Richard Šmehlík (born January 23, 1970) is a Czech former 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 h ...

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 to ...

who played 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). He was drafted in the fifth round, 97th overall, by the

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 ...

in the

1990 NHL Entry Draft The 1990 NHL Entry Draft was the 28th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Vancouver Canucks at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 16, 1990. It is remembered as one of the deeper drafts in NHL history, with fourteen of the twenty- ...

. Šmehlík joined the Sabres for the 1992–93 season, and played there for nine seasons. He left via

free agency 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 ...

for the Atlanta Thrashers before the 2002–03 season. At the trade deadline of the 2002–03 season, Šmehlík was traded to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a draft pick. Šmehlík would go on to win the Stanley Cup that season with the Devils. He retired following the season. In his NHL career, Šmehlík appeared in 644 games, tallying 49 goals and adding 146 assists. He also appeared in 88 playoff games, scoring 1 goal and recording 14 assists.

Awards

*Bronze Medal at

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

(with

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) *Gold Medal at

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

(with

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 ...

) * 2003 Stanley Cup champion (with New Jersey Devils)

Trivia

*The draft pick the Sabres used to select Šmehlík was acquired from the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

in exchange for

Lindy Ruff Lindy Cameron Ruff (born February 17, 1960) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach who is the head coach for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). Ruff was previously the head coach of the Dallas Stars of the NHL, and al ...

. Ruff would later become the Sabres' head coach, and Šmehlík would play under him for five seasons. *Richard and his wife, Martina, have two daughters: Adela and Jessica. *Šmehlík appears on the cover of the Czech version of the ''

NHL 2000 ''NHL 2000'' is an ice hockey video game developed by Electronic Arts Canada. It was released in 1999 and was the successor to ''NHL 99''. The game did not boast great improvements to the game from ''NHL 99'', nor did ''NHL 2001'' feature any ide ...

'' video game.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smehlik, Richard 1970 births Living people Atlanta Thrashers players Buffalo Sabres draft picks Buffalo Sabres players Czech ice hockey defencemen Czechoslovak ice hockey defencemen HC Vítkovice players HC Dukla Jihlava players Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics New Jersey Devils players Olympic bronze medalists for Czechoslovakia Olympic gold medalists for the Czech Republic Olympic ice hockey players of the Czech Republic Olympic ice hockey players of Czechoslovakia Olympic medalists in ice hockey Sportspeople from Ostrava Stanley Cup champions