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Peter Šťastný
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1998
Peter Šťastný
Born 18 September, 1956 (1956-09-18) (age 67)
Czechoslovakia Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg)
Position Center
Shot Left
Played for Quebec Nordiques
New Jersey Devils
Slovan Bratislava (ČSHL)
National team Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
NHL Draft 65th overall, 1977
Toronto Maple Leafs
WHA Draft 9th overall, 1977
Quebec Nordiques
Playing career 1975–1995

Peter Šťastný (born 18 September 1956), also known colloquially as "Peter the Great" and "Stosh", is a retired Czechoslovak professional ice hockey player of Slovak origin who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980 to 1995. Šťastný is the second highest scorer of the 80's after Wayne Gretzky. During his NHL career, he played with the Quebec Nordiques and the New Jersey Devils.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 and ranks 34th all time in NHL points. He is the father of current Vegas Golden Knights forward Pavol Šťastný.

Playing career[]

Slovan Bratislava (1975–1980)[]

He began his pro career with HC Slovan Bratislava in the Czechoslovak Elite League, starring for his hometown Bratislava team for 6 years. By 1979-80 Peter had become the best player in the country, as he was named the Czechoslovakian Player of the Year after recording 26 goals and 26 assists for 52 points in just 41 games. After his sixth season, he was signed by the Quebec Nordiques.

Quebec Nordiques (1980–1990)[]

Shortly after his 24th birthday, Peter Šťastný joined the Nordiques. where he was quickly teamed with Michel Goulet and his older brother Anton. Peter and Anton lined up for the first time together against Calgary on 9 October 1980. Five days later Anton scored his first goal and 12 days later Peter scored one into Tony Esposito's net in a game against Chicago. Peter and Anton became the hub of the team. They did whatever was necessary to get points. Over a two-day period in February, something happened that had probably never happened before in the NHL and will probably never happen again. On 20 February 1981, each of the brothers got a hat-trick to lead their team to a 9-3 win in Vancouver. And less than 48 hours later, that feat was improved upon. Peter scored four goals and Anton three and Quebec won the game 11-7. He easily won the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie, setting NHL records for assist (70) and points (109) by a freshman (since surpassed). Peter became first NHL rookie to score 100 points in a season, completely eliminating any doubts about the Slovak hockey great. Nordiques, who struggled mightily after one season removed from the WHA merger, became instantly respectable and then a eastern power, perhaps saving the franchise from its inevitable demise.

Proving his first season was no fluke, Peter would go on to score 7 more 100 point seasons, including six consecutive seasons to start his career. His best season was his sophomore year when he racked up 46 goals and 93 assists for 139 points. The following year he was joined by his brother Marián, becoming 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). As a star member of a team playing in a francophone city, Šťastný endeared himself to the Quebec fans by learning to speak French, and later learned to speak English.

He was a very shifty skater, not necessarily blessed with great speed but more with a tremendous sense of balance. Combine that with his equally incredible vision and puck handling skills and Peter Šťastný ranks as one of the great playmakers ever. He was the lead conductor of his on-ice orchestra. He shared an uncanny connection with his brothers, particularly with Anton on give and go plays. An old school hockeyist, Peter relied almost strictly on his accurate wrist shot. He was especially dangerous on the power play.

Šťastný helped make the Nordiques a powerhouse in the NHL's Wales Conference. Many great regular season and playoff battles occurred with the provincial rival Montreal Canadiens in one of the greatest and unfortunately shortest rivalries the league has ever seen. Despite some great runs, Stastny and the Nordiques never did make an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. Lack of depth and great goaltending was always the weakness of the Nordiques in their tough playoff battles in the Adams Division and Wales Conference.

New Jersey Devils (1990–1993)[]

In 1990 he was traded to the New Jersey Devils for Craig Wolanin and Randy Velischek. Despite having lost a step after his decade in Quebec he still helped improve a Devils team on the rise and remained one of the best players on the club until he returned to Czechoslovakia for 1993–1994.

