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Rostislav Klesla
Position Defence
Shoots Left
Nickname(s) Rusty
Height
Weight
6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
220 lb (100 kg)
NHL Team Phoenix Coyotes
Nationality Flag of the Czech Republic Czech
Born (1982-03-21)March 21, 1982,
Novy Jicin, CZE
NHL Draft 4th overall, 2000
Columbus Blue Jackets
Pro Career 2000 – present

Rostislav Klesla (born March 21, 1982 in Novy Jicin, Czech Republic) is a professional ice hockey defenceman and an alternate captain for the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL. During the off season, Klesla spends his time in the Czech Republic.

Playing career[]

Klesla was selected 4th overall by Columbus in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, making him the first ever pick in an Entry Draft by the Blue Jackets. He also played with the Brampton Battalion of the OHL. He used to be No. 44 on the Blue Jackets, but is currently wearing No. 97.

On April 18, 2006, he signed a four-year contract extension with the Blue Jackets.

On September 26, 2006, Klesla was suspended for two 2006 regular season matches (the first one was on October 6 vs. Vancouver and the second was on October 7 at Chicago) for a hit on Chicago's Tuomo Ruutu in a preseason match on September 22. The hit resulted in a grade II sprain in Ruutu's knee which put him out of action for 10 games.

During the 2006–07 season, when new coach Ken Hitchcock assumed his position, Klesla's talent as a young defencemen became apparent when he earned top defensive pairing with Veteran Adam Foote. Klesla spent 20–25 minutes on the ice during the 75 games he played.

Since David Výborný departed for HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga during the 2008 offseason, Klesla is now the only remaining player from the Blue Jackets inaugural season.

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1997–98 Opava Junior Czech Jr 38 11 18 29 87 8 2 2 4 0
1998–99 Sioux City Musketeers USHL 54 4 12 16 100 5 2 0 2 2
1999–00 Brampton Battalion OHL 67 16 29 45 174 6 1 1 2 21
2000–01 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 8 2 0 2 6
2000–01 Brampton Battalion OHL 45 18 36 54 59 9 2 9 11 26
2001–02 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 75 8 8 16 74
2002–03 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 72 2 14 16 71
2003–04 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 47 2 11 13 27
2004–05 Vsetin Czech 41 7 17 24 136
2004–05 HPK FNL 9 1 2 3 12 10 0 2 2 12
2005–06 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 51 6 13 19 75
2006–07 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 75 9 13 22 105
2007–08 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 82 6 12 18 60
2008–09 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 34 1 8 9 38 4 0 1 1 0
NHL totals 410 35 71 106 418 4 0 1 1 0

International[]

Year Team Comp   GP G A Pts PIM
2001 Czech Republic WJC-A 7 3 4 7 4
2002 Czech Republic WC-A 7 1 2 3 2
2007 Czech Republic WC-A 4 1 0 1 8
International totals 18 5 6 11 14


References[]

External links[]

Preceded by
None
Columbus Blue Jackets first round draft pick
2000
Succeeded by
Pascal Leclaire


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Rostislav Klesla. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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