Peter Šťastný
Peter Šťastný | |
|---|---|
| Member of the European parliament for Slovakia | |
| Assumed office July 20, 2004 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 18, 1956 |
| Political party | Slovak Democratic and Christian Union - Democratic Party, (EPP-ED) |
| Spouse | Cindy Šťastný |
| Peter Šťastný | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hockey Hall of Fame, 1998 | |||
 | |||
| Born |
September 18, 1956 Bratislava, Czechoslovakia | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1.5 in (187 cm) | ||
| Weight | 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb) | ||
| Position | Centre | ||
| Played for |
St. Louis Blues New Jersey Devils Quebec Nordiques | ||
| Playing career | 1973–1995 | ||
Peter Šťastný (born September 18, 1956) is a retired Slovak-Canadian professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980 to 1995. During his time with the Quebec Nordiques, Stastny became a Canadian citizen. Since 2004, he has also served as a Member of the European Parliament for Slovakia. During his NHL career, he played with the Quebec Nordiques, New Jersey Devils, and St. Louis Blues.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 and ranks 34th all time in NHL points (and second overall for Slovaks).
NHL career
Peter Šťastný was a prolific scorer in the NHL in the 1980s. He started his career in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques in 1980 and was traded in 1989 to the New Jersey Devils. As a member of a team playing in a francophone city, Stastny learned to speak french. He retired as a member of the St. Louis Blues in 1995.
When the startling news broke in 1980 that Czechoslovakia player of the year, Peter Šťastný, and his brother Anton, had defected to Canada to play with the Quebec Nordiques, it represented a watershed moment in professional hockey as one of the first major stars of Eastern bloc hockey to join the NHL. The following year, his brother Marián joined them to become the third trio of brothers to play on the same professional hockey team (the first being the Bentley brothers of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1940s and the second being the Plager brothers of the St. Louis Blues in the 1970s).
The trickle of Czechslovak and Soviet hockey players rapidly became a flood following his footsteps. According to Peter, his defection "was the best decision I ever made. It has given my family the choices and options that people behind the Iron Curtain could only dream of. Then, to play pro hockey with my two brothers was like icing on the cake."
On the ice, Peter proved to be both consistent and productive. He scored 450 goals and added 789 assists for a total of 1239 points in the regular season. After retiring as a player, he captained the Slovak national team in various international tournaments and still enjoys huge popularity among Slovaks.
NHL Milestones and Records
- 1st player in NHL history to collect over 100 points in rookie year (109). Note: Wayne Gretzky had 137 points in his first year in the NHL (1979–80), but was not considered a "rookie", due to his time spent with the World Hockey Association's Indianapolis Racers and Edmonton Oilers, where he won the rookie of the year award in that league during the 1978–79 season with 104 points.
- One of four players to record 1000 or more points in the decade of the 1980s (1059). Previously, only Phil Esposito had topped 1000 points in one decade.
- One of 7 players in NHL history to record at least 6 consecutive 100+ point seasons.
- Shares NHL record for assists by a rookie (70) with Joé Juneau.
- Holds NHL record for points in a road game with 8 (four goals and four assists on February 22, 1981 against Washington Capitals).
- Recorded 100th NHL point with an assist on March 29, 1981 against the Montreal Canadiens.
- Recorded 1000th NHL point on October 19, 1989 with a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks, and was the second European-born player, and first trained in Europe, in NHL history to do so. Stan Mikita, the first European-born player to score 1000 points, was born in Slovakia, but raised in Canada.
Family
Along with his brothers (and teammates), Marián and Anton, Peter also has an older brother, Vladimír, who was an assistant coach of the Slovakia national ice hockey team.
Peter is the father of Yan Stastny, who made his NHL debut in 2005–06 with the Edmonton Oilers, and Paul Stastny, who began his career with the Colorado Avalanche (the same franchise as the Quebec Nordiques, Peter's first NHL team) in 2006–07. Born in Quebec City but raised in St. Louis, Yan played for Team USA in the 2005 IIHF World Championships. The family is thus the first hockey family known to have represented four different countries (Czechoslovakia, Canada, Slovakia, USA) in international play. Paul recently broke the record for a scoring streak in a rookie season in the NHL and was a finalist for the 2006–2007 Calder Trophy—the NHL honour for "Rookie of the Year" won by his father in 1980–81.
Career in politics
Stastny has always been known for his resentment of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He joined the party SDKÚ-DS of the former Prime-minister Mikuláš Dzurinda to pursue a career in the European Parliament since he is fluent in both English and French. He was elected as leader of the 2004 European Parliament candidate list for the SDKU.
In the June 2009 election he was re-elected as the second of his party's MEPs.[1] His campaign slogan "With Courage and Determination for a Strong Slovakia" (Slovak: S odvahou a nasadením pre silné Slovensko) was criticised together with other slogans from the campaign as being something that any candidate could say about themselves [2].
