Veteran Slegr flying high again with Czechs

Originally published on IHWC.NET in 2004

By Lucas Aykroyd

Here at the 2004 IIHF World Championships, it’s hard to believe that Jiri Slegr is the senior member of the Czech defense corps at age 32. It doesn’t seem like so long ago that he was being drafted in the second round, 23rd overall by the Vancouver Canucks in 1992. Or that Toronto Sun writer Al Strachan was forecasting a Norris Trophy for the 6-0, 216-pound Jihlava-born prospect. Or even that Slegr was dropping his gloves with Tie Domi, then of the Winnipeg Jets, in his first NHL fight. Nearly 600 NHL games later, nobody expects Slegr to fight anymore, of course, but it was a battle for him to establish himself at times.

His NHL apogee occurred during his four seasons with the Jaromir Jagr-led Pittsburgh Penguins from 1997-98 through 2000-01. Internationally, many rated Slegr as the best defenseman at the Nagano Olympics, where the Czech Republic claimed its first men’s hockey gold. Slegr’s father, Jiri Bubla, was an all-star defenseman with Czechoslovakia in the 1970’s, and won an IIHF World Championship in Prague in 1972.

After a strange 2002 playoff run with Detroit, where he ended up with a Stanley Cup ring despite playing just one game in the finals, Slegr’s career took him to Avangard Omsk of the Russian Superleague and Litvinov of the Czech Extraleague the following season. Some were surprised to see him reemerge with Vancouver and Boston in 2003-04, but he looks like he’s still got lots of hockey left in him. IHWC.NET caught up with Slegr after Team Czech Republic’s Sunday practice.

IHWC.NET: What made you decide to accept the invitation to come to the IIHF World Championships?

Jiri Slegr: Well, we didn’t perform very well in the playoffs with Boston, getting taken out in the first round. That doesn’t make you happy or feel very good. But I got an opportunity to come back here and play for the World Championship, which I never won before. So I didn’t hesitate for a minute. I just said: “Yes, I’m going.” It was only a matter of when I would arrive over here.

IHWC.NET: How did you feel about your team’s effort in the opening game against Latvia?

Slegr: I think it was pretty good. We controlled the first period and then we got a 3-0 lead. It slipped a little bit, because, you know, when you’re leading 3-0 you sometimes end up doing extra little things that you wouldn’t do when it’s a closer game. So we know about what we did and hopefully we’ll learn from it down the road, because we don’t want to do those things against harder teams. It could end up kicking us in the back.

IHWC.NET: Is there any concern on the team about the absence of guys like Patrik Elias or Petr Sykora when you look at the big guns that, say, Slovakia has brought?

Slegr: I think we have pretty good guys here, very good hockey players. Sure, we could get even more, when you think about it that way, but we know that this is what we have. And we believe we have a strong team.

IHWC.NET: This year in Vancouver, you were expecting to take a regular shift, but that never materialized until you were traded to Boston. Did you ever figure out what Vancouver coach Marc Crawford was thinking?

Slegr: Well, no. But I don’t think I even really wanted to. It’s over now. It was just unfortunate, because I love the city of Vancouver. I’ve always said I might end up living there. I was very happy to sign with the Canucks, and I thought I was going to play, but it didn’t end up happening for whatever reason. Then I moved to Boston and they gave me an opportunity. I guess I did well there, and hopefully it will continue.

IHWC.NET: Your father, Jiri Bubla, lives in the Vancouver area. Did you take the chance to reconnect with him while you were there?

Slegr: Yeah, I talked to him. I talk to him more often now than in the past. Things are much, much better than they were. I was comfortable there. He got to see my daughter, which he was very happy about. I guess because he wasn’t around when I was growing up, this is something different for him, and he’s very excited when he can see her.

IHWC.NET: What are your strongest memories from when you originally broke into the NHL with the Canucks in the early 1990’s?

Slegr: There are a lot of memories! Not speaking English. Flying back and forth between the farm team and the NHL four or five times a year. I remember they nicknamed me “747.” But you know, I did make the NHL. No matter how, I managed to play ten years, and it’s just a great feeling. I guess you always kind of fall in love with the city you start off in.

IHWC.NET: Back then, you were known for having a big slapshot that you had a hard time keeping down. How did you fix that?

Slegr: Well, the curve of my blade was a lot bigger then than it is now. So I fixed my sticks, that’s for sure. Also, you get more mature year by year as you continue to play. You kind of realize that it can be better to shoot not harder, but smarter. I learned a lot.

IHWC.NET: You’ve also had some great success in international hockey. What do you do differently in terms of your style when you’re in a tournament like this one?

Slegr: The NHL and international hockey are completely different because the ice surface over here is much bigger. You have to adjust for so many things. It’s not like you can rush into the corners and hit the guys, or move up to challenge them. You just cannot do that. Everybody can skate these days. You try to go hit them on the big ice, and they drop their shoulders left and right and they’re gone. You’ve got to be very careful. And you cannot really lead the rush like you can in the NHL, because once you get trapped in their zone, you never really recover. It’s so far to skate back.

IHWC.NET: Who do you see as the teams to beat in this tournament?

Slegr: I don’t know. We want to beat everybody, obviously. We’re here to win the gold, and we’re going to do our best for it. So we’ll see. It’s not like we’ve got a challenger here, or that we really want to beat Canada or the Slovaks or whoever. It’s just that we want to beat whoever we play in any given game.