Czech winger Jakub Voráček, sidelined by injuries for the last two seasons after a decorated fourteen season career both in the NHL and with the national team, today announced his formal retirement from hockey at age 34, opting instead to join his hometown club Rytíři Kladno in a coaching position.
Spending his junior career between his local HC Kladno of the Czech league and Halifax of the QMJHL, Voráček, the 7th overall pick of Columbus in the 2007 NHL Draft, dazzled in his first three seasons with the Blue Jackets, leading Columbus to its first ever playoff appearance in franchise history. He was flipped to Philadelphia in 2011 (for another recently retired player, Jeff Carter), where the bulk of his career accolades would come, spending ten seasons as a Flyer and quickly becoming a team leader, fan favourite and being named a first-team All-Star in 2015. Voráček was flipped back to Columbus in 2021, in another direct player deal, playing a full season before a concussion suffered at the NHL Global Series in Finland inevitably cut his career short. Voraček retires with 806 points in 1,058 career NHL games, with another 28 points in 49 playoff games over six seasons.
A Kladno native, Voráček debuted for the Narodnitym‘s junior squad, competing at the 2007 and 2008 World Juniors, before making his senior team debut two years later. That debut, at the 2010 World Championship in Germany, saw Voráček win World Championship Gold at age 20, his first of five Worlds, capturing an additional Bronze the following year, and making the tournament All-Star team in his final appearance in 2019. Voráček participated at both the 2014 Sochi Olympics and 2016 World Cup Of Hockey, as well in as five iterations of the Euro Hockey Tour.
Despite his decorated career, and thanks to the 2010 World Championship having one of the rare cases of the IHLC and Gold Medal not being united, Voráček only captured the IHLC once in his career, not until the lead-up to the 2019 World Championship. We wish Jakub and his family the very best for his retirement and the things to come!
International Hockey Lineal Championship 