Mark Streit

Mark Streit (b. December 11th 1977 in Englisberg, Canton of Bern, Switzerland) is a retired professional Swiss defenceman. He is currently the franchise owner (minority shareholder and board of directors) and team consultant of the SC Bern and director (board of directors) of the Swiss National Team.

One of the rare Swiss to have made it to the NHL, Streit had a hard time adapting to the style of play of the league and, above all, to establish himself within the Habs, as he was often benched during his first season and played merely so the team doesn't have to pay the fees it would have had to pay to his former club, the ZSC Lions, should he appear in less than about half the games of the season. Although widely criticized by the fans, Streit hold on and began to show why the organization showed interest in him in the first place in the 2006-07 NHL season. The arrival of Janne Niinimaa meant he would start the season as a healthy scratch, despite a pretty good training camp; however, injuries quickly gave him his chance to prove his worth. Often used as a fourth line forward when the defensive squad of the team was otherwise full, he played in 76 games and scored ten times, adding 26 assists for 36 points. His confidence improved, and incidentally, so did his play. This made him a Bill Masterton Trophy nominee at the end of the season.

In the summer of 2008, Streit joined the New York Islanders as a free agent. This move proved beneficial for the defenceman, as he led the team in assists and points throughout the 2008-09 season. He stayed with the Islanders until the end of the 2012-2013.

During 2012 NHL lockout, he played for the SC Bern.

Since the 2013-14 season, he played for the Philadelphia Flyers. On March 1, 2017, he was traded in the Tampa Bay Lightning for Valtteri Filppula, 4th-round pick in 2017 and conditional 7th-round pick in 2017. On the same day he was traded from Tampa Bay Lightning to the Pittsburgh Penguins for 4th-round pick in 2018, so he played the rest of the 2016-17 season for the Penguins.

His last season was the season 2017-18. He played only two games with his first NHL club Montréal Canadiens, then he retired.

He played for Switzerland at the 1996 and 1997 World Junior Championships, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2015 World Championships and at the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 Olympics. He also played for Team Europe at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Since 2018, he is the director (board of directors) for the Swiss National Team and since 2020 franchise owner (minority shareholder and board of directors) and team consultant of the SC Bern.