Milan Jurčina (; born 7 June 1983) is a Slovak professional

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

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference t ...

who is currently an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He most recently played for the

Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

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

(NHL) for the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The ...

(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, Sunrise, Florida. As of 2022, the only remaining active players in the NHL from the 2001 ...

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conferenc ...

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 Liptovský Mikuláš (; until 1952 ''Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš'', german: Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus; hu, Liptószentmiklós) is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River, about from Bratislava. It lies in the Liptov region, in Liptov Bas ...

' under-18 and -20 teams from 1997 to 2000 to The 6-foot-4 Jurčina was drafted by the

241st overall in the

. After spending three seasons with the

Halifax Mooseheads The Halifax Mooseheads are a Canadian major junior ice hockey club in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The team was founded in 1994 and began play in the Dilio Division of the QMJHL from t ...

of the

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The l ...

(QMJHL), Jurcina began his

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 developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(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, R ...

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

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

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 Brand ...

. 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 Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

, 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 r ...

. However, surgery to repair a

sports hernia Athletic pubalgia, also called sports hernia, core injury, hockey hernia, hockey groin, Gilmore's groin, or groin disruption is a medical condition of the pubic joint affecting athletes. It is a syndrome characterized by chronic groin pain in a ...

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 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 b ...

(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 Eisbären Berlin (; English: ''Berlin Polar Bears'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Berlin, Germany. The team competes in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), the highest level of play in professional German ice hockey, and is also one ...

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

to begin from the 2016–17 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links