice, 2nd overall in the 1990 NHL entry draft.
  • January 20, 2006- Traded by the Phoenix Coyotes, along with Phoenix's 2006 4th round draft choice, to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Dennis Seidenberg and Philadelphia's 2006 4th round draft choice.
  • January 2, 2007- Claimed off Waivers by the Edmonton Oilers from the Philadelphia Flyers.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Career statistics

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1989-90 Seattle Thunderbirds WHL 71 65 80 145 80 11 4 9 13 2
1990-91 Vancouver Canucks NHL 61 10 6 16 20 6 0 1 1 0
1991-92 Vancouver Canucks NHL 77 15 22 37 36 10 1 4 5 16
1992-93 Vancouver Canucks NHL 84 38 33 71 96 12 2 3 5 2
1993-94 St. Louis Blues NHL 19 6 14 20 8 4 0 1 1 4
1994-95 New York Rangers NHL 46 11 12 23 26 10 3 2 5 6
1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 80 45 54 99 68 18 10 10 20 16
1996-97 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 74 33 38 71 66 5 1 2 3 12
1997-98 Las Vegas Thunder IHL 3 3 3 6 4 - - - - -
1997-98 HC Sparta Praha CzRep 5 2 3 5 8 6 0 2 2 52
1998-99 New York Rangers NHL 56 20 27 47 50 - - - - -
1998-99 Las Vegas Thunder IHL 13 8 10 18 32 - - - - -
1999-00 New York Rangers NHL 76 24 44 68 40 - - - - -
2000-01 New York Rangers NHL 79 32 46 78 54 - - - - -
2001-02 New York Rangers NHL 78 21 25 46 36 - - - - -
2002-03 New York Rangers NHL 78 27 31 58 64 - - - - -
2003-04 New York Rangers NHL 65 14 17 31 42 - - - - -
2003-04 Edmonton Oilers NHL 16 5 10 15 4 - - - - -
2004-05 HC Sparta Praha CzRep 46 22 13 35 44 5 2 3 5 10
2005-06 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 25 2 9 11 34 - - - - -
2005-06 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 28 5 9 14 36 6 2 0 2 8
NHL Totals 963 309 403 712 698 71 19 23 42 64

[edit] International play

Olympic medal record
Men's Ice hockey
Silver 1994 Lillehammer Ice hockey

Played for Canada on/in:

[edit] International statistics

Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM
1993-94 Canada Nat-Tm 17 19 12 31 16
1994 Canada Olym. 8 5 1 6 6

[edit] External links

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