15 Years Ago Today, Patrick Stefan infamously missed the empty netter.

[Brodeur]

Always wondered what he would’ve become. Was he labeled as a Power Forward center in his draft year?

There was some physical resemblance to Jaromir Jagr (fresh off a career best 127 point season), but obviously nobody thought he'd be that good otherwise he would have been the consensus #1. I don't think he was ever considered a bruiser despite the size. Maybe retroactively a better version of Petr Nedved? Skilled point per game #1 center seemed to be the hope/expecation. Not sure if there were any Radek Bonk comparisons in the moment, although Bonk would have his breakout season right after the 1999 Draft.

Borrowing from another thread: Patrik Stefan

DALLAS - There is not much question that 18-year-old Czech centre Patrik Stefan is the best player available in this year's NHL amateur draft.

At 6-1 1/2 and 205 pounds, he's big; he's also an outstanding puckhandler and passer, and he has tremendous on-ice vision and instincts. In fact, his coach and general manager with the Long Beach IceDogs of the International Hockey League, John Van Boxmeer, doesn't hesitate to compare Stefan to Pittsburgh Penguins star Jaromir Jagr. Unfortunately, when the draft rolls around on June 26 in Boston, teams won't be thinking about comparisons to Jagr, but rather to Pat LaFontaine. Like LaFontaine, whose career was cut short because of repeated concussions, Stefan may not even get off the ground because of concussions he has received since arriving from the Czech Republic two years ago to play in the IHL.

It's entirely possible that NHL teams will be so frightened about drafting a player who could be one concussion away from being knocked out of competitive hockey that Stefan may not even be picked in the first round. That was certainly the buzz when the NHL held a luncheon for seven of the top prospects yesterday.

 

[Gurglesons]

He should have shot, yes. But man, even if the puck bounced over him, do anything, I mean slash at the puck, trip the player who picked it up, anything is an improvement over what he did. Don't fall!

I think this happening to Stefan is just sort of the climax of everything that went wrong with him in his NHL career. He was very young when he retired, and he played for 3 games in the Swiss league in the fall of 2007 and then that was it, no more hockey at all. In a way it is sad, because to be done with hockey at 27 when you played and dominated your whole life up until an adult and to have that sort of a career when the expectations were high on you, it is just unfortunate. I can only imagine what was going through his head when that goal went in. There must have been a thought in his head where he said "That's it, I'm done with this for good!" He did retire at the end of this year.

I do sort of remember the story as to how this indirectly ended with the Hawks getting Kane, but how did this play do that again? My best memory is because the Oilers got a point in this game and it made them the 6th worst overall team at the end of the year, while Chicago was the 5th worst. The Hawks won the lottery and then moved up to #1 and got Kane, I believe.

Dallas did win after this, which NO ONE remembers because quite frankly it likely makes the Stefan play not seem as bad.

Yep.

 

[Buffalowing1988]

Did the lockout play a role in curbing Stefan's progress? It seems like he was trending in the right direction, albeit slowly, and then the lockout came and his TOI got cut dramatically. I'm guessing Holik took a fair share of his shifts but it's weird that a relatively young guy with his pedigree just falls off like that.

I always liked him. He was a solid two-way forward who could have been a lower-middle-class man's Radek Bonk.

 

[Buffalowing1988]

There was some physical resemblance to Jaromir Jagr (fresh off a career best 127 point season), but obviously nobody thought he'd be that good otherwise he would have been the consensus #1. I don't think he was ever considered a bruiser despite the size. Maybe retroactively a better version of Petr Nedved? Skilled point per game #1 center seemed to be the hope/expecation. Not sure if there were any Radek Bonk comparisons in the moment, although Bonk would have his breakout season right after the 1999 Draft.

Borrowing from another thread: Patrik Stefan

I didn't even see this when I posted something similar just now. Funny!

 

[GMR]

I still can't believe Dallas gave up a breakaway while Edmonton had the goalie pulled.

Maybe all their players were still shell-shocked but I haven't seen that scenario since.

 

[Nathaniel]

Meh things happen.

 

[SillyRabbit]

The thing that really gets me about this play is that even after he missed, all he had to do was keep the puck in the corner with him and let the clock run out.

Instead he throws a blind pass the other way which starts the Oiler’s breakout.

Why?

He’s acting like the Stars are the team that desperately need a goal and he has to keep the puck in play.

Missing the net wasn’t even the issue here, sometimes crazy bounces happen. But it’s his terrible decision making after this, trying to pursue an empty net goal which isn’t needed, which was the massive blunder.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Ive got no issues with Ferraro's reaction.

The blunder wasn't the puck hop, it was the falling down trying to stop short and throwing it back up the center blind. All he had to do was just skate it into the corner and take the W instead of trying to still score the empty netter

 

[Brodeur]

Did the lockout play a role in curbing Stefan's progress? It seems like he was trending in the right direction, albeit slowly, and then the lockout came and his TOI got cut dramatically. I'm guessing Holik took a fair share of his shifts but it's weird that a relatively young guy with his pedigree just falls off like that.

I always liked him. He was a solid two-way forward who could have been a lower-middle-class man's Radek Bonk.

