Tomas Vokoun

At 47 years old, Tomas Vokoun has this physical status:

Tomá (born 2 July 1976) is a Czech former professional ice hockey goaltender.

He played for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators, and the Montreal Canadiens, with whom he was originally drafted in the ninth round, 226th overall, in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft.

Personal life

In Parkland, Florida, Vokoun and his wife, Dagmar, and two children, Adelle and Natalie, live together.

Source

Playing career

In the ninth round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, Vokoun was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, ranking 226th overall. He stayed in the Czech Republic for another year, playing with Poldi Kladno.

Vokoun made his way to North America in the 1995-96 season and competed for the ECHL's Wheeling Thunderbirds. He was called up to the Fredericton Canadiens of the American Hockey League (AHL) and appeared in one playoff game. Vokoun spent the 1996–97 season in Fredericton and played in his first game for Montreal; but it was not a good debut, as he allowed four goals in just 20 minutes against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Vokoun was selected by the Nashville Predators in the 1998 NHL Expansion Draft on June 26, 1998, after another season with the Fredericton Canadiens.

In their first season, Vokoun appeared in 37 games for Nashville and nine games for the Milwaukee Admirals in the International Hockey League (IHL). Despite splitting time between the two teams the following season, Vokoun established himself in the league in 2000, but he saw little action as the back-up to starter Mike Dunham. Dunham was traded to the New York Rangers in 2002 for Marek idlick, Tomáo Klouek, and Rem Murray, effectively giving Vokoun the starting position.

Vokoun's play was solid enough in 2003-2004 to earn him a spot in the All-Star Game for the first time, and his goaltending was a major factor in the Predators' first-ever playoff appearance of the season. In the first round, the team lost in six games to the Detroit Red Wings. In game 4 of the franchise, played in Nashville, Vokoun registered his first-ever playoff shutout in franchise history, stopping 41 Red Wing shots.

Vokoun played 19 regular season games for HIFK in the Finnish SM-liiga, achieving a 94 percent save percentage during the 2004-05 NHL lockout. Vokoun did not do as well in the playoffs, with an.846 save percentage in four games, the lowest in the league in that year's playoffs.

The Predators declared that thrombophlebitis of the pelvis, a blood-clotting disorder, had afflicted Vokoun. He missed the team's remaining regular season games and the entire playoffs while recovering by taking blood-thinning drugs and avoiding physical fitness. Chris Mason, the back-up goaltender, was named as the starter in the playoffs, but the Predators were unable to advance to the playoffs, losing in the quarterfinals. Vokoun was allowed to return to his career on July 24, 2006, just shy of the 2006–07 NHL seasons. However, Vokoun sustained his thumb during a game and was required to have surgery. Pins were inserted in this thumb, and he tried using the pins and a brace on his thumb.

On the day of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Vokoun was traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, a second-round pick in the 2007 draft (58th overall) and a conditional second-round pick in either 2007 or 2008. Vokoun's nine-year tenure in Nashville had him set many of the Predators' goaltending records, all of which were eclipsed by Pekka Rinne in the ensuing decade.

In the 2008 NBA All Star Game in Atlanta, Vokoun was selected to play for the Eastern Conference team.

Vokoun won 26 games for the Panthers in 2008-2009, their first playoff appearance since 2000. Although the Panthers eventually fell short of qualifying, a large part of their success was due in large part to Vokoun's goaltending and fellow goaltender Craig Anderson's goaltending.

When Ballard struck Vokoun with an errant stick in the head, he was injured. Vokoun was able to remove the ice on a stretcher and was treated at a nearby hospital for an ear laceration. Vokoun had just given up a goal to Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers and Ballard of Atlanta, but he instead found Vokoun instead.

On July 2, 2011, Vokoun signed a one-year deal with the Washington Capitals, worth $1.5 million. Vokoun had a rough 2011–12 NHL season with the Capitals, as the team was plagued by injury and inconsistent results.

Vokoun was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 4, 2012 in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, with Washington resorting to youngster Braden Holtby as their starting goaltender. Vokoun also agreed to a two-year, $4 million deal the next day. Vokoun opted to wear number 92 with the Penguins, the first goaltender since Daren Puppa's to wear a sweater number from 90 to 98.

Vokoun set a personal record and the Pittsburgh Penguins set a new record shutout streak of 187:30 on March 30, 2013. He had two straight shutouts against the Winnipeg Jets and the New York Islanders on March 28 and March 30, respectively, and a combined shutout against Marc-André Fleury against the Montreal Canadiens on March 26th. After Fleury was injured at the start of the second period, Vokoun played the third period to bring the shutout to a halt. Vokoun's first playoff appearance in six seasons was his first in a row, a 31-save shutout over the New York Islanders in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-finals on May 9, 2013.

During the 2013 pre-season, Vokoun was sidelined indefinitely after undergoing surgery to remove another blood clot in his pelvis. Vokoun will resume skating in practice on January 21, 2014, according to a news release a few days prior to his expected return. Vokoun declared his resignation on December 15, 2014, on December 15.

Source

Awards and records

• Runner-up for the NHL Rookie of the Month award for December 1998.
• NHL Player of the Week for the week ending 2 January 2000 (3–0–0, 1 shutout, 1.33 goals against average (GAA), .960 save percentage; he was the first Predator to ever win this award).
• NHL Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending 30 November 2003 (4–0–0, 1.50 GAA, .950 save percentage).
• Selected to play for the Western Conference in the 2004 NHL All-Star Game.
• Selected to play for the Eastern Conference in the 2008 NHL All-Star Game.
• NHL Defensive Player of the Month for January 2010 (NHL's Third Star of the Month, 8–4–2, 1.49 GAA, .956 SV%, 4 SO).