Róbert Švehla

Róbert Švehla born January 2, 1969 in Martin, Slovakia) is a Slovak retired professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the NHL for 9 seasons from 1995 until 2003.

Career
Švehla was drafted 78th overall by the Calgary Flames in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, but he did not play a game for them before moving on to the Florida Panthers. Švehla played 8 seasons with the Panthers before moving to the Toronto Maple Leafs for his final season. Švehla played 655 career NHL games, scoring 68 goals and 267 assists for 335 points. His best offensive season was the 1995–96 season when he registered career highs in assists (49) and points (57).

Švehla was also strong defensively and was a willing bodychecker. He led the NHL in hits on multiple occasions during his time in Florida. Despite this, Švehla was a durable player missing only 6 games during his final 8 seasons in the NHL.

Svehla controversially wore number 67 while a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was controversial because the Leafs haven’t won the cup since 1967 and some fans thought he was mocking them. The real reason Svehla chose this number was due to the Maple Leafs organization calling him in the middle of the night while he was at home in Slovakia. The Leafs gave a list of numbers and Svehla chose 67 while half asleep. This might not have been the case if the Maple Leafs had taken into consideration the time zone difference.

Coaching career
On 14 January 2009, Švehla joined HC Dukla Trenčín and signed a contract as assistant coach.