PANIK! At The Disco

The offensively gifted Panik had his hockey beginnings with his hometown MHC Martin club. He played for their U18 for a couple of seasons before heading over to the Czech Republic and spending three seasons with HC Trinec's U18, U20 and finally their men's team. His coming out party of sorts where NHL scouts really got wind of the talented Slovak sniper for the first time was at the 2009 World Juniors.

Regarding the move from his hometown to Trinec in the Czech Republic, Richard said, "I wanted to go to a different high school, one where I could also develop my hockey so my agent suggested that I could go to the Czech Republic and play with HC Trinec, so after thinking about it I decided to go there."

Led by the fantastic goaltending performance of Jaroslav Janus, and consistent scoring of Panik and Tomas Tatar, Slovakia upset the Americans in route to a 4th place finish at the World Juniors. Throughout the years, Panik has been a regular on the Slovak National Team. He has represented his country at two U18 Worlds, two World Juniors, two World Men's Championships, and to top it off he suited up for Slovakia at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Not a bad international resume at all for the twenty-five year old Panik.

In fact, that 2009 World Juniors is what Panik says has been his best international hockey moment to date. "I think the World Juniors when we beat the United States in the quarterfinals in Ottawa. Jaroslav Janus was in net and was unbelievable. We finished 4th which was unfortunate, but looking back on it, it was a really great tournament."

Panik's performance at the World Juniors made way for him becoming a 2009 draft pick (2nd round/52nd overall) of the Tampa Bay Lightning. After being drafted he decided to come over to North America and play in the OHL for a couple teams (Windsor Spitfires, Belleville Bulls and Guelph Storm). The 2011-12 season was Panik's first season as a professional and what a season it was. Playing in Tampa's organization, Richard won a Calder Cup with the AHL's Norfolk Admirals. During that season, he and the Admirals set the longest win streak in North American professional hockey when they won a record-breaking 28 games during the regular season.

"It was good. We had a really good group of guys. We won a Calder Cup in Norfolk, and then later on made the finals with Syracuse (Crunch)," Panik said. "Eventually Tampa called up a bunch of those guys that had played together for their AHL team for so long and I was one of them so it was really good since we all knew each other already."

Richard made his NHL debut during the 2012-13 season for the Lightning, and on Feburary 23rd 2013 he scored his first NHL goal on Dan Ellis of the Carolina Hurricanes, in a game that his team won 5-2. After finally getting to play a few seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Panik was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs and spent the whole 2014-15 season in the NHL with the Leafs. The following season however he failed to make the big club out of training camp and was sent down to their AHL team.

Now most NHL teams knew there was potential in Panik, so it didn't really come as a big shock to most when on January 3rd 2016, Panik was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Jeremy Morin. And it also wasn't a shock when it was announced that he wouldn't be headed to their minor league affiliate, instead he'd be joining the Blackhawks right away. Richard closed out the 2015-16 season in Chicago, and is now in his second year with the club.

So far in the 2016-17 campaign, Richard has six goals and four assists for ten points through seventeen games. This is the breakout season that Panik has long been waiting for since first making his NHL debut with the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2013. It's now solely on himself to keep things going and have a strong season. "I think I had a really good camp and I feel comfortable on the ice," said Richard. "Being able to put up a couple points on the board too always helps my confidence, so it's been nice."

Playing for Chicago right now also has a special sentimental meaning for Panik. You see, Richard grew up in Slovakia idolizing the likes of Pavel Bure and Marian Hossa, so now getting to actually play on the same team as Hossa, someone he admired a great deal, it must be an awesome feeling. "Well he's a really great player. Also being from Slovakia, I can learn a lot from him, so I'm really happy that he's on the same team as I am," Panik said. "I can watch him in practice and see how he prepares for games and stuff like that. It's really helped my game having him here."

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