Patrik Štefan

Patrik Štefan
Born September 16, 1980 (1980-09-16) (age 31)
Příbram, Czechoslovakia
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 210 lb (95 kg; 15 st 0 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for Atlanta Thrashers
Dallas Stars
NHL Draft 1st overall, 1999
Atlanta Thrashers
Playing career 1996–2007

Patrik Štefan (born September 16, 1980) is a Czech retired professional ice hockey player who was drafted 1st overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. At the NHL level, Štefan is regarded by some as one of the greatest draft busts in league history.[1]

Contents

Playing career

Prior to being drafted by the Thrashers, Štefan played for HC Sparta Praha in the Czech Republic, and the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL.

Patrik played six seasons for the Atlanta Thrashers scoring 177 points. During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Patrik played for Ilves Tampere in the SM-liiga. In 37 games, Stefan collected a total of 41 points including 28 assists. In the playoffs, Štefan had six assists and a goal in seven games.

On June 24, 2006, Štefan was traded to the Dallas Stars along with Jaroslav Modrý for Niko Kapanen and a 7th round draft pick in 2006.

Štefan earned significant notoriety when he missed and fell on a breakaway towards an empty net against the Edmonton Oilers on January 4, 2007,[2] which allowed a play to develop where fellow Czech Aleš Hemský scored with two seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. The Edmonton goal tied the game 5-5, but Dallas then won 6-5 in a shootout.

After Štefan's contract expired in 2007, the Dallas Stars chose not to re-sign him. Štefan signed with SC Bern of the Nationalliga A, but he only played three games for them before retiring in October 2007, largely due to a serious hip injury, the latest of several chronic injuries that plagued his career.[3] He is currently a player agent in Laguna Beach, California, and a coach at Orange County Ice Palace.[1]

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1996–97 HC Sparta Praha CZE 5 0 1 1 2 7 1 0 1 0
1997–98 HC Sparta Praha CZE 27 2 6 8 16
1997–98 Long Beach Ice Dogs IHL 25 5 10 15 10 10 1 1 2 2
1998–99 Long Beach Ice Dogs IHL 33 11 24 35 26
1999–00 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 72 5 20 25 30
2000–01 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 66 10 21 31 22
2001–02 Chicago Wolves AHL 5 3 0 3 0
2001–02 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 59 7 16 23 22
2002–03 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 71 13 21 34 12
2003–04 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 82 14 26 40 26
2004–05 Ilves SM-liiga 37 13 28 41 47 7 1 6 7 4
2005–06 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 64 10 14 24 36
2006–07 Dallas Stars NHL 41 5 6 11 10
2007–08 SC Bern NLA 3 1 0 1 0
NHL totals 455 64 124 188 158

See also

References

External links

Preceded by
Vincent Lecavalier
1st overall pick in NHL Entry Draft
1999
Succeeded by
Rick DiPietro
Preceded by
None
Atlanta Thrashers first round draft pick
1999
Succeeded by
Dany Heatley