Široký controversy
Štastný has called for Juraj Široký to step-down as the President of Slovak Ice Hockey Federation, stating poor performance, pursuing own financial interests over the welfare of Slovak Hockey as well as moral incredibility after it was revealed that Mr Široký was former ŠtB officer and he still has not sufficiently explained his friendship and involvement with Viktor Kožený and his fraudulent financial manoeuvres regarding so-called Harvard Funds.
Awards
- Calder Memorial Trophy - 1981
- Played in 6 NHL All-Star Games - 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988
- World Championships Best Forward Award - 1995
- Inducted into Hockey Hall of Fame - 1998
- Ranked number 56 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players, the highest-ranking Slovak-trained (or Czechoslovak-trained) player - 1998
- Inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame - 2000
- Inducted into Slovak Hockey Hall of Fame - 2002 - but he voluntarily quit and had his tropheys retrieved as a form of protest against Mr Široký.
Career statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1975–76 | HC Slovan Bratislava | CS | 32 | 19 | 9 | 28 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1976–77 | HC Slovan Bratislava | CS | 44 | 25 | 27 | 52 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1977–78 | HC Slovan Bratislava | CS | 42 | 29 | 24 | 53 | 28 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1978–79 | HC Slovan Bratislava | CS | 39 | 32 | 23 | 55 | 21 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1979–80 | HC Slovan Bratislava | CS | 41 | 26 | 26 | 52 | 58 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1980–81 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 77 | 39 | 70 | 109 | 37 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 7 | ||
| 1981–82 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 80 | 46 | 93 | 139 | 91 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 10 | ||
| 1982–83 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 75 | 47 | 77 | 124 | 78 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 | ||
| 1983–84 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 80 | 46 | 73 | 119 | 73 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 31 | ||
| 1984–85 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 75 | 32 | 68 | 100 | 95 | 18 | 4 | 19 | 23 | 24 | ||
| 1985–86 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 76 | 41 | 81 | 122 | 60 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1986–87 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 64 | 24 | 53 | 77 | 43 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 12 | ||
| 1987–88 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 76 | 46 | 65 | 111 | 69 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1988–89 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 72 | 35 | 50 | 85 | 117 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1989–90 | Quebec Nordiques | NHL | 62 | 24 | 38 | 62 | 24 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1989–90 | New Jersey Devils | NHL | 12 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 1990–91 | New Jersey Devils | NHL | 77 | 18 | 42 | 60 | 53 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 1991–92 | New Jersey Devils | NHL | 66 | 24 | 38 | 62 | 42 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 19 | ||
| 1992–93 | New Jersey Devils | NHL | 62 | 17 | 23 | 40 | 22 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| 1993–94 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 17 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 1993–94 | HC Slovan Bratislava | SVK | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| 1994–95 | St. Louis Blues | NHL | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ||
| NHL totals | 977 | 450 | 789 | 1239 | 824 | 93 | 33 | 72 | 105 | 125 | ||||
| CS/SVK totals | 202 | 131 | 113 | 244 | 107 | |||||||||
International play
- Played for Czechoslovakia in IIHF World Championships - 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979
- Played for Czechoslovakia in 1980 Winter Olympics
- Played for Czechoslovakia in Canada Cup - 1976
- Played for Canada in Canada Cup - 1984
- Played for Slovakia in 1994 Winter Olympics
- Played for Slovakia in IIHF World Championships - 1995
See also
- List of retired NHL players
- List of NHL statistical leaders
- List of NHL seasons
- Notable families in the NHL
- List of NHL players with 1000 points
References
- ^ "Results of the 2009 election, SDKU candidates", Slovak Statistical Office 7 June 2009
- ^ "Poverty of Slovak Political Advertising
Bibliography
- 2003 NHL Official Guide & Record Book, pages 167, 196, 200. Dan Diamond and Associates, Inc. ISBN 0–920445–79–9 (Canada), ISBN 1–57243–500–3 (United States)
External links
- 1956 births
- Calder Trophy winners
- Canadian expatriate ice hockey people in the United States
- Canadian ice hockey centres
- Czechoslovak ice hockey players
- Czechoslovak immigrants to Canada
- Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
- Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics
- Ice hockey players at the 1994 Winter Olympics
- Living people
- Members of the European Parliament from Slovakia
- National Hockey League All-Stars
- National Hockey League players with 100 point seasons
- National Hockey League players with retired numbers
- New Jersey Devils players
- Olympic ice hockey players of Czechoslovakia
- Olympic ice hockey players of Slovakia
- People from Bratislava
- Quebec Nordiques players
- Slovak Canadians
- Slovak expatriates in the United States
- Slovak ice hockey players
- Slovak immigrants to Canada
- St. Louis Blues players
- Naturalized citizens of Canada
- Undrafted National Hockey League players