Kristián Kudroč (born May 21, 1981) is a Slovak former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) 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. Tw ...

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 l ...

Playing career

Kudroč was drafted by the

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 (N ...

as their first-round pick, 28th overall, in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. He is a large, physical defenceman with an impressive slapshot. He played in North America from 1999 to 2005, and represented

SaiPa SAIPA (, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'' lit. ''Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Autom ...

in the Finnish

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

in the 2005–06 season, where ''SaiPafanit'' (the SaiPa fan club) elected Kudroč Player of the Year. Kudroc suffered a pre-season injury in a Tournament game with

Barys Astana Hockey Club Barys ( ), also referred to as Barys Astana or HC Barys, is a professional ice hockey club based in Astana, Kazakhstan. It is a member of the Chernyshev Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). It is one of the founding members ...

prior to the 2014–15 season. Kudroc was ruled out for the duration of the season in order to rehabilitate. As a free agent, Kudroc moved on from Astana and signed a one-year contract with Metallurg Novokuznetsk on June 4, 2015. On August 17, 2015, Kudroc sought a release from his contract with Metallurg for personal reasons. He returned to Czech Republic, signing a contract after a years hiatus with

HC Plzeň HC, hc or H/C may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Medicine * Health Canada * Hemicrania continua * Hyperelastosis cutis or hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia Chemistry * Hemocyanin, a metalloprotein abbreviated Hc * ...

of the Extraliga on December 14, 2015. On July 14, 2016, Kudroc agreed to a one-year contract as a free agent to move to Austria, with

EBEL The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League, ICEHL), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria. It c ...

club

HC TWK Innsbruck HC Tiroler Wasserkraft Innsbruck is an Austrian professional ice hockey team in the ICE Hockey League (ICEHL). They play their home games at OlympiaWorld Innsbruck complex in Innsbruck. History The club was founded in 1994 as HC Innsbruck and in ...

. He featured in 8 games with Innsbruck before on November 6, 2016, he moved to the UK to sign for

Nottingham Panthers The Nottingham Panthers are a British professional ice hockey club based in Nottingham, England. They are members of the Elite Ice Hockey League. RHPS are the Panthers' major sponsor for 2024–25. The Nottingham Panthers have won four league ...

of the

EIHL The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to internationally as the British Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey Superleague, it is the highest level ...

. However, in December 2016, after playing in another 8 games, Kudroc again ceased his playing contract with Nottingham, departing for personal reasons relating to a serious illness within his family in his native Slovakia.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links