Samuel Kňažko (born 7 August 2002) is a Slovak 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 ...

who is currently playing for the

Cleveland Monsters The Cleveland Monsters are a professional ice hockey team based in Cleveland. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Monsters play home games at Rocket Mortgage F ...

in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL) as a prospect to the

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

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL).

Playing career

Kňažko was selected 78th overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. After his selection by the Blue Jackets, Kňažko was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with Blue Jackets on June 9, 2021.

International play

Kňažko served as Slovakia's captain in the 2021 and 2022 editions of the

IIHF World Junior Championship The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), sometimes referred to as World Juniors, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is traditionally ...

. He was selected to make his full IIHF international debut, participating for Slovakia in the

2021 IIHF World Championship The 2021 IIHF World Championship () took place from 21 May to 6 June 2021. It was originally to be co-hosted by Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia, as the IIHF announced on 19 May 2017 in Cologne, Germany. Their joint bid won by a very tight margin ...

. Kňažko was selected for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knazko, Samuel 2002 births Living people Cleveland Monsters players Columbus Blue Jackets draft picks Columbus Blue Jackets players HC TPS players Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Slovakia Olympic ice hockey players for Slovakia Olympic medalists in ice hockey Seattle Thunderbirds players Slovak ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Trenčín Slovak expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Slovak expatriate ice hockey players in the United States 21st-century Slovak sportsmen