David Krejčí

Lore & Background

David Krejčí was born on April 28, 1986, in Šternberk, a small town in the Moravia region of what was then Czechoslovakia and is now the Czech Republic. He is the son of Zdeněk and Renata Krejčí, and has an older brother, Zdeněk jr. His father was also a hockey player and later became a coach. Krejčí started playing junior hockey with HC Olomouc U18 in the Czechia U18 league during the 2000–01 season, scoring 2 goals and 6 assists in 26 games. During the 2001–02 campaign, he was one of the league's top scorers with 32 goals and 27 assists in 48 games. In 2002–03, he scored 46 points (16 goals and 30 assists) in 27 games while also debuting with Třinec's U20 squad, where he scored 9 points in 12 games.

Krejčí was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the third round, 63rd overall, of the 2004 NHL entry draft. He was drafted out of Czech junior leagues, having played for HC Kladno. Following his selection, he moved to North America to play major junior hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) for the Gatineau Olympiques for two seasons. In his two seasons in Gatineau, Krejčí played in 117 games recording 49 goals and 144 points. He turned professional in 2006–07, playing for the Bruins' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Providence Bruins. He played in his first NHL game on 30 January 2007 in a 7–1 loss against the Buffalo Sabres but suffered a concussion after being hit by Buffalo's Adam Mair during his third shift, recording just 2:07 minutes of ice time.

During the 2008–09 season, Krejčí scored his first NHL hat-trick on 18 December 2008 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. About the midpoint of that season, NESN's play-by-play TV announcer Jack Edwards gave Krejčí the nickname 'The Matrix' due to his ability to slow down the pace of a game through his skating style and abilities on the ice. Before a game on 2 April 2009, Krejčí was named the winner of the Boston Bruins' 2009 Seventh Player Award. He completed his second NHL season with a then-career-high 73 points in 82 games to go with a league-high +37 plus-minus rating. On 2 June 2009, he signed a multi-year contract extension with the Bruins, reportedly a three-year contract paying an average of $3.75 million per year.

Reader's Guide

David Krejčí's significance lies in his 16-season tenure with the Boston Bruins, during which he was a central figure in the team's 2011 Stanley Cup championship. He led the NHL in playoff points in both 2011 (23 points) and 2013 (26 points), demonstrating his ability to elevate his game in the postseason. His 42 playoff goals ranked him seventh on the Bruins' all-time list of postseason scorers as of the end of the 2020–21 season, and he was also ranked 16th in Boston history in regular-season goals scored (215), seventh in assists (515) and eighth in total points (730).

Krejčí's legacy includes being named an alternate captain of the Bruins on 1 October 2013 and playing his 1,000th NHL game on 16 January 2023 at TD Garden against the Philadelphia Flyers, dishing out three assists in a 6–0 victory. He retired from the NHL on 14 August 2023 after 18 seasons, though he later clarified he had not retired from hockey overall due to interest in playing for the Czech national team at the Czech-hosted 2024 IIHF World Championship. On 1 December 2023, Krejčí retired from hockey entirely due to persistent health problems.

Internationally, Krejčí represented the Czech national team at the 2010, 2014, and 2022 Winter Olympics and four World Championships. He was named an assistant captain for the Czech national team for the 2022 Winter Olympics, where the Czechs finished 9th, their worst result ever.

Did You Know?

• Krejčí was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus in November 2009.
• He scored a hat-trick in game six of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the first Bruin to record a playoff hat-trick since Cam Neely.
• Krejčí scored a game-winning goal with 0.8 seconds left against the San Jose Sharks on 25 October 2013.
• He played his 1,000th NHL game on 16 January 2023, recording three assists in a 6–0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.