I'd also argue Lauko is better than anyone we have this year... maybe he's tied with Mysak but I'd put him ahead of Pytlik or Teply?
So Dostal, Lauko and Jenik were not replaced.
I agree that having 10 guys coming back is a real nice bonus.
Reality is that we only have about 8 drafted players on this team. 1 of them will be a backup on the bench so we'll have 7 drafted players from round 2 to 7 on the ice (assuming Malik doesn't start). That's assuming Krutil makes the cut and I think I'd rather see Jiricek and Svozil get the chances.
Has might be the only drafted D man. Counter argument being that Svozil and Jiricek could be first rounders in 1 and 2 years and, when we look back, we'll see that we had 3 future NHL D on the roster as I think Has might make it in a few years.
I love how Klikorka and Kubicek played last year so, a year later, they should be better.
I thought Teply was excellent last year.
Still, I see a weaker squad. I'll watch every game and cheer to the end though!
1. OK but, how many drafted players were there last year? The same.. and 3 are on this years team (Teply, Has, Parik).
2. I understand that maybe nobody can FULLY replace Jenik, but that is yet to be seen. Teply has been very good this year and i can see him being that guy.
If Teply doesnt step up, then theres other guys that have the ability to step up to some degree ie. Mysak, Pytlik, Novak, Svozil, Jiricek, Has..
Last year, if it wasnt Jenik, it was nobody, and we saw that in the quarters against Sweden. Dostal was the only guy who could make a real impact at that point.
So again, my main point here is, that theres more depth in all areas.
Defence is much more experienced (Klikorka, Kucerik, Kubicek, Has) and adds big talents Svozil, Jiricek who can actually play offence and also not just dump the puck out of the zone and make great breakout passes. Add Krutil.
Offence has good and imo underrated drafted guys (Teply, Mysak, Pytlik, Raska, Novak), and on top of that some very good supplemental players ie, Rysavy(solid numbers in Czech2) , Gut(same), Prikryl(recent Hattrick in Extraliga), Muzik (solid big player getting minutes in SHL this year).
Goaltending I think we have all agreed is going to be fine this year. Parik or Bednar im fine with starting.
Laying it out like that, to me its pretty clearly a better team.
Not saying theyll have a better result (likely a quarterfinal exit), but i do think they will be a tougher opponent for the Big 5.