Return to Slovan Bratislava and retirement (1993–1995)[]

He returned to his native Czechoslovakia for 1993-94, signing a two-year contract with the HC Slovan Bratislava. He noted 15 goals and 17 assists in 38 games, but Slovan lost 4–1 to HC Dukla Trenčín in the Masaryk Cup semifinals. The following season he played 41 games and noted 16 goals and 19 assists. He played his final game on 12 March 1995, as Slovan Bratislava were eliminated by HC Dukla Trenčín in Game 6. Following the contest, Šťastný was saluted by fans, teammates and opponents alike, and took a final lap around the rink.

Šťastný finished his Hall of Fame career in 1995 with a total of 1237 total points. In his NHL career, he scored 444 goals and added 777 assists for a total of 1221 points in the regular season, which made him the highest scoring European trained player at the time of his retirement (since surpassed by Jaromír Jágr). He was so dominant that in the 1980s only Wayne Gretzky scored more points in the decade.

International career[]

Medal record
Men's ice hockey
Representing Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia
Olympic Games
First place 1976 Innsbruck
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Albertville
IIHF World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1977 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 1978 Czechoslovakia
Silver medal – second place 1979 Soviet Union
Bronze medal – third place 1981 Sweden
Silver medal – second place 1982 Finland
Gold medal – first place 1985 Czechoslovakia
Bronze medal – third place 1989 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 1990 Switzerland
Bronze medal – third place 1993 Czechoslovakia
World Junior Championship
Bronze medal – third place 1976 Finland
IIHF European Junior Championship
Silver medal – second place 1975 France

Together with his brother Marián, Peter Šťastný debuted internationally at the Winter Olympics in 1976, where Czechoslovakia surprisingly defeated the three-time defending champions from the Soviet Union and won the gold medal. Šťastný played in thirteen IIHF World Championships, winning a gold medal in 1985 and three bronze medals, eight IIHF European Championships, winning two gold medals, two silver and a bronze medal, and four Winter Olympics, winning one gold medal and one bronze medal.

He was the flag bearer for the Czechoslovak athletic roster at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer. As a 37-year old Šťastný finished second in the Lillehammer scoring race, which he also did 14 years earlier in Lake Placid.

Awards[]

NHL[]

Award Number Year(s) awarded
Hockey Hall of Fame 1998
Calder Memorial Trophy 1 1981
NHL All-Star Game selection 6 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988

Czechoslovak awards[]

Award Number Year(s) awarded
T. G. Masaryk Cup (Pohár T. G. Masaryka) 1 1978–1979
Czechoslovak 1st League All-Star Team 2 1978–1979, 1979–1980
Golden Hockey Stick (Zlatá hokejka)
(Czechoslovak Player of the Year)
2 1979–1980, 1982–1983

International[]

Award Number Year(s) awarded
Logo of the IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)
IIHF Hall of Fame 2000
Olympic Rings Winter Olympics
Gold medal Olympics Olympic gold medal 1 1976
Bronze medal Olympics Olympic bronze medal 1 1992
Logo of the IIHF IIHF World Championships
Gold medal blank IIHF World Championship gold medal 2 1977, 1985
Silver medal blank IIHF World Championship silver medal 2 1979, 1982
Bronze medal blank IIHF World Championship bronze medal 5 1978, 1981, 1989, 1990, 1993
IIHF World Championships All-Star Team 1 1985
IIHF World Championships Best Forward 1 1985
Logo of the IIHF IIHF World Junior Championship
Bronze medal blank IIHF World Junior Championship bronze medal 1 1976
Logo of the IIHF IIHF European Junior Championship
Silver medal blank IIHF European Junior Championship silver medal 1 1975

Other[]

