Peter Smrek

Peter Smrek (born 16 February 1979) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey defenceman who played 28 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) between the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers.

Amateur
Smrek played for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) during the 1998–99 season and helped them win the 1999 Clark Cup Championship.

Professional
Smrek was drafted 85th overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, and made his NHL debut on February 10, 2001 against the Colorado Avalanche. but only managed to play 6 games with the Blues, spending most of his time with the Blues' American Hockey League affiliate the Worcester IceCats. He was later traded to the New York Rangers and played 22 further games in the NHL, but again spent most of his spell in the AHL, this time with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He was then traded to the Nashville Predators and then to the Ottawa Senators, but never played another NHL game. In total, Smrek played 28 NHL games, scoring two goals and four assists for 6 points and collected 18 penalty minutes.

In 2004, Smrek moved to Germany and signed for the Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams where he scored 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points and was the Grizzly Adams' top scoring defenceman. However the Grizzly Adams were relegated from the DEL and as a result, Smrek was on the move again. Smrek signed on with Mora IK of Sweden's Elitserien where he only managed to score 6 goals and 13 assists for 19 points. After one season in Sweden, Smrek returned to Germany and signed for the Frankfurt Lions. He moved on 14 October 2008 from Frankfurt Lions to Czech Extraliga club HC Lasselsberger Plzeň and than on 30 May 2009 further to Severstal Cherepovets.

After a three year hiatus from professional hockey, Smrek returned to play two seasons with hometown club, MHC Martin of the Slovak Extraliga, from the 2013–14 season.

Transactions

 * March 5, 2001 - Traded by the St. Louis Blues to the New York Rangers in exchange for Alexei Gusarov
 * March 19, 2002 - Traded by the New York Rangers to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Richard Lintner
 * June 6, 2003 - Traded by the Nashville Predators to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Chris Bala