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Former Red Wings Defenseman and Michigan Native Goes Viral, Showcasing Grit At 36 Years Old
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- Former Red Wings Defenseman and Michigan Native Goes Viral, Showcasing Grit At 36 Years Old
In North America, the hockey season is almost here, with NHL training camps and preseason schedules set to begin in the coming weeks.
Overseas in Europe, though, some leagues are already underway, and one of them, the Czech Extraliga, features a familiar face to Detroit Red Wings fans in defenseman and Michigan native Luke Witkowski .
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In a video that circulated widely online, the now 36-year-old defender and part-time right winger was seen tossing around and physically overpowering an opposing player during a game for his new club, HC Kometa Brno, a moment that showed he hasn't lost a step in the physicality department even at his age. Plenty of fans online noted that his brand of grit would be a welcome sight back in Hockeytown.
Witkowski has spent the past several seasons playing overseas after being drafted in the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning . He appeared in just 66 games over four seasons with the Bolts, recording seven points and a minus-five rating while spending most of that time in the minors.
In fact, the bulk of Witkowski's North American pro career was spent in the AHL, where he built a reputation as a steady stay-at-home defenseman, posting 61 points and a plus-36 rating across 346 games.
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The Holland, Michigan native returned to his home state for the 2017-18 season after serving as captain of Tampa Bay 's AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. He went on to play 65 games over the next two seasons with his home-state Red Wings, recording six points and a minus-six rating in what stood as the longest NHL stretch of his career, mostly as a seventh defenseman.
He built a reputation as a physical presence who dropped the gloves regularly when he was in the lineup, and the biggest moment of his NHL career came in a brawl with Matthew Tkachuk and the Calgary Flames , one that ultimately landed him a ten-game suspension.
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He bounced back to Tampa Bay before returning to Detroit's organization for the 2021-22 season, spending most of that year with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL, where he posted seven points and a plus-six rating in 44 games.
That stint didn't last long, though, as Witkowski moved to the St. Louis Blues ' AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, before the 2022-23 season became his last in North America. From there, Witkowski headed overseas, first to Finland, where he won a league championship with Tappara Tampere, before spending the past two seasons in Sweden.
This offseason, he signed with HC Kometa Brno in the Czech Extraliga, bringing his physical, veteran presence to a new league, one where, as the viral clip showed, he's already making his grit known.
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