Jan Muršak (born 20 January 1988) is a professional Slovenian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player for

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

(SHL). Muršak first played hockey in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

as a member of

HDK Maribor Hokejsko drsalni klub Maribor or simply HDK Maribor, also named Lisjaki ( en, The Foxes), is an ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings spec ...

before he left to spend one season in the Czech junior league. He was then selected by the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

in the

2006 NHL Entry Draft The 2006 NHL Entry Draft was the 44th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 24, 2006. The draft order for the first 14 picks was decided during a lottery held on April 20, 2006. The draft was ...

and moved to the

major junior Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

Ontario Hockey League The Ontario Hockey League (OHL; french: Ligue de hockey de l'Ontario (LHO)) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The league is for players aged 16–19. There are exceptions for overag ...

(OHL) and played for two teams, the

Saginaw Spirit The Saginaw Spirit are a major junior ice hockey team based in Saginaw, Michigan. They are members of the West Division of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), one of the Major Junior leagues of the Canadian Hockey League ( ...

and

Belleville Bulls The Belleville Bulls were a junior ice hockey team, founded in 1981 and based in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. The team played in the Eastern Division of the Eastern Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. The team moved to Hamilton, Ontario at ...

. After finishing his junior career Muršak then joined the Red Wings

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL) affiliate, the

Grand Rapids Griffins The Grand Rapids Griffins are a professional ice hockey, hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and play home games at Van Andel Arena. They are the AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings of the National H ...

in 2008.

Playing career

European career and juniors

Muršak developed his skills in his hometown ice hockey club

where he played until the age of 17. As a youth, he played in the 2001 and 2002

Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament The Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (french: Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee de Québec) is an annual minor ice hockey event in Quebec City. The tournament was founded in 1960 to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, ...

s with a team from

. He later transferred to

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

club HC Ceské Budejovice for which he played for a season in CZE-U20 youth development league. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

he was selected by the

as the 182nd overall draft pick (6th round). During the same year Muršak was drafted by the

in 1st Round of the 2006 CHL Import Draft, 33rd overall. He had a successful first season for Saginaw which earned him a playoff call up for the

, AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings. In his second OHL season, Muršak was traded from the Saginaw Spirit, to the

where he stayed until the end of the season, before moving on to play regularly for Grand Rapids in the AHL.

Detroit Red Wings

Muršak signed a contract with the

in April 2007. Since his draft in 2006 he has made appearances for the Red Wings during training camps. On 26 December 2010 it was announced by Detroit that Muršak was called up to the team to fill in after an ankle injury of

Danny Cleary Daniel Michael Cleary (born December 18, 1978) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, Phoenix Coyotes and Detroit Red Wings. He currently s ...

. He made his NHL career debut on 28 December 2010 in a game against the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

, thus becoming the second Slovenian, after

Anže Kopitar Anže Kopitar (, born 24 August 1987) is a Slovene professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). The 11th overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Kopitar became the first Slovene to ...

of the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

, to play in the NHL. Muršak scored his first NHL goal on 10 January 2011, also in a game against the Avalanche against

Peter Budaj Peter Budaj ( ; born 18 September 1982) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey goaltender. He had previously played in the National Hockey League for the Colorado Avalanche, which drafted him, Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings, and Tam ...

. On 17 February 2011, Muršak signed a new two-year contract with the Red Wings. Due to the

2012 NHL lockout 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Muršak signed a temporary contract with the Slovenian hockey team

HDD Olimpija Ljubljana Hokejsko drsalno društvo Olimpija Ljubljana, commonly referred to as HDD Olimpija or simply Olimpija, was a Slovenian professional ice hockey club from Ljubljana. They played their home games at the Tivoli Hall. Olimpija has won 13 Yugoslav ch ...

of the

EBEL Ebel is a Swiss luxury watch company that was founded in 1911 at La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. History Ebel was established in 1911 by Eugène Blum and his wife, Alice (née Lévy). The brand name originates from th ...

league. In 30 games with Olimpija, he excelled with 48 points, before returning for the start of the shortened

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season with the Red Wings. On opening night, he was again setback by injury, after hurting his collarbone in a 6–0 defeat against the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

. On his return to health, and with limited opportunity with the Red Wings, Muršak was placed on waivers on 22 February 2013. He was assigned to the Griffins for the remainder of the season.

Return to Europe

As an impending free agent, Mursak subsequently moved to

Amur Khabarovsk Hockey Club Amur (russian: Хоккейный клуб Амур), commonly referred to as the Amur Khabarovsk, is a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Khabarovsk. They are members of the Chernyshev Division of the Kontinental Hockey Le ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

. After re-establishing his offensive presence in three and half seasons with

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

, Muršak left the club as a free agent and opted to continue in the KHL in signing a one-year contract with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod on May 1, 2017. Mursak then played for Frolunda HC in the SHL and scored a brace on his first team game debut against HV71 on January 11, 2018. Mursak currently plays for

SC Bern Schlittschuh Club Bern (''Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English language, English) is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. They play in the National League (ice hockey), National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. ...

in the NL.

International play

Muršak was chosen to compete on the Slovenia national junior team in the

2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 2008 IIHF World U20 Championship, commonly referred to as the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (2008 WJHC), was the 32nd edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship. The Elite group, what the IIHF refer to as the Top Divisio ...

( Division I) in

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, where he scored one goal and two assists and was named the best forward of the tournament. He made his debut for the Slovenian senior team at the 2010 Division I Championships, held in the Slovenian capital,

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

. In 2014, Muršak represented

at their first appearance at the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. Muršak also represented

at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

in Pyeonchang, most notably coming on as a substitute in the last minutes of the game against

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, and scoring two late goals to win them the game.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mursak, Jan 1988 births Living people Amur Khabarovsk players Belleville Bulls players SC Bern players Detroit Red Wings draft picks Detroit Red Wings players Grand Rapids Griffins players Motor České Budějovice players HC CSKA Moscow players Frölunda HC players HDD Olimpija Ljubljana players HDK Maribor players Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Slovenia Saginaw Spirit players Slovenian ice hockey left wingers Sportspeople from Maribor Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod players Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Expatriate ice hockey players in the Czech Republic Expatriate ice hockey players in Canada Slovenian expatriate ice hockey people