Petr Buzek

Playing career

Petr Buzek was expected to be a top-ten pick in the 1995 NHL draft, but his stock fell sharply after he crashed his car into a tree that year. He had fallen asleep at the wheel. The collision broke both legs, his nose, and his wrist, shattered his right kneecap, fractured his left cheekbone, and cracked his forehead. Multiple surgeries followed, leaving him with a metal plate and ten screws in his left leg, a plate and seven screws in his right ankle, two screws in his right knee, and two screws in his left wrist. He ended up being selected in the third round by the Dallas Stars. Buzek spent three seasons with the Michigan K-Wings in the IHL, also playing four games for the Stars. In 1999, the Atlanta Thrashers picked him up in the expansion draft, and he became the franchise’s first All-Star representative in 2000. But after that strong first season, he played only 14 more games for Atlanta over the next two years. The Thrashers then traded him and a draft pick to the Calgary Flames for Jeff Cowan and Kurtis Foster. Buzek suited up for 76 games over a season and a half with Calgary. He moved back to the Czech Republic for the 2003–04 season, playing for HC Sparta Praha. The following year, he played for HC Jihlava, then HC Litvínov, and later moved to the Slovak Extraliga with HC Slovan Bratislava. On October 18, 2005, Buzek announced his retirement from hockey, citing personal reasons.