Kristián Kudroč

Playing career

Kudroč was a first-round pick of the New York Islanders, going 28th overall in the 1999 NHL draft. Known for his size and physical style on the blue line, he also possessed a powerful slap shot. His North American career spanned from 1999 to 2005. The following season, he played for SaiPa in the Finnish SM-liiga, where the fan club SaiPafanit named him their Player of the Year. During a pre-season tournament game with Barys Astana before the 2014–15 campaign, Kudroč sustained an injury that kept him out for the entire season while he recovered. Once healthy, he became a free agent and signed a one-year deal with Metallurg Novokuznetsk on June 4, 2015. Just over two months later, on August 17, he asked for and received a release from that contract for personal reasons. After taking a year off, he returned to the Czech Republic, inking a contract with HC Plzeň of the Extraliga on December 14, 2015. On July 14, 2016, he moved to Austria on a one-year contract with EBEL side HC TWK Innsbruck. He appeared in eight games there before heading to the United Kingdom on November 6, 2016, to join the Nottingham Panthers of the EIHL. After another eight games, he left the team in December 2016, again citing personal reasons tied to a serious illness in his family back in Slovakia.