Playing Career
Drafted 113th overall by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, he moved with them to Dallas where he played as the backup to Ed Belfour. He won a Stanley Cup in this role in 1999. Despite his backup role, he achieved international glory with the Czech Republic team, backstopping them to a gold medal at the 1996 World Championships. In this year he played in Germany for the Nuremberg Ice Tigers.
He was traded to the St. Louis Blues in the 1999 off-season, and finally got his chance to shine as he topped the league with seven shutouts and won the William M. Jennings Trophy in his first season. He helped the Blues to the President's Trophy that year and the Blues entered the playoffs with high expectations but were ousted in seven games by the eighth-seeded San Jose Sharks, some aggravated Blues fans pinning responsibility on Turek because of some soft goals he allowed, including one in Game Seven that was fired from center ice by Sharks captain Owen Nolan. However, he played a second season with the Blues while being challenged for the #1 position by backup Brent Johnson. He put up good numbers again, this time helping the Blues reach the playoffs as the #4 seed where they faced off again in the first round against the Sharks. This time Turek helped the Blues beat the Sharks in six games and then helped them sweep the Stars, his former team, in the second round. However, in the third round against the Colorado Avalanche soft goals plagued him again (including one scored after an attempt to scoop the puck into his glove with his stick) and again in some fan circles bore the brunt of the blame for the Blues' third round 4-1 ouster. In the off season Turek was traded to the Calgary Flames.
In the 2003–04 season, Roman's status as the Flames number 1 goaltender was altered drastically when Darryl Sutter traded a conditional draft pick for Miikka Kiprusoff, whose stellar performances relegated Turek to the bench. However, Turek was a dependable backup, as Kiprusoff led the Flames to the 2004 Stanley Cup finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In 2004, Turek restructured his contract to substantially drop his salary from $5 million plus bonuses for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons. The restructuring brought his salary to between $1 million and $2 million, with potential earnings relying heavily on performance bonuses. The restructuring saved the Calgary Flames organization between $3 million and $4 million in 2004.
Turek announced his retirement from the NHL on August 9, 2005.
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