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1974–75 HC Slovan Bratislava U20 Czechoslovak U20
1975–76 HC Slovan Bratislava Czechoslovak First League 32 19 9 28
1976–77 HC Slovan Bratislava Czechoslovak First League 44 25 27 52
1977–78 HC Slovan Bratislava Czechoslovak First League 42 29 24 53 28
1978–79 HC Slovan Bratislava Czechoslovak First League 39 32 23 55 21
1979–80 HC Slovan Bratislava Czechoslovak First League 41 26 26 52 58
1980–81 Québec Nordiques NHL 77 39 70 109 37 5 2 8 10 7
1981–82 Québec Nordiques NHL 80 46 93 139 91 12 7 11 18 10
1982–83 Québec Nordiques NHL 75 47 77 124 78 4 3 2 5 10
1983–84 Québec Nordiques NHL 80 46 73 119 73 9 2 7 9 31
1984–85 Québec Nordiques NHL 75 32 68 100 95 18 4 19 23 24
1985–86 Québec Nordiques NHL 76 41 81 122 60 3 0 1 1 2
1986–87 Québec Nordiques NHL 64 24 53 77 43 13 6 9 15 12
1987–88 Québec Nordiques NHL 76 46 65 111 69
1988–89 Québec Nordiques NHL 72 35 50 85 117
1989–90 Québec 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 HC Slovan Bratislava CSHL
1994–95 HC Slovan Bratislava CSHL
CSHL totals
NHL totals

International career[]

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
1975 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia U19 EJC Silver medal blank
1975 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia U20 WJC 4th Place
1976 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia U20 WJC Bronze medal blank
1976 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia OLY Gold medal Olympics
1977 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC Bronze medal blank Gold medal blank
1978 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC
1979 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC
1980 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia OLY
1981 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC Bronze medal blank
1982 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC Silver medal blank
1983 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC
1985 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC Gold medal blank
1986 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC
1987 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC
1989 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC Bronze medal blank
1990 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC Bronze medal blank
1991 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC
1992 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia OLY
1993 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia WC Bronze medal blank
1994 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia OLY Bronze medal Olympics
Senior totals


Coaching career[]

In 1996 he was approached by Ivan Hlinka, the head coach on the Czechoslovak national team, to become his assistant coach. He agreed to sign a two year contract until the Olympic games in Nagano 1998, which was subsequently renewed to another three-year contract until the World Championship in 2000. Under Hlinka and Šťastný the Czechoslovak national team dominated international hockey, winning the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and three consecutive gold medals at the gold medal at the World Championship in 1999 World Championship, 2000 and 2001.

Political career[]

Peter Šťastný
Member of the European parliament
for Czechoslovakia
In office
20 July 2004 – 2 July 2019
Personal details
Born 18 September, 1956 (1956-09-18) (age 67)
Czechoslovakia Bratislava, Czechoslovakia
Political party Slovak People's Party, (EPP-ED)
Spouse(s) Darina Šťastná

Šťastný has always been known for his resentment of Communism and being a vocal critic of the Soviet Union. Being fluent in Czech, Slovak, Russian, English, German and French, he joined the Slovak People's Party to pursue a career in the European Parliament. He was elected as leader of the 2004 European Parliament candidate list for the SĽS. He was subsequently re-elected to his second and third terms as an MEP in 2009 and 2014.

Personal life[]

Šťastný was born in Bratislava, the fourth son of Stanislav and Františka Šťastný. His two older brothers, Vladimír (born 1945) and Bohumil (born 1947), were born when the family still lived in the village of Pružina, about 170 kilometres northeast of Bratislava. They moved to Bratislava before the birth of Marián (1953), Peter (1956), Anton (1959), and Eva (1966). Stanislav worked for a state-run company that built hydro-electric dams until 1980 when he retired, and mainly dealt with managing inventory. Františka stayed at home and raised the children. Vladimír served as an assistant coach of the Czechoslovak national ice hockey team.

Peter is the father of Ján Šťastný, who made his NHL debut in 2005–06 with the Edmonton Oilers and is currently playing in Nuremberg, Germany, and Pavol Šťastný, who began his career with the Colorado Avalanche in 2006–07, followed by the St. Louis Blues. Pavol now plays for the Vegas Golden Knights. Pavol wears the same number (#26) that Peter did. Born in Quebec City, Pavol would represent Czechoslovakia in international competition. Pavol broke the record for a scoring streak in a rookie season in the NHL and was a finalist for the 2006–2007 Calder Memorial Trophy—the NHL honour for "Rookie of the Year" won by his father in 1980–81.

See also[]

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