After a lack of elite Slovak talent in the NHL following the 2000s, there seems to be an emergence with youngsters such as Juraj Slafkovsky and Simon Nemec being drafted first and second overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. Before they both truly break out at the NHL level, what would a team of the best Slovak NHL players look like?
Forward Line 1: Anton Stastny, Peter Stastny, Marian Stastny
The Stastny Line is not just the greatest ever formed in Slovak history, but it is also one of the best lines ever formed in NHL history. The Quebec Nordiques had something going with all of the Stastny brothers on one line. Peter led the way, but his brothers Anton and Marian were vital as well.
At their peak in the 1981-82 season, this line was one of the best in the league despite some incredible talent in the NHL at that time. In total, the trio scored 300 points flat that season. Peter finished third in NHL points in 1981-82 and scored the second-most points over the course of the 1980s. The careers of Anton and Marian were notably short, playing under 1,000 games in the NHL cumulatively despite their success.
Related: Top 10 NHL Lines
Peter was very similar, playing only 977 games but amassing 1,239 points in the process. He is the fourth-fastest player to reach the 1,000-point milestone, only behind Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Mike Bossy. His career might have been relatively short for most Hall of Fame players, but his prime was one of the best in NHL history. He is the best Slovak player in hockey history, and his brothers help form a fantastic group.
Forward Line 2: Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, Marian Hossa
In a more recent edition of Slovak talent, forwards Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, and Marian Hossa make up this line. With two of these players being drafted by the Ottawa Senators and one playing for them later in their career, there is definitely a connection here.
In their primes, each of these players was special. In the mid to late 2000s, Gaborik was one of the best goal scorers in the entire NHL. His elite speed coupled with a great shooting ability makes him one of the best players in Minnesota Wild history, and consequently, the history of Slovak players.
Demitra was a consistently impressive NHL player. Teammates with Gaborik for a couple seasons, he was still an important player by the time he reached his mid-30s. At his peak, the two-way forward had 93 points in 2002-03, which was towards the end of the dead puck era.
Finally, Hossa is the only Hall of Fame member of this group, being inducted in 2020. With a 100-point season under his belt, three Stanley Cups, over 500 goals, and over 1,100 career points, he is deserving of a spot here. He was one of the best two-way players of the 21st century. With goal-scoring prowess, playmaking ability, and two-way ability, this line as a whole has it all.
Forward Line 3: Ziggy Palffy, Michal Handzus, Miroslav Satan
The elite wing depth of Slovakia is being put on full display with this third line. Ziggy Palffy’s short career makes him one of the more forgotten players in the league despite his dominance, Miroslav Satan was consistently dominant from the late 1990s through the 2000s, and Michal Handzus is a solid centerman who rounds out the group.
Palffy was one of the best offensive players of the 2000s. Very few players were scoring at a point-per-game pace, but he was doing this nearly every season. In addition, he was also a fantastic goal scorer. His issue came with his health, and he unfortunately never played a game in the NHL past his age-33 season in 2005-06. He is one of the very few players to have much of their prime go into the dead puck era and be a career point-per-game player, but that’s exactly what he retired as, with a total of 713 in just 684 games.
Handzus might not have had the peak of some of these players, but he was still a good Slovak player. Seven times in his career, he received at least a single vote for the Selke Trophy, finishing in second place in 1999-00 as a 22-year-old. In 2012-13, he won the Stanley Cup with Hossa and the Chicago Blackhawks.
Satan was one of the more recognizable forwards on the 1998-99 Buffalo Sabres’ Stanley Cup Final roster. With 40 goals that season, he was tied for seventh in the NHL, and only trailed the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner, Teemu Selanne, by seven goals. At the end of the day, he never got the award consideration of the other two, but his 735-point career should not be overlooked.
Forward Line 4: Ladislav Nagy, Jozef Stumpel, Richard Zednik
The dominance of Slovak players in the early 2000s is exemplified perfectly by this fourth line, as all of the players here were playing some of their best hockey during that time. With goal scoring being low during several of their best years, they still did a terrific job putting Slovakia on the map in the NHL.
