For a lot of hockey players, retiring and stepping away from
the game is hard. You can see it right now with former Montreal Canadiens
defenseman David Savard who’s already saying he would like to remain with the
team in some capacity. Earlier this week, we heard that former top line center
Tomas Plekanec will get his first experience behind the scenes at HC Kladno.
In an interview with TVA Sports’ Anthony Martineau, Plekanec
explained that he is now the Sports Director of the Kladno Knights, a Czech team
with which he played for parts of three seasons after retiring from the NHL. If
the team sounds familiar, it’s probably because it’s the Czech club, which is
owned by Jaromir Jagr, who is still playing for it, even at 53 years old.
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Speaking about his role, Plekanec explained that the on-ice
decisions belong to the coach, but everything else hockey-related falls to him,
meaning that he’s the equivalent of a GM in the NHL. When asked if he would
like to have a management role with the Canadiens one day, he smiled and said, “Never
say never, right? I’ll think about it when it comes.”
The 42-year-old was a third-round pick and 71st
selection overall at the 2001 NHL draft and played 15 seasons in the NHL, all
with the Canadiens aside from a 17-game stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs to
whom he was traded when he was a pending UFA for Kirby Reichel, Rinat Valiev,
and a second-round pick at the 2018 draft. The pick turned into Jacob Olofsson,
the 56th selection, the Swedish player is now 25 and he has never
played in North America.
The trade was still a big win for the Canadiens since Valiev
was then used in a package to acquire defenseman Brett Kulak from the Calgary
Flames. The blueliner played parts of four seasons with the Canadiens before being
traded to his hometown team, the Edmonton Oilers, for William Lagesson, a
conditional 2022 second-round pick, and a 2024 seventh-round pick. The latter
became left-shot defenseman Rasmus Bergqvist, while the former became reigning
Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson.
Once his contract expired, Plekanec signed another contract
with the Canadiens and played three more games in the 2018-19 season, recaching
the 1,000-game mark. The veteran was then approached by the organization about
a potential trade, but as he always wanted to retire as a member of the Sainte-Flanelle,
he agreed to have his contract terminated by the organization.
In the end, he played 1,001 games in the NHL, including 984
as a Hab. He gathered 608 points (233 goals and 375 assists), skating in a top
offensive role with the Canadiens. The center’s best season came in 2009-10
when he put up 70 points and added 11 points in 19 games as the Canadiens rode
Jaroslav Halak’s hot streak to the Conference Finals.
Throughout his career, he was recognized as a very defensively
responsible pivot, regularly getting votes for the Frank J. Selke Trophy,
awarded to the best defensive forward. He was a mainstay on the Canadiens’
penalty kill and was also strong in the faceoff department.
Unfortunately for Plekanec, the 15 years he spent with the
team weren’t the Canadiens’ best, and he spent most of his career in the wrong
chair. Had he played on other teams, he wouldn’t have been a top-line center,
but since the Canadiens focused on defense for most of his career, he ended up with
a significant offensive role and stepped up to the challenge.
Once he called time on his NHL career, Plekanec went back
home to Czechia and finished his season with the Brno Kometa, where he played
another season before joining fellow countryman Jarg with Kladno. In 66 games
with the Kometa, he put up 40 points and added another 106 points in 117 games
with Kladno before hanging up his skates for good during the 2023-24 season.
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