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Svoboda passes experience on

Lightning's veteran defenseman knows and enjoys his role as a teacher and leader on this young club.

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 11, 2000

BRANDON -- Young players were not allowed mistakes, not permitted to bother veterans with silly questions.

At least that was the way it was 16 seasons ago when Petr Svoboda was a rookie with Montreal.

"You paid for mistakes in a big way," the Lightning defenseman said Tuesday. "A teammate would let you know verbally, and you probably wouldn't play another shift until you started doing the right thing.

"Now it's an approach with emphasis more on teaching, explanation and being patient."

There you have Svoboda's job description this season. He is the veteran on a team learning lessons each practice, each game.

"Some nights I feel I'm as young as they are, but I've got a lot more experience," Svoboda said. "Any time they've got a question or they're struggling with something, I'll be there. That's my duty. I understand my role."

His 1,011 career games are 643 more than the next most experienced Lightning player (Brian Holzinger, 368). And at 34, he is the oldest on a roster full of players born in the Reagan years.

"Petr is what I like to say is the throwback to the old school," said coach Steve Ludzik, who is two years older than Svoboda. "He's a guy that will play when he's hurt, and he expects others to play when they're hurt. I think when players look at him, they realize he's seen and done a lot, accomplished much in the league."

Svoboda is leading by actions.

"I don't let you beat me," he said. "If you beat me, you're going to have to roll over me."

Svoboda, who plays on the first pairing, has absorbed slap shots with his body to prevent goals and led drills during practice.

Teammates notice.

"You have to watch him during a game to see how hard he's playing," defenseman Pavel Kubina said. "It's unbelieveable because he competes hard in everything. That's what I like to watch most when he's playing. He's an older guy, and he's the hardest worker on our team. That's what I like about him -- how he plays, how he competes for a whole game. We need guys like him."

In March, Svoboda signed a two-year deal with a club option for a third. Including incentives, the contract was believed to be worth about $7-million.

Though Tampa Bay finished with 19 wins last season and would have considered trading Svoboda had he rejected the contract offer, Svoboda wanted to come back.

"The money is so much greater in our game than when I started," he said. "But it means nothing."

What means something to the Czech Republic native is passing along respect for the game.

"The respect that you gain from the older players and for the game itself when you're young teaches you a lot," said Svoboda, who came to Tampa Bay in a trade with Philadelphia in December 1998.

"You come in here, you've got to respect your teammates, and you've got to respect the game itself. You cannot come in and think as a first-year guy that you're going to do things on your own, because it's not the way it works."

Among Svoboda's accomplishments since being drafted by the Canadians in 1984: winning the Stanley Cup in 1986 with Montreal, winning a gold medal with the Czech Republic in the 1998 Winter Games and playing in the NHL All-Star Game last season.

The success has made disappointment such as Sunday's 5-4 loss to Vancouver tough to stomach. The Canucks scored three times in the last three minutes to negate a Lightning comeback.

"It's been a long time since I've been as frustrated as I was after the game the other night," Svoboda said. "Life goes on. You've got to learn from it.

"Win or lose, the sun is still going to come up. The bottom line is you don't do things to be afraid. You've got to go on."

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