Beyond the ‘C’: The Story of Mark Streit
AGE |
34
HEIGHT
6’
WEIGHT
205 lbs.
POSITION
Defense
DRAFTED
262nd in 2004
By Montreal Canadiens
Mark Streit isn’t just the only Swiss captain in the National Hockey League; he’s only one of eight NHL players from Switzerland. Even though he was drafted so late, he ended up showing his team(s) how great of a player he was and that he could produce numbers. Not many New York Islanders have the ability to say that. This is Beyond the ‘C’: The Story of Mark Streit.
Mark started playing in Switzerland. When he was 18 years old, he played for HC Frisbourg-Gotteron in the Swiss Nationalliga A. The following year, he moved to HC Davos. When he wasn’t drafted after his first few years in Switzerland (even though he was quite a talking point in North America), he played the majority of the 1999-00 season playing for the Springfield Falcons in the AHL. After that season, he returned to Switzerland to play 5 more seasons on the ZSC Lions, where he helped them win the Swiss Championship in 2001. After drafted in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, he returned to the ZSC Lions due to the lockout of the 2004-05 NHL season. He came and played his first NHL game as a Montreal Canadien.
On March 16th, 2006, he was part of a Swiss historic moment. He was on the same slab of ice as the other two Swiss NHL-ers. This was himself, Montreal goaltender David Aebischer and Carolina goaltender Martin Gerber. In his 2007-08 season, he was third in scoring among defenseman only behind the great Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Gonchar. After a great year,
he became a free agent and signed a 5 year, $20.5 million contract with the New York Islanders. That made him the second most paid Swiss athlete behind Roger Federer. In his first season as an Islander, he lead the team in scoring, only the second defenseman to do so since the lockout (The first was L’ubomir Visnovsky of the Los Angeles Kings).
During a scrimmage just before the 2010-11 season, teammate Matt Moulson hit Streit into the boards and tore his shoulder labrum, which benched Mark for the entire season. He became the first Swiss captain in the history of the NHL when he was appointed captain in 2011.
Closing Argument:
The way I see it, Mark still has 2 years left on his contract. Which means he might only have two years left to do something with his team or they might kick him to the curb. If he can’t motivate his team to play hard enough to even make the playoffs, he needs to be replaced by someone who can do that. I’m not saying he isn’t capable, but he definitely needs to prove to everyone he can do it while he still has a chance to.
Follow me on Twitter (@NardoneDylan) and tell me what you think.