Petr Tenkrat scored a big goal last Saturday for the Boston Bruins against his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it wasn't exactly the biggest revenge story in the National Hockey League.
For Tenkrat, a 29-year-old right winger who shares a hometown, Kladno, in the Czech Republic with Leaf defenceman Tomas Kaberle, was a Leaf in name only. As someone said shortly after he scored the first goal in Boston's 3-1 win, he was a Leaf for two e-mails.
It turns out that this is something of a specialty for Tenkrat. Since he was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in 1999, Tenkrat has been the property of six NHL teams. He has actually played for just three of them, the Ducks, Nashville Predators and the Bruins. His stint with the Bruins, which started last summer after they gave the Leafs a seventh-round draft pick for him, came after four seasons back in Europe.
Tenkrat's odyssey began on Nov. 1, 2001 when the Ducks gave up on him after 55 games with them and traded him to the Predators for the famous Patric Kjellberg. When Tenkrat turned down a contract offer from the Predators because it was a two-way deal, they put him in the NHL waiver draft, where he was claimed by the Florida Panthers on Oct. 4, 2002. The Panthers immediately traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets for defenceman Mathieu Biron.
By then, Tenkrat had returned to Europe and signed with Karpat Oulu in Finland's club league. When the Blue Jackets also offered him a two-way contract, with a much lower salary for playing in the minor leagues, Tenkrat decided to stay in Finland.
He spent the first 19 games of the 2003-04 season playing in Russia, then returned to Oulu, where he spent the next three seasons.
In the meantime, the Blue Jackets claimed centre Travis Green from the Leafs in the October, 2003 waiver draft. To make room for him, they exposed Tenkrat and the Leafs claimed him. The Blue Jackets then traded Green to the Bruins.
"I came back to Europe from Nashville in 2002 because they just offered a two-way and I did not want to sign," Tenkrat said after the game-day skate with the Bruins in preparation for Tuesday night's rematch with the Leafs. "I told myself I would wait for another chance to get in NHL. Then Toronto picked me up from waivers. They offered two years [in a contract]but it was a two-way so I didn't accept."
So Tenkrat became a Maple Leaf on paper for three years and spent his time on the ice with Oulu.
Finally, at the NHL entry draft on June 15, Leafs general manager John Ferguson traded him to the Bruins for a seventh-round draft choice. The Bruins were in a rebuilding mode after firing GM Mike O'Connell. They offered him just a one-year contract but it was a one-way deal for $525,000 so Tenkrat accepted it.
"They offered a pretty good deal and that's why I'm back in the NHL," Tenkrat said.
But there was one more hiccup along the way. Tenkrat did not make the Bruins out of training camp, which no doubt caused some stress in the front office given his one-way contract. But after he ran up nine points in seven American Hockey League games with Providence, Tenkrat was called up on Nov. 11.
Since then, he has managed two goals and no assists but he seems to have found an NHL home.
Despite his demotion at the start of the season, Tenkrat said he "felt very confident. I had lots of hockey behind me, I felt very comfortable.
"When they sent me down, I told myself I was going to work hard and wait for another chance. The chance came and I'm pretty happy about it."
The Bruins called someone else up from Providence this week, goaltender Hannu Toivonen. He was sent down to get his confidence back. However, he had a 1-4 record with the Bruins, losing all three of his starts over last weekend. But the losses had little to do with him as the Providence Bruins have been on a slide, and Toivonen is back with, the Boston Bruins hope, a better frame of mind.
The only injured Bruin is defenceman Jason York, who came back from a knee injury last Saturday and has now hurt his other knee.
Former Leaf defenceman Nathan Dempsey was put on waivers by the Bruins on the weekend. He cleared at noon Tuesday and was sent to Providence. The Bruins also called up forward Nate Thompson in case winger P.J. Axelsson, who has a touch of the flu, cannot play against the Leafs.