Jan Muršak

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Jan Muršak[1] (born 20 January 1988) is a professional Slovenian ice hockey player for Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Muršak first played hockey in Slovenia as a member of HDK Maribor before he left to spend one season in the Czech junior league. He was then selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft and moved to the major junior Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and played for two teams, the Saginaw Spirit and Belleville Bulls. After finishing his junior career Muršak then joined the Red Wings American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2008.

Jan Muršak
Muršak with Frölunda HC in 2022
Born (1988-01-20) 20 January 1988 (age 36)
Maribor, SR Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 192 lb (87 kg; 13 st 10 lb)
Position Left wing
Shoots Right
ICEHL team
Former teams
EC KAC
HDK Maribor
Detroit Red Wings
HDD Olimpija Ljubljana
Amur Khabarovsk
CSKA Moscow
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
SC Bern
Frölunda HC
National team  Slovenia
NHL draft 182nd overall, 2006
Detroit Red Wings
Playing career 2004–present
Website JanMursak.com

Playing career

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European career and juniors

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Muršak developed his skills in his hometown ice hockey club HDK Maribor where he played until the age of 17.[citation needed] As a youth, he played in the 2001 and 2002 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournaments with a team from Slovenia.[2] He later transferred to Czech club HC Ceské Budejovice for which he played for a season in CZE-U20 youth development league.[citation needed]

In 2006 he was selected by the Detroit Red Wings as the 182nd overall draft pick (6th round). During the same year Muršak was drafted by the Saginaw Spirit in 1st Round of the 2006 CHL Import Draft, 33rd overall. He had a successful first season for Saginaw which earned him a playoff call up for the Grand Rapids Griffins, AHL affiliate to the Detroit Red Wings. In his second OHL season, Muršak was traded from the Saginaw Spirit, to the Belleville Bulls where he stayed until the end of the season, before moving on to play regularly for Grand Rapids in the AHL.[citation needed]

Detroit Red Wings

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Muršak signed a contract with the Detroit Red Wings in April 2007. Since his draft in 2006 he has made appearances for the Red Wings during training camps. On 26 December 2010 it was announced by Detroit that Muršak was called up to the team to fill in after an ankle injury of Danny Cleary. He made his NHL career debut on 28 December 2010 in a game against the Colorado Avalanche, thus becoming the second Slovenian, after Anže Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, to play in the NHL.[3] Muršak scored his first NHL goal on 10 January 2011, also in a game against the Avalanche against Peter Budaj. On 17 February 2011, Muršak signed a new two-year contract with the Red Wings.[4]

Due to the 2012 NHL lockout, Muršak signed a temporary contract with the Slovenian hockey team HDD Olimpija Ljubljana of the EBEL league.[5] In 30 games with Olimpija, he excelled with 48 points, before returning for the start of the shortened 2012–13 season with the Red Wings. On opening night, he was again setback by injury, after hurting his collarbone in a 6–0 defeat against the St. Louis Blues.[citation needed]

On his return to health, and with limited opportunity with the Red Wings, Muršak was placed on waivers on 22 February 2013.[6] He was assigned to the Griffins for the remainder of the season.[citation needed]

Return to Europe

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As an impending free agent, Mursak subsequently moved to Amur Khabarovsk of the Kontinental Hockey League.[7]

After re-establishing his offensive presence in 3+12 seasons with CSKA Moscow, Muršak left the club as a free agent and opted to continue in the KHL in signing a one-year contract with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod on May 1, 2017.[8]

Mursak then played for Frolunda HC in the SHL and scored a brace on his first team game debut against HV71 on January 11, 2018. Mursak currently plays for SC Bern in the NL.[citation needed]

International play

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Muršak was chosen to compete on the Slovenia national junior team in the 2008 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (Division I) in Latvia, where he scored one goal and two assists and was named the best forward of the tournament.[9] He made his debut for the Slovenian senior team at the 2010 Division I Championships, held in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana. In 2014, Muršak represented Slovenia at their first appearance at the Olympics. Muršak also represented Slovenia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeonchang, most notably coming on as a substitute in the last minutes of the game against USA, and scoring two late goals to win them the game.

