Czech hockey fans and media were surprised last week when Jaroslav Modrý suddenly resigned from his position as head coach of Extraliga club Kometa Brno. After starting the season as an assistant coach, Modrý was promoted in November and, after a poor start, Kometa turned its season around dramatically, finishing fourth in the regular-season standings and ultimately reaching the semifinals.

Days announcing his resignation, the former NHL defenseman was introduced as an assistant coach of the Springfield Thunderbirds, the AHL farm team of the St. Louis Blues.

“It’s for family reasons,” Modrý told the Kometa club website at the time of his resignation.

He called the decision “very difficult,” saying, “I didn’t sleep for several nights, but I simply had to make a decision that is best for my family. My coaching career has to take a backseat at this point. A difficult situation arose, I had to react and make the right decision.”

A native of České Budějovice in South Bohemia, Modrý played in the NHL from 1993 to 2008 for the New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers, Dallas Stars and Philadelphia Flyers. During that time, he married an American woman and started a family.

In 2008, he returned home to finish his career in the Czech Extraliga, first in Liberec and then Plzeň. During that time, however, his family resided in the more cosmopolitan Prague and his children attended an English-speaking international school. After three seasons of that arrangement, the Modrýs returned to California in 2011. Late in the 2011-12 season, Jaroslav returned to Plzeň to finish his career with his good friend Martin Straka, while his family remained in the U.S.

Jaroslav has two sons who play competitive hockey and, like their father, are both defensemen. Jacob, 25, just finished his first full season of professional hockey, split between the Newfoundland Growlers and Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL. His younger son Luc, 20, just completed his final season of junior hockey with the Oakville Blades of the Ontario Junior Hockey League.

This will not be Modrý’s first coaching position in North America. Between 2016 and 2021, he coached regularly in the Los Angeles Jr. Kings youth program and for three seasons was also an assistant coach for the Kings’ AHL farm team, the Ontario Reign. In Springfield, he joins assistant Chad Wiseman under head coach Steve Konawalchuk.