How 1999 top pick Patrik Stefan moved past a career of letdown

There were concussions, but the final straw was his hip. He wanted to play, but physically could not. His career quietly ended after three games with SC Bern in Switzerland when pain and a lack of mobility robbed Stefan of anything that was left of his hockey abilities.

After years of gritting through the pain, not wanting to endure the lengthy recovery process and limiting aftermath as a younger man, Stefan is due to finally have his hip replaced later this summer.

"I'm about eight years too late," Stefan said. "I tried to hold on as long as I could. There aren't many guys at 38 that need a hip replacement. I remember going to the hospital, when I was 30 or 29. I'm sitting there with my bad hip and the next-youngest person is 65 or 70. 'What am I doing here?' It's been a struggle. With coaching, being on the ice so much, it's a struggle."

I had forgotten that it was a hip injury that did him in, I all but assumed it was a concussion that caused him to hang up the skates.

 

[Big Phil]

Did the lockout play a role in curbing Stefan's progress? It seems like he was trending in the right direction, albeit slowly, and then the lockout came and his TOI got cut dramatically. I'm guessing Holik took a fair share of his shifts but it's weird that a relatively young guy with his pedigree just falls off like that.

I always liked him. He was a solid two-way forward who could have been a lower-middle-class man's Radek Bonk.

Here are his PPG:

2000: 0.35
2001: 0.47
2002: 0.39
2003: 0.48
2004: 0.49
Lockout
2006: 0.38
2007: 0.27

I don't know, I think Atlanta finally got decent in 2004, so that should have been a sign of things to come, but it wasn't. He is probably a reliable 3rd line guy in his career if he wasn't a 1st overall selection, and that's how we would view him. He killed penalties too, I'll bet a lot of people didn't know that about him, but he did it his whole career.

The question is, is he the worst #1 overall selection of all-time? Daigle and Lawton come to mind as the other two. Daigle three times had 51 points in a season, Stefan topped at 40. Joly comes to mind as well from 1974 but I guess #1 would still be Yakupov. But is Stefan 2nd?

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

I still can't believe Dallas gave up a breakaway while Edmonton had the goalie pulled.

Maybe all their players were still shell-shocked but I haven't seen that scenario since.

I think theres a players tribune article where Turco mentions he was mentally packing up a little bit when he saw Stefan get the breakaway, then had to snap back once it became a game again.

How 1999 top pick Patrik Stefan moved past a career of letdown



I had forgotten that it was a hip injury that did him in, I all but assumed it was a concussion that caused him to hang up the skates.

Re: hip/knee/whatever replacements, they always seem to be mentioned as career ending options. Is it not possible to simply get the surgery, rehab aggressively afterwards & come back?

Is whatever qualifies as a replacement hip simply not strong enough to handle how hard a professional athlete needs to push themselves?

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Dallas won in OT.

You know I've seen this play a hundred times plus but for the life of me never knew Dallas won the game.

Dallas won in the shootout



Check out Jussi Jokinen doing the Forsberg for the game winner

 

[The Panther]

Another fun fact about this game: current Oilers' goalie Mike Smith played in it.

 

[MS]

I've always felt more embarrassed by Ray Ferraro's reaction than by Stefan having a puck hop over his stick, TBQH

There is a 0% chance that Ferraro reacts that way if it was a Canadian player screwing up.

Same as Pierre McGuire who would always save his hot takes for bashing a Euro.

 

[LightningStorm]

Most memorable for me was the play was so bad, even the Oilers color commentator was disgusted, saying that didn't belong in the NHL. That's when you know you screwed up badly.

 

[Nocashstyle]

He wasn’t pulling it to his backhand to be “fancy” or anything like some in here are trying to indicate. His backhand would have given him the most middle angle of the net. If anything, he was trying to be as cautious as possible. I feel for him.

 

[Prsut18]

He should have shot, yes. But man, even if the puck bounced over him, do anything, I mean slash at the puck, trip the player who picked it up, anything is an improvement over what he did. Don't fall!

I think this happening to Stefan is just sort of the climax of everything that went wrong with him in his NHL career. He was very young when he retired, and he played for 3 games in the Swiss league in the fall of 2007 and then that was it, no more hockey at all. In a way it is sad, because to be done with hockey at 27 when you played and dominated your whole life up until an adult and to have that sort of a career when the expectations were high on you, it is just unfortunate. I can only imagine what was going through his head when that goal went in. There must have been a thought in his head where he said "That's it, I'm done with this for good!" He did retire at the end of this year.

I do sort of remember the story as to how this indirectly ended with the Hawks getting Kane, but how did this play do that again? My best memory is because the Oilers got a point in this game and it made them the 6th worst overall team at the end of the year, while Chicago was the 5th worst. The Hawks won the lottery and then moved up to #1 and got Kane, I believe.

Dallas did win after this, which NO ONE remembers because quite frankly it likely makes the Stefan play not seem as bad.

He retired young, but that was because of health issues.. several concussions and bad hip injury, which he renewed during his last game in Switzerland
..yeah, this was a bad moment and his carreer was disapponting for 1st overall, but it was health what ended his carrer..