On Saturday, October 28th, Tomas Plekanec announced his retirement from professional hockey due to injury. The 40-year forward spent 21 years playing professional hockey, with 15 of those coming in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens, and spent eight seasons wearing an “A” for the Habs, who drafted him in the third round of the 2001 NHL Draft before being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in February of 2018. He would play 17 games with the Leafs before returning to Montreal to play three games with the Habs in the 2018-19 season. Plekanec, who was well-known for his turtleneck, would play 1,001 games in the NHL, putting up 233 goals and 375 assists for 608 points; he also added 18 goals and 35 assists for 53 points in 94 career Stanley Cup Playoff games. After finishing up his NHL career in 2019, Plekanec headed back home and spent a season with HC Kometa Brno before playing for Kladano, where he’s spent the last four seasons as their captain and has still been putting up solid numbers, averaging close to a point per game over the course of the past three seasons.
During his time in the NHL, he was great in the faceoff circle, and that never changed when he went back to play overseas, as he’s led the league in faceoff wins over the past three seasons.
