Stars D Polak to rejoin Czech team Vitkovice

Dallas Stars defenseman Roman Polak has agreed to a multiyear deal with his former Czech Republic team, HC Vitkovice, to begin following the conclusion of his 2019-20 NHL campaign. "However, we agreed that after fulfilling all the obligations that Roman follows from his still valid contract in the NHL, he will become a Vitkovice player.

Dallas Stars defenseman Roman Polak has agreed to a multiyear deal with his former Czech Republic team, HC Vitkovice, to begin following the conclusion of his 2019-20 NHL campaign. HC Vitkovice, for whom Polak played in 2005-06 and 2012-13, announced the agreement on Monday, with sports director Roman Simicek saying in a release the team had been trying to bring Polak back since the end of last season.

"Roman is still a Dallas player, so he has not been able to sign a player contract with us yet," Simicek said in the release, translated from Czech. "However, we agreed that after fulfilling all the obligations that Roman follows from his still valid contract in the NHL, he will become a Vitkovice player. And I am very happy to announce that we have agreed on a long-term contract." Polak is a 34-year-old native of Ostrava in what was then Czechoslovakia but is now part of the Czech Republic. He has four assists in 41 games during the current regular season with the Stars, averaging 16:40 per game in ice time. That is down 2 1/2 minutes from his 2018-19 average.

The Stars, currently ranked fourth in the Western Conference by points percentage, have clinched a playoff spot as the league prepares to return with a 24-team format as soon as late July or early August. Dallas will play a round robin against St. Louis, Colorado and Vegas for seeding once play begins. Polak is in his 14th NHL season, having collected 26 goals and 114 assists in 806 games for St. Louis, Toronto, San Jose and Dallas.

--Field Level Media