Ladislav Nagy was scoring at a pretty good rate in the mid-2000s. With 108 points in 106 games between the 2003-04 and 2005-06 seasons, he is a player that might not get as much credit today as he might deserve.
Jozef Stumpel had the longest career of the three, spanning 16 seasons and accumulating 677 points. Even though ice time wasn’t tracked for a few years when he was in the league, he was relied upon heavily, averaging 18:46 in the regular season for his career.
To round out the forward group, Richard Zednik was a teammate of Stumpel in 2007-08, ironically as both of their careers were coming to a close. His 379 points in 745 career games aren’t necessarily eye-popping, but he was a consistently good goal scorer, finishing with 200 on the dot by the time he retired in 2008-09.
Defense Pairing 1: Zdeno Chara, Andrej Meszaros
The Senators apparently had a knack for Slovak talent, as both of these defenders were actually teammates in the mid-2000s. Forming one of the greatest teams to never win the Stanley Cup in 2005-06, these two became familiar with one another by the time they reunited on the Boston Bruins in the 2013-14 season. When put together, they form a solid defensive pairing on paper.
Without a doubt, Zdeno Chara is the best Slovak defender in NHL history, and he could go down as such for the rest of time. A six-time Norris Trophy finalist and the winner of the award in 2008-09, he is one of the greatest defenders in the history of the NHL, as well. With a height of 6-foot-9, nobody stood in his path.
For Andrej Meszaros, he was certainly never on the level of Chara, but he was solid in his own right. In his 10-season career, he received Norris Trophy votes twice and was a member of the 2005-06 All-Rookie team. His linemate sets a high bar, but he had a very successful career.
Defense Pairing 2: Lubomir Visnovsky, Erik Cernak
In the first duo with a player still in the NHL, Lubomir Visnovsky and Erik Cernak would be a pretty nasty pairing. Both draft selections by the Los Angeles Kings, the two have more in common than their national team.
For much of the 2000s and some of the 2010s, Visnovsky was one of the premier offensive defensemen in the NHL. Scoring 310 points in 435 games from the 2005-06 season through 2010-11, he finished fourth, 10th, and 16th in Norris Trophy voting during his best years.
For Cernak, he remains a prominent member of the Tampa Bay Lightning to this day. His career only started in 2018-19, but he has since established himself as a good shutdown defenseman. He may not retire as the best defenseman, but he does give a physical edge to this pair.
Defense Pairing 3: Andrej Sekera, Robert Svehla
For the final defensive pair, Andrej Sekera and Robert Svehla were two good players during their time in the league. Both being drafted after the third round, it might not have been expected to be that way.
Sekera was a sound NHL athlete for 16 seasons. He never had that truly amazing season like some of the others in this lineup, but his longevity makes him a valuable piece.
Svehla’s career in the NHL was rather short, but that had a lot to do with how late he started. A rookie at the age of 26, he became one of the better defensemen in the league rather quickly. He finished his career with two seasons where he was in the top 15 for Norris Trophy voting, and a final total of 335 points in 655 regular season games. He was a vital piece in the Florida Panthers’ run to the 1995-96 Stanley Cup Final, too.
Goaltenders: Jaroslav Halak, Peter Budaj
During his best years, Jaroslav Halak was one of the best netminders in the NHL. As for Peter Budaj, he surprisingly spent 13 years in the league, mostly as a backup. He did have times where he was much more than that, however.
Since both netminders played their careers in the modern era, we can use analytics to see just how good they truly were. Goals saved above expected (GSAx) measures how many more goals one is preventing versus what they theoretically should, which would be a GSAx of 0.0. In 2009-10, he had a GSAx of 27.6, behind only Henrik Lundqvist and Ryan Miller. With his save percentage (SV%) of .924 in the regular season and .923 in the playoffs, he was one of the biggest reasons why he and his Montreal Canadiens made a run to the Eastern Conference Final.
As for Budaj, his best season came much later in his career. In 2016-17, he got the chance to be the starter for the Kings, and that came with some good results. During that season, he had a .915 SV% overall and a GSAx of 10.4.
As a whole, Slovak hockey has a deep history that massively expanded at the turn of the century. In the near future, we might see another renaissance of Slovak players in the NHL.
