Year-In-Review – 13 – Jaroslav Modry

Jaroslav Modry was one of the defensemen that started out the year with the Kings but ended up on a different roster in February. He played in 61 games for the Kings this season getting 1 goal, 5 assists (for 6 points), ended at a +2, and had 42 PIM.


Modry had been the Kings fans' whipping boy in the past, and the beginning of this season was no different. I, personally, thought that the ire pointed his way was a little unfounded seeing as how he wasn't making glaring errors compared to other people on the roster. At the beginning of the season he was paired with Jack Johnson, and I thought this made sense. In my review of JJ, I explained why I thought this was acceptable. But there WAS one issue that I did have with him though. He had been one of the bigger bodies on defense but didn't utilize that as well as he could have. Maybe it was because he was older and relied on his positional play more, but I remember thinking that he could be more aggressive and throw his body around a little. He ended up seeing plenty of PK time, but I really can't remember if he was on the 1st or 2nd unit.

On February 19th, Modry was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. They needed a veteran on their blueline to help them get into the playoffs, and they were willing to give us a 3rd round draft pick for him (2008). As the trade deadline day was getting closer and closer, we all knew that Lombardi wanted to get younger by getting more picks. But what I didn't realize was that we were also going to get smaller in terms of size. We sent off Modry and Brad Stuart and then brought up Peter Harrold. But this also allowed for a change in the defensive pairings by finally putting JJ with Rob Blake. This also put Harrold with Lubomir Visnovsky, which was interesting to me in that they were two players who played the position in a similar style while also being smaller in frame.


After he was traded to the Flyers, he played in 18 games, had zero goals, 3 assists (for 3 points), ended at a -11, and had 8 PIM. He definitely did his part with getting the Flyers into the playoffs where he played in 9 games, had zero goals, 3 assists (for 3 points), finished with a -6, and had zero PIM. I'm not sure what his future holds since he's 37 this year and is now a UFA after making $1.2 million this past season.

He was the Kings' Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy nominee because he had been dealing with his father's illness throughout the whole season. His father passed away while he was with the Flyers but I thought this was an appropriate gesture from the Kings. If memory serves me correctly, he was given a total of 3 leaves of absences this year to fly back to the Czech Republic to be with his father and to attend his funeral, which was actually during the playoffs. I'm definitely glad he was able to play in the playoffs after being with the Kings this season. Although I will admit it was weird seeing him in a Flyers jersey at first. I'll be curious to see where he lands for next season and will check back from time to time.