Pittsburgh Penguins Veteran Goalie Tomas Vokoun signs in Czech Republic -NHL Lockout Update
It was easy to see that Tomas Vokoun was really looking forward to playing some hockey again after a comeback performance with the Washington Capitals last season, but again going out with an injury and then being traded to Pittsburgh Penguins.
Vokoun, a 36-year-old native of Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, signed on with his hometown team on Friday, November 2, 2012, in order to continue playing during the lockout in the National Hockey League (NHL). A player his age looks forward to obviously spending
as much time as he can playing, and not doing so could have devastated his form for the next couple of seasons.
The veteran goalie became the fourth member of the Pittsburgh Penguins squad to now have signed overseas during the lockout, which officially kicked off on September 15, 2012, due to the expiration of the previous collective bargaining agreement between
the league and Players’ Association.
Top level centre player, Evgeni Malkin, was one of the first to make the move as soon as a deadlock arose in the NHL, followed by Dustin Jeffrey and Deryk Engelland. Their top captain and superstar player, Sidney Crosby is still yet to make a move, but it
is expected that he will also be forced to sign somewhere outside North America seeing how things are turning out so far.
It was nearly impossible for Vokoun to stay in Washington, but making the move to a team like Pittsburgh was termed good for the goalies future.
“Even if this season went really well, [General Manager] George [McPhee] said it would have been tough to get me under the salary cap,” Vokoun said in a phone interview with the Washington Post. “I figured they would go with the young guys. That makes sense.
I had a great time in Washington.”
He was ultimately signed on by Pittsburgh to a two-year, $4 million deal, which will be coming to an end after the 2013-2014 NHL regular season, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Vokoun is a 226th overall pick of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by Montreal Canadiens and has spent his career of over 600 games played with numerous teams like the Canadian, Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals.
Tags: