Hrdina Finds Range After Getting Defensive
By Bob Grove

Back in September of 1997, when the Penguins told Jan Hrdina that his minor league career wasn't quite finished, they did so with a familiar caveat. To play in the National Hockey League, they explained, he needed a better grasp of the game's defensive principles.

This, of course, is akin to telling a kid he must learn to like brussels sprouts before he can order from the pastry shop. Hrdina had a predictable reaction.

"For sure, you don't believe it," recalled Hrdina, who like all young

Europeans pictured himself breezing up and down the wing, scoring 30 goals a season. "I was like everybody else. I was very mad, actually."

But Hrdina took the Penguins' advice, swallowed hard and plowed both ends of the ice for the AHL's Syracuse Crunch last season. Now he is reaping the promised reward--and then some.

The 23-year-old Czech has not only spent the entire season with the

Penguins but, has emerged as a Calder Trophy hopeful, a surprising face-off man and a legitimate candidate to spend the foreseeable future playing beside his boyhood idol, Jaromir Jagr.

Pass the brussels sprouts, please.

"He built himself a foundation (in Syracuse) on hard work, good habits, strong physical play and really being competitive, and from that the rest of his game has kind of blossomed," says Pittsburgh coach Kevin Constantine. "He's been one of our strongest guys in terms of positioning, knowing our system, knowing where to be on the ice. And he does seem to have a good feel, both offensively and defensively, for the game."

Hrdina's consistency this season has been impressive, no doubt a reflection of the fact his selection in the fifth round of the 1995 draft was followed by a second season of junior hockey and two seasons in the minors with Cleveland (IHL) and Syracuse. Undrafted as an 18-year-old, Hrdina thus spent four seasons playing in North America prior to reaching the NHL, giving him an advantage players like teammate Aleksey Morozov, for example, did not have.

Equally notable, especially since "no one took me aside and told me what to do," has been Hrdina's work in the face-off circle. Through 51 games, only veterans Eric Lindros, Steve Yzerman and Mats Sundin could boast winning percentages higher than Hrdina's 56.9 among NHL players who had taken 800 or more face-offs.

"For a young guy to come in and be a 60 percent faceoff guy. . . that kind of came out of the blue," says Constantine, who has come to rely on Hrdina for critical draws. "We didn't know, going into training camp or at the end of it, that he'd have those kinds of numbers."

Hrdina also began to put up some serious offensive numbers after being paired with Jagr and left wing Kip Miller late in a Jan. 26 game against Carolina. The first 10 full games the line played together, Hrdina had three goals and 11 points and the Penguins put together a 10-game winning streak, the second-longest in team history. Constantine also discovered that Hrdina's strong play along the boards and his defensive responsibility complemented Jagr's game.

"Just give (Jagr) the puck and he does everything else," Hrdina said. "He's just so great. He was, and still is, the biggest hockey hero in Czech. I remember watching him on TV in those two (Cup) finals. . .obviously, it's a great feeling to play with him. I was a little nervous the first two games, but it's better right now."

Just like Hrdina's career.