Left-shot defenseman Jakub Zbořil has signed on with HC Vítkovice of the Czech Extraliga, per a team announcement. It’s a one-year deal.
Zbořil, 28, was the first of the ill-fated stretch of three first-round picks the Bruins held in the 2015 draft. He would play another two full seasons of junior hockey with QMJHL Saint John before making his pro debut for AHL Providence in 2017, and his NHL debut with Boston came one year later.
The 6’1″, 201-lb rearguard went pointless in two games before returning to his minor-league role. But when the COVID pandemic struck, he spent the early part of the 2020-21 season on loan back to his home country of Czechia with HC Kometa Brno, and his stint there was evidently enough for Boston to finally make Zbořil a roster lock when play resumed with the shortened schedule.
Zbořil played in 42 of 56 games for the Bruins in 2021, the most he’d ever log in a single season. While touted as a mobile, two-way prospect, he never rose above the No. 7/8 position on the Bruins’ depth chart and ended up back on waivers and in Providence to begin the 2023-24 season.
It took Zbořil until the 2022-23 season to record his first and only career NHL goal, and he only managed 76 appearances in parts of four seasons with the B’s with a 1-15–16 scoring line and an even rating while averaging 15:38 per game. The Bruins did control a respectable 52.6% of shot attempts and 51.1% of expected goals with him on the ice at even strength, however.
After being waived and assigned to Providence out of camp in 2023, his time in the organization was short-lived. He was sent to the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline in the deal that brought Andrew Peeke to Boston, finishing the season with no goals and 13 assists in 46 AHL games split between Providence and Cleveland. The Jackets – nor any other NHL team – brought him in when he reached unrestricted free agency the following summer.
Zbořil instead returned home on a long-term deal with HC Dynamo Pardubice that was initially supposed to keep him there through the 2028-29 season. Neither side was particularly happy with his performance last year, though – he had 14 points and a +4 rating in 30 games and was released at the end of July. After a couple of weeks without a deal, he’ll look to reestablish himself on a Vítkovice team that employs former NHLers Yohann Auvitu, Marek Hrivík, and Samuel Knazko.