Milan Jurčina (; born 7 June 1983) is a Slovak professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers in 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). He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins (the organization that drafted him 241st overall in the

2001 NHL Entry Draft __NOTOC__ The 2001 NHL Entry Draft was the 39th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 23 and 24, 2001 at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida. As of 2022, the only remaining active players in the NHL from the 2001 draft class are M ...

), Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets and

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 ( ...

. Internationally, he has played for the Slovak national team.

Playing career

Jurčina began his career with Liptovský Mikuláš' under-18 and -20 teams from 1997 to 2000 to The 6-foot-4 Jurčina was drafted by the Boston Bruins 241st overall in the

. After spending three seasons with the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), Jurcina began his American Hockey League (AHL) career with the

Providence Bruins The Providence Bruins are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL), and are the primary development team for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). They play at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rh ...

in the 2003–04 season and was brought into the main Boston Bruins roster during the 2005–06 season. On 1 February 2007 Jurčina was traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a conditional fourth-round draft pick in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. He was later re-signed to a two-year deal by the Capitals on 27 July 2007. Jurčina, along with Capitals captain Chris Clark, were traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on 28 December 2009 in exchange for winger

Jason Chimera Jason Chimera (; born May 2, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger who played for five teams in the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Chimera played his junior career in the WHL, for Medicine Hat and Brandon. ...

. Jurčina was selected to represent Slovakia in the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

in Vancouver, finishing fourth with his team. At the

trade deadline In professional sports within the United States and Canada, a trade is a sports league transaction between sports clubs involving the exchange of player rights from one team to another. Though player rights are the primary trading assets, ...

on 3 March 2010 Jurčina was traded back to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a conditional sixth-round draft pick in the

2010 NHL Entry Draft The 2010 NHL Entry Draft was the 48th NHL Entry Draft, held on June 25–26, 2010 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, home arena of the Los Angeles Kings. This was the first time Los Angeles hosted the NHL Entry Draft. An unofficial re ...

. However, surgery to repair a sports hernia prevented him from playing in the remainder of the 2009–10 season. On 2 July 2010 Jurčina, an unrestricted free agent, signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the

. On 22 August 2014 Jurčina joined

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga ( lv, Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LLU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of ...

of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) on trial, eventually signing a one-year contract eight days later. Jurčina remained in the KHL in 2015–16, but took his game to Croatia, suiting up for Medveščak Zagreb. He made 49 appearances for the club, scoring four goals while assisting on ten more. In early February 2016, Jurčina parted ways with Medveščak to finish the season elsewhere. On 15 February 2016 he put pen to paper on a contract with Eisbären Berlin of the German top-tier

(DEL) for the remainder of the 2015–16 season. In September 2016, he signed a multi-year deal with fellow DEL side Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers to begin from the 2016–17 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links