Cze: Dubas Net Worth

The Pittsburgh Penguins' seventh-round pick from 2001 was a relative unknown even in his native Czech Republic before the 2003-2004 campaign rolled around. Tomas Duba backstopped the Czech Under-20 team to a gold medal at the 2001 World Junior Championship, but after the season finished Duba bid farewell to his native country and headed for Finland.

He was given the starter's role in the Finnish SM-Liiga for the SaiPa Lapeenranta team and although he didn’t light the league on fire, he still played reasonably well. Despite the fact that he felt comfortably in Finland after battling homesickness during the first season there, Duba was eager to prove himself in the Czech senior Extraleague.

His rights belonged to the Sparta Praha team, but with seasoned vet Petr Briza still on the roster and talented Marek Schwarz waiting in the wings, there was simply no room for Duba. The team loaned Duba to HC Znojmo, where Duba could be the starter for 2003-2004. Some fans doubted this decision to rely on a "no-name" to carry workload between the pipes, however the dedicated Duba proved them wrong. The Znojmo defense was far from perfect allowing Duba to be face a barrage of shots almost every game, yet the team was still in postseason contention by the mid-season mark.

Duba was very consistent each night and seemed to thrive under the pressure. His poise and confidence seemed to rub off on his teammates as they knew they could stay in every game. It was no surprise that Duba found his name among the nominees for the Czech/Slovak Extraleague All-Star Game. One of the astonishing saves he pulled off there earned him a nomination for the Golden Helmet for the Czech Play of the Year.

He might not have won the Golden Helmet, but he got his team in to the playoffs where they would be forced to heavily favored Slavia Praha squad. Duba's heroics in goal forced the series to go seven where the underdog Znojmo team finally succumbed in a shootout as Washington Capitals' prospect Jakub Klepis ended the fairytale season.

Tomas Duba was awarded the Czech Extraleague 'Top rookie' award at the annual Czech Extraleague awards show, leaving Zlin's Peter Barinka and Sparta Praha's Jakub Sindel as the runner-ups. A contract extension was likely for Duba, but his parent Sparta Praha team ended his loan to Znojmo for 2004-2005. The HC Keramika Plzen will be the new home of Tomas Duba this season, Roman Malek left Plzen for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Russian Superleague leaving the starter's job to Tomas Duba.

The starting job for the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins appears to be Marc-Andre Fleury’s to lose, but in Tomas Duba the Penguins might just have found themselves a valuable trade asset.