Anton Šťastný (born August 5, 1959) is a Slovak former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played nine seasons with the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) from 1980 until

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...

. He was the first player born and trained in Slovakia to be drafted by an NHL team. He is the brother of Vladimír, Bohumil, Eva, Marián, and Peter Šťastný, and the uncle of

Yan Stastny Yan Pavol Stastny (born September 30, 1982) is a Canadian-born American former professional ice hockey centre. He comes from the Slovak Stastny ice hockey family, and is the son of Hockey Hall of Famer Peter Šťastný (one of the first star ...

and

Paul Stastny Paul Stastny (born December 27, 1985) is a Canadian-born American professional ice hockey center for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets ...

(both Peter's sons), all of whom have been involved in ice hockey at a professional level. Anton's son, Thomas Šťastný, played in Switzerland, last for

Martigny Martigny (; german: Martinach, ; la, Octodurum) is the capital city of the district of Martigny, canton of Valais, Switzerland. It lies at an elevation of , and its population is approximately 15000 inhabitants (''Martignerains'' or "Octoduriens ...

in 2015.

Playing career

Šťastný was originally drafted 198th overall by the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

in the

1978 NHL Amateur Draft The 1978 NHL Amateur Draft was the 16th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, on June 15, 1978. It was the last draft to be called the "Amateur Draft" before the process was renamed to the NHL Entry Dr ...

, but the selection was ruled invalid after it was determined Šťastný was too young to be drafted. He re-entered and was drafted 83rd overall by the Nordiques in the

1979 NHL Entry Draft The 1979 NHL Entry Draft was the 17th NHL Entry Draft. It took place on August 9, 1979, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 126 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in ...

. He played 650 career NHL games, scoring 252 goals and 384 assists for 636 points and scored at least 25 goals in eight consecutive seasons. He played his first nine seasons alongside his brother Peter, four of which were also played alongside Marián. They were 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). He ranks ninth overall in NHL points by a Slovak player. Anton and Peter share the rookie record for points in a game, with 8, which they accomplished in the same game against the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...

on February 22, 1981. Two days earlier, they each recorded six points against the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

. These two games, played two days apart, are four out of the nine total instances in which rookies have recorded at least 6 points in a game.

Personal life

Anton was born in Bratislava, the fifth son of Stanislav and Frantiska. His two older brothers, Vladimir (born 1945) and Bohumil (born 1947) were born when the family still lived in the village of

Pružina Pružina ( hu, Barossháza) is a village and municipality in Považská Bystrica District in the Trenčín Region of north-western Slovakia. Pružina is also a surname that comes from the village of Pružina and is very uncommon. History Severa ...

, about 170 kilometres northeast of Bratislava. They moved to Bratislava before the birth of Marián (1953), Peter (1956), and Eva (1966). Stanislav worked for a state-run company that built hydro-electric dams until 1980 when he retired, and mainly dealt with managing inventory. Frantiska stayed at home and raised the children.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stastny, Anton 1959 births Living people Czechoslovak defectors Czechoslovak ice hockey left wingers EHC Olten players Halifax Citadels players HC Fribourg-Gottéron players HC Slovan Bratislava players Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Czechoslovakia Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Quebec Nordiques draft picks Quebec Nordiques players Slovak ice hockey left wingers Ice hockey people from Bratislava Canadian ice hockey left wingers Czechoslovak emigrants to Canada Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Czechoslovak expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland