Tomáš Plekanec
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| Position | {{{position}}} |
| Shoots | Left |
| Nickname | The Mechanic |
| Height Weight |
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 189 lb (86 kg) |
| NHL Team | Montreal Canadiens |
| Nationality |  Czech Republic |
| Born | October 31, 1982, Kladno, CS |
| NHL Draft | 71st overall, 2001 Montreal Canadiens |
| Pro Career | 2005 – present |
Tomáš Plekanec (born October 31, 1982 in Kladno, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech ice hockey forward.
Plekanec currently plays for the National Hockey League's Montreal Canadiens. He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. In 2001, he came over to North America and played for the Habs minor league affiliate Hamilton Bulldogs. He made his debut in the NHL during the 2003-2004 season playing in two games, and now plays every game for the team, without putting the fact that he had a knee injury that kept him out for a little over a month during December 2005.
Plekanec was a member of the Czech National Team at the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, which captured the silver medal.
Plekanec's best attributes are his intelligence (which has enabled him to be a key player in defensive situations, such as the penalty kill), his versatility (enabling him to work effectively as an offensive center, and a defensive center) and his work rate.
2006-07 Season
At the start of the 2006-07 season, Plekanec's emergence as a player allowed GM Bob Gainey to deal the Canadiens second-line centreman, Mike Ribeiro. Although coach Guy Carbonneau has used Plekanec in several roles over the course of the season, including time on the fourth line, he has mainly centered a line with Russian forwards Alex Kovalev and Sergei Samsonov. The line was mostly disastrous, with neither Kovalev nor Samsonov contributing the desired offense. In January, the lines were re-shuffled, and Plekanec found himself centering a line with Kovalev, and teenage rookie Guillaume Latendresse. Fortunately for the Canadiens, this line has been somewhat more successful, with Plekanec improving his play during the new year. As a result of his strong play, Plekanec was awarded the Molson Cup in January, as the Canadiens' top player for the month. Tomas now centers a line of himself, Chris Higgins and Andrei Kostitsyn which has been Montreal's most productive line in recent games.
[edit] Career statistics
(as of March 4, 2007)
| Season | Team | League | Regular Season | Playoffs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |||
| 1998-99 | Kladno | Czech | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2000-01 | Kladno | Czech | 47 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 24 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2001-02 | Kladno | Czech | 48 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 28 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2002-03 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 77 | 19 | 27 | 46 | 74 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| 2003-04 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 74 | 23 | 43 | 66 | 90 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| 2003-04 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2004-05 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 80 | 29 | 35 | 64 | 68 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| 2005-06 | Hamilton Bulldogs | AHL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2005-06 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 68 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 32 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| 2006-07 | Montreal Canadiens | NHL | 72 | 17 | 25 | 42 | 34 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Totals | NHL | 142 | 26 | 45 | 71 | 66 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | |
