Vlastimil Kroupa (born April 27, 1975) is a retired Czech 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 ...

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

. Chosen in the second round of the

1993 NHL Entry Draft The 1993 NHL Entry Draft was the 31st NHL Entry Draft. It took place on June 26, 1993, at the Colisée de Québec in Quebec City, Quebec. First overall pick Alexandre Daigle is widely regarded today as one of the all-time greatest draft busts ...

, 45th overall, by 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 ...

, Kroupa played in parts of 5 seasons with the

and

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. A tall and skilled

, Kroupa was known for a puck-moving transitional style and a heavy point shot. However, he struggled with the longer

NHL 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 ...

season (in comparison to Europe), as well as the more rugged and tough physical aspects of the North American game. After several seasons in the late 1990s spent mostly in the AHL refining his game, Kroupa elected to return to play in his native

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

before the start of the 2000–01 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kroupa, Vlastimil 1975 births Living people Albany River Rats players Czech ice hockey defencemen Essen Mosquitoes players Kansas City Blades players Kentucky Thoroughblades players HC Litvínov players HC Oceláři Třinec players HC Sparta Praha players New Jersey Devils players Ice hockey people from Most (city) San Jose Sharks draft picks San Jose Sharks players Czech expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Czech expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Czechoslovak ice hockey defencemen