Zenon Konopka had a tough road to the NHL. After finishing his OHL career as captain of the Ottawa 67’s Konopka would sign with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL.

Konopka was very productive in his time in the AHL as his last full season in the AHL he would have 57 points and 186 penalty minutes in 70 games as the captain of the Milwaukee Admirals. Konopka became an NHL regular with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009, but in 2010 he led the NHL in both penalty minutes (307) and in faceoff percentage (57.7%) and was recognized as one of the elite faceoff specialists in the NHL.