Samuel Buček

Samuel Buček (born 19 December 1998) is a Slovak professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing for HC Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extraliga.

Playing career Undrafted, Buček made his professional debut playing in the Tipsport liga (Slovak) with HK Nitra during the 2015–16 season.

Buček made 5 appearances in the Finnish Liiga, with KooKoo before returning to Nitra during the 2019–20 season. He moved to fellow Slovakian club, HC Slovan Bratislava during the following 2020–21 season, collecting 11 points through just 14 games.

As a free agent, Buček opted to pursue a career in North America. On 11 July 2022, he became the first player in franchise history to be signed by the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League (AHL). He was signed to a one-year contract for the Firebirds inaugural season in 2022–23, serving as the primary affiliate to the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). Before joining the Firebirds, on 8 August 2022, Buček signed a one-year contract with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of the KHL, opting to pursue a career in Russia instead. He only played six games for Nizhnekamsk before signing for Czech side HC Oceláři Třinec in October 2022. He ended up playing the 2022–23 season in the Czech Extraliga, featuring in 36 regular-season games as well as 8 times in the play-offs as Třinec won the title. He left the club after the end of the season.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Bold indicates led league Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2014–15 HK Nitra SVK-Jr 4 2 3 5 0 8 0 3 3 10 2015–16 HK Nitra SVK-Jr 10 8 7 15 14 — — — — — 2015–16 HK Nitra SVK 26 1 4 5 4 — — — — — 2015–16 Chicago Steel USHL 18 4 6 10 24 — — — — — 2016–17 Shawinigan Cataractes QMJHL 52 12 21 33 26 4 0 1 1 0 2017–18 Chicago Steel USHL 49 20 24 44 48 5 3 4 7 2 2018–19 HK Nitra SVK 53 30 21 51 20 18 9 5 14 4 2019–20 KooKoo FIN 5 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 2019–20 HK Nitra SVK 42 15 12 27 36 — — — — — 2020–21 HC Slovan Bratislava SVK 14 5 6 11 4 4 0 2 2 8 2021–22 HK Nitra SVK 50 41 23 64 34 19 13 11 24 18 2022–23 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk KHL 6 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2022–23 HC Oceláři Třinec CZE 36 7 3 10 4 8 0 0 0 0 SVK totals 185 92 66 158 98 41 22 18 40 30

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 2014 Slovakia U17 5 0 1 1 0 2015 Slovakia IH18 4 2 2 4 2 2016 Slovakia U18 5 4 1 5 12 2018 Slovakia WJC 5 3 4 7 0 Junior totals 19 9 8 17 14

Awards and honours Award Year Slovak Extraliga Playoffs MVP 2019, 2022