Vincent Praplan (born June 10, 1994) is a Swiss professional

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

who is currently playing for

Genève-Servette HC The Genève-Servette HC (also called Servette or GSHC) is a professional ice hockey club based in Geneva, Switzerland and competing in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. The team plays their home games at the ...

of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL).

Playing career

Praplan played youth hockey with

HC Sierre HC Sierre is a professional ice hockey team, in Switzerland currently playing in the Swiss League (SL). Sierre has played in each of the top Swiss hockey leagues the National League (NL) and Swiss League (SL). It has also played several years in t ...

and

EHC Visp EHC Visp is a Swiss professional ice hockey team based in Visp and competing in the Swiss League (SL). The club was founded in 1939 and became Swiss champion in 1962. Visp has also won the league title in NLB three times; 1960, 2011 and 2014. The ...

before joining the

EHC Kloten EHC Kloten is an ice hockey team based in the city of Kloten in Switzerland. The team plays in the National League (NL). It has one of the best youth systems in Swiss ice hockey as its youth teams have won 19 championships during the last 50 year ...

organization as a 15-year old. He opted to play major junior hockey in North America, skating with the

North Bay Battalion The North Bay Battalion is a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League based in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. The franchise was founded as the Brampton Battalion on December 3, 1996, and began play in 1998. The team relocated to North Ba ...

in the

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 ...

for the 2013–14 season. Despite scoring 19 goals and 53 points in 61 games, Praplan went undrafted before returning to the NL with EHC Kloten for the following 2014–15 season. In the midst of his second full season with Kloten in 2015–16, Praplan agreed to a two-year contract extension with Kloten on October 20, 2015. Praplan participated in the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

' development camp in July 2017 and was invited to the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

prospect camp in September 2017. On August 29, 2017, with one year remaining on his contract, Praplan agreed to a one-year contract extension with Kloten to stay with the team through the 2018–19 season. Both contracts contained NHL-out clauses for both the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons. On March 2, 2018, Praplan signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the

of 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). His contract with Kloten was immediately terminated once the team got relegated to the

Swiss League The Swiss League is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League. The winners of the league each season plays a best-of-seven series against the bottom team of the NL, and if they win, th ...

at the end of the season. After attending the San Jose Sharks 2018 training camp, Praplan was reassigned to make his North American debut with AHL affiliate, the

San Jose Barracuda The San Jose Barracuda are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. The team will play at Tech CU Arena beginning in the 2022-23 season. The Barracuda is a relocation of the ...

, to begin the 2018–19 season. While limited through injury to 27 games approaching the trade deadline, Praplan contributed with 16 points for the Barracuda, before he was traded by the Sharks to the

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 ...

for future considerations on February 22, 2019. On May 17, 2019, as an impending free agent from the Panthers, Praplan returned to his native Switzerland, joining

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. ...

of the NL on a four-year deal through the 2022–23 season. Following a disappointing 2021–22 season, both SCB and Praplan decided to terminate his contract with the team. On March 16, 2022, Praplan left SC Bern following their lowest finish since 1986 and joined

on a three-year deal through the 2024–25 season.

International play

Praplan first represented

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

at the junior level at the

2011 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament The 2011 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament was an under-18 ice hockey tournament held in Břeclav, Czech Republic and Piešťany, Slovakia from August 8–13, 2011. As in 2010, the venues were Alcaplast Arena in Břeclav and Patrícia Ice Arena ...

and later at the World Junior Championships in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. Praplan was added to the Swiss national team at the senior level in preparation for the

2017 IIHF World Championship The 2017 IIHF World Championship, the 2017 edition of the annual Ice Hockey World Championships, was held from 5 to 21 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany and Paris, France. The official tournament mascots were Asterix and Obelix, the main characters f ...

. He would make the final squad and make his full international debut in the round-robin stage. Praplan helped Switzerland past the round-robin stage and contributed with 4 goals and 7 points in 8 games to finish in 6th place.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Praplan, Vincent 1994 births Living people SC Bern players EHC Kloten players Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Switzerland North Bay Battalion players San Jose Barracuda players People from Sierre Springfield Thunderbirds players Swiss ice hockey forwards Sportspeople from Valais