Michal Grošek is a retired Czech

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 professional

Professional

A professional is a person who is paid to undertake a specialised set of tasks and to complete them for a fee. The traditional professions were doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and commissioned military officers. Today, the term is applied to estate agents, surveyors , environmental scientists,...

 ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 right winger

Winger (ice hockey)

Winger, in the game of hockey, is a forward position of a player whose primary zone of play on the ice is along the outer playing area. They typically work by flanking the centre forward. Originally the name was given to forward players who went up and down the sides of the rink...

. He played in the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 for 11 seasons between 1993 and 2004.

Grošek was drafted 145th overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft

1993 NHL Entry Draft

The 1993 NHL Entry Draft took place on June 26, 1993, at the Colisee de Quebec in Quebec City, Quebec.-Selections by round:Club teams are located in North America unless otherwise specified.-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:...

. Upon suiting up for the Jets, he made history by becoming the first Czech born player to play for the club. In total, he played in 526 career NHL games, scoring 84 goals and 137 assists for 221 points. Grošek's best offensive season was the 1998–99 season, when he was playing with the Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...

. Grošek registered career highs in goals (20), assists (30), points (50), penalty minutes (102), and shots (140) during that season. In 2000 he requested a trade and was thus traded to the Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...

 for Doug Gilmour

Doug Gilmour

Douglas Robert Gilmour is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who is the current general manager of the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League . During his National Hockey League career, Gilmour played for 7 NHL clubs: the St...

 and J.P. Dumont. After Chicago Grošek played for the New York Rangers

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...

 and the Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The team has been in existence since 1924, and is the league's third-oldest team and its oldest in the...

 but was never able to recapture the form shown in 1998-99. Grošek has since expressed regret over the trade, calling it a "big mistake" and stating he should have stayed in Buffalo.

After departing from the NHL, Grošek moved to Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, suiting up for Nationalliga A side Genève-Servette HC

Genève-Servette HC

Genève-Servette HC, is a professional ice hockey team based in Geneva, Switzerland and compete in National League A.-History:* 1905 : Foundation of Servette FC's ice hockey section....

 where he was the team's top goal scorer with 15 goals. He then moved to the Russian Super League, playing for SKA Saint Petersburg

SKA Saint Petersburg

SKA Saint Petersburg is a Russian professional ice hockey club that plays in the Kontinental Hockey League. SKA is an abbreviation for "Sports Club of the Army"...

 where he scored just 3 goals in 13 games before returning to Servette where he managed 9 goals in 17 games. In 2006, he moved to EV Zug

EV Zug

EV Zug is a professional men's ice hockey team from Zug, Switzerland. They are a current member of National League A and play their home games at Bossard Arena.-History:EV Zug won its lone championship in the 1997–98 season....

, staying for two seasons before moving to Leksands IF

Leksands IF

Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team is currently playing in the second highest league in Sweden, HockeyAllsvenskan. Leksand has played 53 seasons in the top Swedish league – between 1951 to 2001, 2002 to 2004, and 2005–06...

 in HockeyAllsvenskan.

In September 2008, Grošek was named head coach of Swiss lower league team CP Meyrin, effectively ending his playing career.

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