Florida Panther's Radek Dvorak and His Hockey Career

Radek Dvorak has been a professional hockey player for more than ten years. Radek Dvorak was born in Tabor, Czechoslovakia (the part that is now the Czech Republic) on March 9, 1977, making him thirty-two years old. Radek Dvorak is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds, which is about the size of the majority of the hockey players in the NHL. Radek Dvorak has quite an impressive start to his professional hockey career. Dvorak was drafted in 1995 when he was just eighteen years old. Radek Dvorak was actually the first round pick of the Florida Panthers, 10th overall.

After being drafted 10th overall by the Panthers, Radek Dvorak, went straight to the NHL, skipping over the AHL (American Hockey League) which is a common stepping stone to the NHL for many hockey players. Dvorak stayed with the team that drafted him, the Panthers, for four consecutive seasons and part of the 1999-2000 season. During the 1999-2000 season, the Florida Panthers traded him to the San Jose Sharks. The very same day that he was traded by Florida to San Jose, the San Jose Sharks traded him to the New York Rangers, so he wasn't even part of the San Jose Sharks for an entire day. Radek Dvorak played with the New York Rangers the rest of the 1999-2000 season and remained with them for two more full seasons and part of the 2002-2003 season as well. Radek Dvorak also competed with his home country's (the Czech Republic) Olympic hockey team in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

In the 2002-2003 season, Radek Dvorak was traded by the New York Rangers to the Edmonton Oilers, where he finished out the rest of the season. Dvorak went on to play two more full season with the Edmonton Oilers, the 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 seasons. During the NHL lockout of 2004-2005, he went back to his home country, the Czech Republic. He was with the Edmonton Oilers in the 2005-2006 season when they competed for the Stanley Cup in the finals against the Carolina Hurricanes, but the Hurricanes took home the Cup. After that season, Radek Dvorak signed with the St. Louis Blues and played with them during the 2006-2007 season. Radek Dvorak only played with the St. Louis Blues for that season, and signed with his original team, the Florida Panthers, the following 2007-2008 season. Radek Dvorak played with the Florida Panthers during the 2008-2009 season as well.

ref-www.nhl.com