Kubina a long way from 'skinny kid with big head'

Pavel Kubina has come a long way.

His is an interesting passport, from his native Czech Republic to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, with postings in upstate New York and Cleveland. But it has delivered him to a 12-year NHL career.

Just as "the skinny little Czech kid with the big head,"  which then-Tampa Bay general manager Phil Esposito called him when he drafted him, has come a long way too. Try 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds.

The Thrashers defenseman, who came to the team in an off-season trade with Toronto, ahas brought much needed size to the Atlanta blue line. Furthermore, he brings a Stanley Cup tattoo on his ankle, the constant reminder of the pinnacle of any hockey career, which he reached in 2004 with the Lightning. The other Thrashers have noticed.

“He brings 700-plus games [of experience],” defenseman Ron Hainsey said. “He knows what he’s doing out there. He’s a great communicator as far as helping his partner out on the ice. He’s a steady veteran presence. He’s a big piece that we added and a big reason we are having a little more success.”

As early as 15 years old, when Kubina was signed to play in the Czech professional league, he determined the NHL could be a career.

“At 15, you are making a few hundred dollars a month. You are feeling so good about yourself,” said Kubina, who grew up in the village of Celadna. “You’re almost a little too cocky. That’s when I first realized I’m going to have a chance to play in the big leagues. It was a lot for me to make the Czech league. It is a great accomplishment when you make it over there.

"When I played that first game I was like, ‘Wow, I’m playing with the big boys.’ Everybody was over 30 and I was almost 16 years old. I didn’t call them by their first name. I called them ‘Mister.' At that time, I realized that if I work hard and I get lucky, then maybe I’m going to have a chance to make it.”

At 18, Kubina represented the Czech Republic in the 1996 World Junior Championships in Boston. It was there that he caught the attention of one NHL GM, even in limited playing time.

“In the first game, he nails this guy at the red line,” Esposito said. “He skates toward the bench and the coach is yelling at him. He just shrugged his shoulders as if to say, ‘That’s the way I play.’ The next game, he nails another guy at the blue line. The coach started yelling at him again.”

Esposito, now a Lightning radio analyst, said that during his tenure as GM, he always made one selection each draft and then let his scouts make the rest. During that 1996 draft when it came to the seventh round, Esposito had one player in mind – that skinny Czech kid with the big head.

“I used to kid him that he needed a garbage can for a helmet,” Esposito said.

Esposito convinced Kubina to give up the Czech league for a shot at the NHL. Speaking very little English, Kubina left home for Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League. It did not take long. Just one season later, Kubina made his NHL debut with Tampa Bay, playing 10 games. The next season, he was in the NHL to stay.

“You never know how long it’s going to take,” Kubina said. “Sometimes you make it, sometimes it takes seven, eight years. Some never make it. I always knew there was a better chance to come here and make it than stay home and play in the Czech league and nobody sees me. Maybe you’ll never get a chance to play [in the NHL]. That’s why I made the decision to go to Moose Jaw. I think it was the right decision.”

After eight seasons in Tampa Bay, Kubina left via free agency for the hockey-crazed market of Toronto, where he spent three years before being acquired by the Thrashers. He is in the final year of his contract that will pay him $5 million, same as Hainsey as the second-highest paid Thrashers behind Ilya Kovalchuk ($7.5 million).

Kubina has been exactly what the team needed, on the ice and in the locker room. His skills and veteran presence have been a plus. The perfectly executed cartwheel he performed in the dressing room last week, well, that just shows his good nature and nimbleness.

“He’s done everything for us that we could ask,” GM Don Waddell said. “He takes up a lot of space, blocks shots, moves guys in front of the net. There is no panic in his game. That’s what I like. He gets the puck and he makes a good play. He really has improved our defense.”