Jochen Hecht

Jochen Hecht
Born	(1977-06-21) June 21, 1977 Mannheim, West Germany
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb)
Position	Left Wing
Shoots	Left
DEL team Former teams	Adler Mannheim St. Louis Blues Edmonton Oilers Buffalo Sabres
National team	Germany
NHL Draft	49th overall, 1995 St. Louis Blues
Playing career	1994–present

Jochen Thomas Hecht (born June 21, 1977) is a German professional ice hockey player currently playing for Adler Mannheim of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He has played in 833 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres.

Playing career

The St. Louis Blues selected Hecht in the second round, 49th overall, of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft from Adler Mannheim of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). Hecht played two full seasons for the Blues, compiling 32 goals and 46 assists before being dealt, along with Marty Reasoner and Jan Horáček, to the Edmonton Oilers for Doug Weight and Michel Riesen on July 1, 2001.

After appearing in a full season with the Oilers, Hecht was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for the 31st and 36th picks in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. As a Sabre, Hecht had his most successful NHL season, in terms of points scored, in 2006–07 with 56 points (19 goals, 37 assists).

Hecht was chosen as the captain for the month of October 2007 and later during February 2008. He is the second German-born player to captain an NHL team – Walt Tkaczuk was the first. The C was rotated monthly during the 2007–08 season. On October 16, 2007, Hecht agreed to a four-year, $14.1 million contract extension, which kept him in Buffalo until the 2011–12 season. Hecht scored his 300th career point on October 26, 2007, when he scored against Florida Panthers' goaltender Tomáš Vokoun.

Hecht returned to the city of Mannheim with the Sabres to play against Adler in an exhibition game on October 4, 2011. Hecht, who was recovering from an injury and did not play, received a standing ovation upon skating onto the ice in pre-game practice.^[1]

After being injured in January 2012 with a concussion, Hecht missed the remainder of the season and ended the year as a free agent. Several months into the 2012–13 NHL lockout, and after consulting with German doctors (who determined that some of his symptoms were neck-related), he rejoined Adler, joining Sabres linemate Jason Pominville, who joined Adler as a lockout player. After the lockout ended, he re-signed with the Sabres to a one-year, $1 million deal.^[2]

On April 26, 2013, Hecht announced his retirement from the NHL to reporters in the locker room following the Sabres' final regular season game against the New York Islanders. He planned to finish out his professional career in Mannheim.^[3]

International play

Hecht appeared in four games with Team Germany at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. He scored a goal and an assist as Germany finished eighth. He had been named to the team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. He was injured, however, in his last NHL game before the Olympic break and was unable to play. He played in four World Junior Ice Hockey Championships for Team Germany between 1994 and 1997,^[4] and shares the record for most games played in World Junior Ice Hockey Championships together with Switzerland's Björn Christen.^[5]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NHL.com, or ESPN.com, or The Internet Hockey Database