Petr Klima, who passed away this week at age 58, was part of the draft class that revived the Detroit Red Wings. Here is the tale of how he came to be drafted, and the adventure that got him to Detroit. Parts are excerpts from the book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft.”
There was tremendous pressure on the new Detroit Red Wings management in 1983 to get the most out of the draft.
Mike Ilitch had bought the franchise in June the year before, ending 50 years of Norris family ownership. Ilitch had hired Jimmy Devellano as general manager, based on Devellano’s success scouting for the New York Islanders.
Devellano and his staff made what turned out to be a spectacular pick with their first selection, choosing Steve Yzerman at No. 4. But as the rounds wore on, the choices became more of a gamble.
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When Devellano got to the fifth round, the talk centered on the players who had stood out at the World Junior Championships and the World Championships. The player the Wings really wanted, defenseman Frantisek Musil, was already gone; the Minnesota North Stars took him in the second round.
That left Petr Klima, a fast, strong, skilled forward who had impressed at the World Juniors, where he had recorded eight points in seven games.
“I had a source in Czechoslovakia who said ‘Nick, this guy is the best player we have, but you won’t like him, he’s always in trouble with the authorities,’,” Former Red Wings head coach Nick Polano told the Detroit Free Press in a 1988 interview. “I thought to myself, Hmm. Sounds to me like a good candidate for defection.
“By the time we got to the fifth round, I was giving Jimmy the eye. Finally, Jimmy said ‘OK, but now you have to deliver him.’.”
In August 1983, Ilitch had a trip planned to Europe. Part of the agenda was making contact with Klima in an effort to convince him to defect. Ilitch’s outlook was simple: “Whatever it takes,” he said at the time.
In November, the Wings sent Louis Jakub, a Czech native who lived in the Detroit area, to Czechoslovakia as a representative in hopes of recruiting Klima. “It was impossible for him to come at that time because he was in the army and the government could have punished his parents,” Jakub revealed in 1985.
In August 1985, news broke that Klima had left the Czechoslovakian national team while it was on a training assignment in West Germany. He failed to appear at a practice at a facility near Rosenheim, and was discovered to be missing from his team’s hotel. The Associated Press reported Klima was seen having a drink with a teammate at the hotel restaurant the night before. West Germany hockey officials said Klima stood up and said he was going to the men’s room. Instead, he got his luggage from his room and left.
The next day, Reuters reported that Xaver Unsinn, the West German national coach, said Klima had left West Germany with a North American scout and was headed for Canada.
In September, Czech officials conceded Klima had defected. A front page article in the Czechoslovakia Sports Daily quoted Dr. Ján Starší, coach of the national team: “Petr Klima was lured by money of the National Hockey League and betrayed the collective of his teammates.”
Klima was 20-years-old and considered one of the top left wings in the world. His service with the army hockey team Dukla-Jihlava had ended, clearing one hurdle on his path to the NHL.
Jim Lites, the Wings’ executive vice-president, and Nick Polano, who had moved from coaching to being assistant general manager, had gone to West Germany to meet Klima and help him and his girlfriend defect. They kept a low profile and they kept on the move, changing hotels from Rosenheim to Munich to Stuttgart to Koblenz to Wiesbaden to Frankfurt. Klima ran, swam, biked and lifted weights to keep fit. As the weeks wore on, boredom set in. One day he rented a Mercedes 500 and crashed it on the autobahn.
“No speed limit,” Polano said later. “Petr thought it was funny.”
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In Detroit, future teammates eagerly awaited his arrival. Yzerman, who had played against Klima the previous year in the Canada Cup tournament, said, “He was the best player from Czechoslovakia, without a doubt. He can skate like the wind. He’s definitely a sniper. Definitely a stickhandler. I shouldn’t compare him to Wayne Gretzky, but he is speedy.”
Training camp began with Klima still in Europe. His immigration paperwork was rushed through with the help of Attorney General Ed Meese and his Justice Department staff in Washington.
On September 21, Klima landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport aboard a flight from New York, the second leg of a flight plan that began in Frankfurt, Germany. Ilitch and Lites headed up the welcoming committee waiting at the gate. Klima was 20-years-old, and had just gained refugee status.
On opening night at Joe Louis Arena in October, fans welcomed Klima with a five-minute standing ovation.
Klima posted 32 goals in the 1985-86 season, 30 goals in 1986-87 and 37 goals in 1987-88. He was every bit the star the Wings thought he would be – complete with blond-streaked hair, a diamond earring and an artificial tan – but as productive as he was on the ice, Klima was problematic away from it.
In May 1988, he was among the group of Wings who broke curfew and went out drinking at Goose Loonies, a night club in Edmonton, Alberta, the night before Game 5 of the conference finals against the Oilers.
As the years passed, Klima wore out his welcome with the Wings. It was a tough time for the franchise: Seven years had passed since Ilitch had bought the team, and six years since the 1983 draft that brought in Yzerman, Bob Probert and Klima. There had been playoff successes, but no Stanley Cups. Rumors percolated there would be a blockbuster trade with the Edmonton Oilers, and that Klima would be involved.
On Nov. 2, 1989 the sides consummated Devellano’s biggest deal since taking the GM job in Detroit: Klima, Joe Murphy (the No. 1 pick in 1986), Adam Graves (the No. 22 pick in 1986) and defenseman Jeff Sharples went to the Oilers. The Wings got Jimmy Carson (the No. 2 pick in 1986), forward Kevin McClelland and a fifth-round pick in 1991. Klima didn’t take it well.
“They had no right to trade me,” he said in November. “They took me from my home once. Then they took me away again.
“They came to me in ’83 and said, ‘We want you, Petr. Come to Detroit. Play hockey for us and we will take care of you.’ In ’85, I leave my home, my family. I came and built a home here. Then, they make me leave again.”
Klima won the Cup with the Oilers in 1990. After four seasons with Edmonton, he went on to play for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. In the fall of 1998 he was back at Wings camp, invited to try out for a spot. He could have had one, too, but balked when contract negotiations stalled with the sides $50,000 apart. In January 1999, he signed a pro-rated $75,000 contract and on Feb. 14 he scored in his first game back with the Wings, just as he had done when he debuted in 1985. It was the only goal he scored in 13 appearances.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.