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2002–03 HDK Maribor SVN U18 13 27 18 45 14
2003–04 HDK Maribor SVN U18 22 27 17 44 14
2003–04 HDK Maribor SVN U20 17 6 4 10 12 2 2 4 6 25
2003–04 HDK Maribor SVN 14 3 3 6 16
2004–05 HDK Maribor SVN U20 17 12 12 24 35 2 5 4 9 4
2004–05 HDK Maribor SVN 24 16 29 45 10
2005–06 HC České Budějovice CZE U20 43 15 15 30 32 5 0 2 2 2
2006–07 Saginaw Spirit OHL 62 27 53 80 50 6 1 2 3 10
2006–07 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 7 0 2 2 2
2007–08 Saginaw Spirit OHL 26 6 20 26 15
2007–08 Belleville Bulls OHL 31 11 27 38 8 21 9 15 24 10
2008–09 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 51 2 7 9 25 6 0 1 1 0
2009–10 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 79 24 18 42 46
2010–11 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 54 13 22 35 35
2010–11 Detroit Red Wings NHL 19 1 0 1 4
2011–12 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 6 0 1 1 2
2011–12 Detroit Red Wings NHL 25 1 2 3 0
2012–13 HDD Olimpija Ljubljana EBEL 30 19 29 48 9
2012–13 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 23 4 12 16 12 23 11 6 17 23
2012–13 Detroit Red Wings NHL 2 0 0 0 4
2013–14 Amur Khabarovsk KHL 36 12 9 21 28
2013–14 CSKA Moscow KHL 13 0 4 4 27 4 0 1 1 7
2014–15 CSKA Moscow KHL 53 17 26 43 20 16 3 7 10 2
2015–16 CSKA Moscow KHL 51 14 22 36 30 8 0 0 0 4
2016–17 CSKA Moscow KHL 33 6 13 19 57 9 1 2 3 11
2017–18 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod KHL 13 0 1 1 18
2017–18 Frölunda HC SHL 15 10 10 20 4 6 0 3 3 0
2018–19 SC Bern NL 32 10 11 21 24 15 5 5 10 10
2019–20 SC Bern NL 42 9 16 25 24
2020–21 Frölunda HC SHL 48 8 17 25 36 7 2 1 3 8
2021–22 Frölunda HC SHL 47 9 9 18 14 8 3 2 5 27
2022–23 Frölunda HC SHL 40 8 11 19 39 12 0 4 4 6
2023–24 EC KAC ICEHL 38 15 32 47 50 17 3 12 15 6
NHL totals 46 2 2 4 8
EBEL / ICEHL totals 68 34 61 95 59 17 3 12 15 6
KHL totals 199 49 75 124 180 37 4 10 14 24
SHL totals 200 35 47 82 93 33 5 10 15 41
NL totals 74 19 27 46 48 15 5 5 10 10

International

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Year Team Comp   GP G A Pts PIM
2005 Slovenia WJC18 (Div I) 5 1 2 3 4
2006 Slovenia WJC (Div I) 5 3 2 5 2
2006 Slovenia WJC18 (Div I) 5 1 1 2 8
2007 Slovenia WJC (Div I) 5 3 2 5 10
2008 Slovenia WJC (Div I) 5 1 2 3 0
2010 Slovenia WC (Div I) 5 5 2 7 2
2014 Slovenia OG 5 1 2 3 4
2014 Slovenia WC (Div IA) 5 1 2 3 2
2015 Slovenia WC 6 1 0 1 2
2016 Slovenia OGQ 3 1 1 2 0
2017 Slovenia WC 7 3 1 4 8
2018 Slovenia OG 4 3 3 6 0
Junior totals 25 9 9 18 24
Senior totals 35 15 11 26 18

Awards and honours

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Award Year
OHL
Second All-Rookie Team 2007
AHL
Calder Cup (Grand Rapids Griffins) 2013
NL
Champion (SC Bern) 2019 [10]
International
Best Forward (IIHF U20 Championships Division IB) 2008

References

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  1. ^ "Jan Mursak selects NHL". SloveniaTimes.com. 2 January 2011. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  2. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  3. ^ Grand Rapids Griffins (27 December 2010). "Cleary out, Mursak to make NHL debut". DetroitRedWings.com. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  4. ^ Ansar Khan (17 February 2011). "Red Wings sign Jan Mursak to two-year deal". mlive.com. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  5. ^ "A Red Wing for Olimpija" (in German). Austrian Hockey League. 24 September 2012. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  6. ^ "Jan Mursak wishes he'd have gotten better opportunity with Red Wings, but knows it's time to move on". mlive.com. 22 February 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  7. ^ Kimelman, Adam. "Dark horses at Olympics to benefit from NHL talent". NHL.com. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  8. ^ "Jan Mursak signs a contract with Torpedo" (in Russian). Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. 1 May 2017. Archived from the original on 4 January 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  9. ^ IIHF (18 December 2007). "Best Players Selected by the Directorate" (PDF). IIHF. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  10. ^ "SC Bern 2019 Swiss Champions!". leading-sport.com. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
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