Hey, remember...Petr Kalus?

“Hey, remember...?” is a lighthearted look back at some of the lesser-known former Bruins we’ve seen pass through these parts in recent years. They might not have been stars and might not be the first guys you’d think of as “former Bruins,” but they’ve all got unique stories.

Hey, remember...?

Who? Petr Kalus

When did he play here? 2006-2007

What were his stats? 9 GP, 4G, 1A, 9PTS

What happened after the Bruins? He was dealt to Minnesota, where he bounced around their minor league system before finishing his career overseas.

Are any of you HFBoards people?

Back in the days before Twitter, HFBoards was pretty much the only place to get consistent Bruins talk. Blogs weren’t a huge thing yet, and sports radio ignored the Bruins. On one little slice of HFBoards, however, it was all Bruins, all the time.

On HFBoards, it was customary to vastly overrate a team’s prospects. The Bruins’ board was no exception, insisting that every guy the team drafted was the next Patrice Bergeron.

Back in 2005-2006ish, the Bruins had three big prospects, each of whom had a last name that began with “K.”

The kids were terms the Special K’s, as other nicknames would have been extremely unfortunate.

Kalus was drafted in the 2nd round in 2005; Krejci and Karsums were drafted back-to-back in the third round in 2006 (63rd and 64th overall).

A popular debate back in the day was which Special K would be the best NHLer, and for a while, it looked like it’d be Kalus.

After he was drafted, he left the Czech Republic to play North American hockey in the WHL. In 66 games with Regina (regular and postseason combined), he put up 63 points (40G, 23A)...and he was only a teenager.

It wasn’t hard to see why Bruins fans were excited about him. He headed to Providence as a 19 year old in 2006, where he scored 31 points in 52 games. He performance in the AHL was good enough to earn himself a call-up on that terrible 2006-2007 Bruins team.

In his call-up, he did just about all he could he expected to do: Kalus scored 4 goals in 9 NHL games, including goals on each of his first three NHL shots. NOT BAD.

With his value high, the Bruins made a tough decision: they included Kalus in a summer trade for Manny Fernandez. Kalus was headed to Minnesota, and there was one fewer Special K in town.

The decision to trade Kalus wasn’t popular with a large segment of the Bruins’ fanbase, as the kid had shown a ton of promise in his NHL stint.

However, things just didn’t pan out for the Czech kid. After shipping out of Boston, Kalus played just two more NHL games (in 2009-2010). He spent most of his time with the Houston Aeros, where his production never came close to what he did in Providence.

His last stint in North American hockey came as a Springfield Falcon in 2010-2011, the same season fellow Special K David Krejci was leading the NHL in playoff scoring on the way to a Stanley Cup win.

After heading back to Europe, Kalus put together one of the more impressive hockey passports you’re going to see. He played in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy, Slovakia, Great Britain, Denmark, France and Poland.

Kalus ended up having a “what if?” career: if the Bruins hadn’t dealt him for Manny Fernandez, would he have flourished as a Bruin? Was it the change of scenery that derailed things, or was his Boston success a flash in the pan?

We’ll never know, but that won’t stop HFBoards from trying to figure it out.