Peter Smrek

Peter Smrek (born 16 February 1979) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 28 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) between the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers.

Playing career Amateur Smrek played for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) during the 1998–99 season and helped them win the 1999 Clark Cup Championship.

Professional Smrek was drafted 85th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 1999 NHL entry draft, and made his NHL debut on February 10, 2001 against the Colorado Avalanche. but only managed to play 6 games with the Blues, spending most of his time with the Blues' American Hockey League affiliate the Worcester IceCats. He was later traded to the New York Rangers and played 22 further games in the NHL, but again spent most of his spell in the AHL, this time with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He was then traded to the Nashville Predators and then to the Ottawa Senators, but never played another NHL game. In total, Smrek played 28 NHL games, scoring two goals and four assists for 6 points and collected 18 penalty minutes.

In 2004, Smrek moved to Germany and signed for the Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams where he scored 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points and was the Grizzly Adams' top scoring defenceman. However the Grizzly Adams were relegated from the DEL and as a result, Smrek was on the move again. Smrek signed on with Mora IK of Sweden's Elitserien where he only managed to score 6 goals and 13 assists for 19 points. After one season in Sweden, Smrek returned to Germany and signed for the Frankfurt Lions. He moved on 14 October 2008 from Frankfurt Lions to Czech Extraliga club HC Lasselsberger Plzeň and then on 30 May 2009 further to Severstal Cherepovets.

After a three year hiatus from professional hockey, Smrek returned to play two seasons with hometown club, MHC Martin of the Slovak Extraliga, from the 2013–14 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1997–98 MHC Martin Slovak.20 23 0 5 5 24 — — — — — 1998–99 Des Moines Buccaneers USHL 52 6 26 32 59 14 2 7 9 8 1999–00 Worcester IceCats AHL 64 5 19 24 26 2 0 0 0 4 1999–00 Peoria Rivermen ECHL 4 1 1 2 2 — — — — — 2000–01 Worcester IceCats AHL 50 2 7 9 71 — — — — — 2000–01 St. Louis Blues NHL 6 2 0 2 2 — — — — — 2000–01 New York Rangers NHL 14 0 3 3 12 — — — — — 2000–01 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL — — — — — 5 0 2 2 2 2001–02 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 50 2 5 7 36 — — — — — 2001–02 New York Rangers NHL 8 0 1 1 4 — — — — — 2001–02 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 8 0 2 2 4 — — — — — 2002–03 Milwaukee Admirals AHL 68 3 20 23 70 5 0 0 0 0 2003–04 Binghamton Senators AHL 80 5 18 23 91 2 0 0 0 4 2004–05 Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg DEL 51 13 14 27 70 — — — — — 2005–06 Mora IK SEL 45 6 13 19 102 5 3 1 4 8 2006–07 Frankfurt Lions DEL 26 3 4 7 140 3 0 0 0 2 2007–08 Frankfurt Lions DEL 53 3 12 15 84 4 0 0 0 18 2008–09 MHC Martin Slovak 4 0 0 0 8 — — — — — 2008–09 HC Plzeň ELH 43 5 8 13 80 16 1 7 8 22 2009–10 Severstal Cherepovets KHL 29 1 3 4 46 — — — — — 2013–14 MHC Martin Slovak 27 3 5 8 40 — — — — — 2014–15 MHC Martin Slovak 35 4 10 14 73 4 0 0 0 8 NHL totals 28 2 4 6 18 — — — — —

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1997 Slovakia EJC18 6th 6 0 0 0 20 1999 Slovakia WJC 6 0 1 1 4 2002 Slovakia OG 13th 4 0 0 0 0 2002 Slovakia WC 9 0 0 0 8 2009 Slovakia WC 10th 6 1 0 1 6 Junior totals 12 0 1 1 24 Senior totals 19 1 0 1 14

Awards and honours Award Year USHL Clark Cup (Des Moines Buccaneers) 1999 AHL All-Star Game 2001

Transactions March 5, 2001 - Traded by the St. Louis Blues to the New York Rangers in exchange for Alexei Gusarov March 19, 2002 - Traded by the New York Rangers to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Richard Lintner June 6, 2003 - Traded by the Nashville Predators to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Chris Bala