Jochen Thomas Hecht (born 21 June 1977) is a German

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 ...

coach and a former professional

player. He has been serving as assistant coach for Adler Mannheim since March 2022. Hecht played 833 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for 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 ...

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

and

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

and also began and finished his career with Adler Mannheim of the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called "PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga") (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a German professional ice hockey league and the highest division in German ice hockey. Founded in ...

(DEL).

Playing career

As a youth, Hecht played in the 1990 and 1991

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

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. The

selected Hecht in the second round, 49th overall, of the

1995 NHL Entry Draft The 1995 NHL Entry Draft was the 33rd NHL Entry Draft. It was held at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, Alberta. The drafting order was now set partially by a lottery system whereby teams would not be guaranteed first pick if they finished last. I ...

from Adler Mannheim of the

(DEL). Hecht played two full seasons for the Blues, compiling 32 goals and 46 assists before being dealt, along with

Marty Reasoner Martin Ernest Reasoner (born February 26, 1977) is an American former professional ice hockey center who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Atlanta Thrashers and ...

and Jan Horáček, to the

for

Doug Weight Douglas Daniel Weight (born January 21, 1971) is an American professional ice hockey coach, executive and former player. He is also the former head coach and assistant general manager for the New York Islanders. During his 19-year National Hockey ...

and Michel Riesen on 1 July 2001. After appearing in a full season with the Oilers, Hecht was traded to the

in exchange for the 31st and 36th picks in the

2002 NHL Entry Draft __NOTOC__ The 2002 NHL Entry Draft was the 40th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 22 and 23, 2002 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Two hundred and ninety-one players were drafted in total: 35 from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL); ...

. 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 Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

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 Walter Robert Bogdan Tkaczuk (born September 29, 1947) is a Canadian former ice hockey centre who played fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers between 1967 and 1981. Tkaczuk's family, originally from Ukraine, move ...

was the first. The ''C'' was rotated monthly during the 2007–08 season. On 16 October 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 26 October 2007, when he scored against

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

' goaltender

Tomáš Vokoun Tomáš Vokoun (; born 2 July 1976) is a Czech former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Nashville Predators, after he was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the ninth round, 226 ...

. Hecht returned to the city of

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

with the Sabres to play against Adler in an exhibition game on 4 October 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. 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 The 2012–13 NHL lockout was a labor dispute between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) that began at 11:59 pm EDT on September 15, 2012. A tentative deal on a new collective barga ...

, and after consulting with German doctors (who determined that some of his symptoms were neck-related), he rejoined Adler, joining Sabres linemate

Jason Pominville Jason John Pominville (born November 30, 1982) is a Canadian- American former professional ice hockey right winger. He played for the Buffalo Sabres and the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Amateur As a youth, ...

, who joined Adler as a lockout player. After the lockout ended, he re-signed with the Sabres to a one-year, $1 million deal. On 26 April 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 The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

. Following his retirement from the NHL, Hecht announced his intention to return to Mannheim to finish out his career. In 2015, he won his third German championship with the Adler squad. The first two titles came before his NHL career, in 1997 and 1998. Hecht played a total of three additional years in Germany before retiring from professional hockey in 2016.

International play

Hecht appeared in four games with Team Germany at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. He scored a goal and an assist as Germany finished eighth. He had been named to the team for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. 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 The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

for Team Germany between 1994 and 1997, and shares the record for most games played in World Junior Ice Hockey Championships together with Switzerland's Björn Christen.

Coaching career

Hecht was named player development coach for Adler Mannheim on August 2, 2016. He served as assistant to

Marco Sturm Marco Johann Sturm (born September 8, 1978) is a German professional ice hockey coach and former winger who played in the National Hockey League and Deutsche Eishockey Liga. He is currently the Head Coach of the Ontario Reign. Sturm began his ca ...

, head coach of the German men's national team, during the 2016 Deutschland-Cup. In July 2017, Hecht was promoted to the assistant coach position at Adler Mannheim and parted company with the club in May 2018 to take care of getting his coaching licenses. Hecht also worked for German TV as ice hockey pundit, on March 29, 2022, he returned to Adler Mannheim as assistant coach.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hecht, Jochen 1977 births Adler Mannheim players Buffalo Sabres captains Buffalo Sabres players Edmonton Oilers players German ice hockey coaches German ice hockey left wingers Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Living people Olympic ice hockey players of Germany Sportspeople from Mannheim St. Louis Blues draft picks St. Louis Blues players Worcester IceCats players