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Original Shark announces retirement
7/5/1992
Sharks’ centreman Peter Stastny, has announced his retirement.
Peter Stastny was a prolific scorer in the NHL in the 1980s. He started his career in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques in 1980 and was traded in 1990 to the New Jersey Devils. As a star member of a team playing in a francophone city, Stastny endeared himself to the Quebec fans by learning to speak French, and later learned to speak English.
When the startling news broke in 1980 that Czechoslovakia player of the year, Peter Stastny, and his brother, Anton, had defected to Canada to play with the Quebec Nordiques, it represented a watershed moment in professional hockey as one of the first major stars of Eastern bloc hockey to join the NHL. The following year, his brother, Marián, joined them and they became the third trio of brothers to play on the same professional hockey team (the first being the Bentley brothers of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1940s and the second being the Plager brothers of the St. Louis Blues in the 1970s).
The trickle of Czechoslovak and Soviet hockey players rapidly became a flood following his footsteps. According to Peter, his defection "was the best decision I ever made. It has given my family the choices and options that people behind the Iron Curtain could only dream of. Then, to play pro hockey with my two brothers was like icing on the cake."
Stastny’s final contribution happened in San Jose, a Hockey backwater of sorts. It was there that Peter showed great leadership and dedication to his new City and players, including young Czech superstar Petr Nedved.
Peter Stastny scored 396 goals and 700 assists for an impressive 1096 points in just 838 games.
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