Czechs in North America

[Czechboy]

Started the season extremely well. Played poorly through injuries for a few weeks, and then had to have surgery.

He's intirguing.. I actually didn't know he was hurt. Big body, good engine.. could be a great bottom 6er in a few years. Not a tippy top prospect but a guy who could work his way up. The toolbox is good!

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He's intirguing.. I actually didn't know he was hurt. Big body, good engine.. could be a great bottom 6er in a few years. Not a tippy top prospect but a guy who could work his way up. The toolbox is good!

I feel embarrassed to say I didn't know either. I've been checking the boxscore for his team for weeks. After like 6 games without scoring, I figured something must be up. He's not that bad to start going into such a big scoring slump.

 

[martygod12]

With Zohorna and Jiricek back in AHL and Chytil, Kubalik and Nosek injured, we currently have only 12!!! (13 if we count Klapka) on field players in the NHL ... that is just extremely alarming.

 

[Czechboy]

With Zohorna and Jiricek back in AHL and Chytil, Kubalik and Nosek injured, we currently have only 12!!! (13 if we count Klapka) on field players in the NHL ... that is just extremely alarming.

It really sucks... when my Oiler's aren't playing I just look for Czech goalies who are starting. Hard to find teams (Boston) with Czechs in important spots. SJ but they are not fun to watch. Necas is heating up! Hronek is also cooling off.

 

[martygod12]

It really sucks... when my Oiler's aren't playing I just look for Czech goalies who are starting. Hard to find teams (Boston) with Czechs in important spots. SJ but they are not fun to watch. Necas is heating up! Hronek is also cooling off.

Yeah Hronek kinda dissapeared altogether lol ... I always look up the scores in the morning and Canucks always 4-5 goals and I am like ok how many points for Filip ... and then I constantly see 0 lol

We are in a really weird spot right now ... NHL numbers are pathetic ... players who have some real impact in NHL was cut down I would say by almost a half in the last three years ... all those players leaving NHL because they are not good enough, or got injured/ending careers are killing us ... our star prospects seems not to be doing as good as we hoped (again sigh)

Yet at the same time we have three semis at WJC in a row and back to back medal ... good performances by our youth NTs through all categories ... and next 3-4 drafts look very promising

But we need to convert those talents and they need to came through and really become NHL regulars ... its looking a bit shaky again sadly. Kulich and Jiricek will make I am sure of that ... but Sale looks bad so far ... Svozil and Spacek not doing as good as I thought in AHL ... other AHL prospects are also very average so far .. and on top of that Jakub Dvorak looks absolutelly terrible so far with the Broncos lol

I am repeating myself again and again and will say it again .. I really hope that this season is a complete rock bottom and that we will be on the raise from now on to the future years.

 

[Czechboy]

Yeah Hronek kinda dissapeared altogether lol ... I always look up the scores in the morning and Canucks always 4-5 goals and I am like ok how many points for Filip ... and then I constantly see 0 lol

We are in a really weird spot right now ... NHL numbers are pathetic ... players who have some real impact in NHL was cut down I would say by almost a half in the last three years ... all those players leaving NHL because they are not good enough, or got injured/ending careers are killing us ... our star prospects seems not to be doing as good as we hoped (again sigh)

Yet at the same time we have three semis at WJC in a row and back to back medal ... good performances by our youth NTs through all categories ... and next 3-4 drafts look very promising

But we need to convert those talents and they need to came through and really become NHL regulars ... its looking a bit shaky again sadly. Kulich and Jiricek will make I am sure of that ... but Sale looks bad so far ... Svozil and Spacek not doing as good as I thought in AHL ... other AHL prospects are also very average so far .. and on top of that Jakub Dvorak looks absolutelly terrible so far with the Broncos lol

I am repeating myself again and again and will say it again .. I really hope that this season is a complete rock bottom and that we will be on the raise from now on to the future years.

Absolutely all of this.

It is the best of times and the worst of times altogether.

Eg. Hronek and Pasta are near the top for their position. So we do have some strong individuals. Goaltending, despite no Hasek or Vokoun, has never been deeper for us and we have a tonne of goalie prospects who still may make it.. Patera, Skarek, Dobes, Stezka, Malik, Malek all come to mind. Not saying they will make it but they are all on good paths. I realize some will be in extraliga soon too.lol

Svozil is doing great I just hate that he is in Columbus with Jiricek.. hard for both to make the Top 6. Shocked by Dvorak... haven't looked him up yet.,, looked him up. Yikes!

While the future looks promising... we just saw a lot of similarly promising guys bust out. The Finn's also had a lot of promising players and some of them busted out too! Honka, Juolevi and JP come to mind. So are our next guys the next Hronek, Pasta and Voracek OR the next Hajek, Vrana and Kaut?

I will say though, I am enjoying the living hell out of our NT this year! Even that youth olympic team last night looked amazing. We seem to be playing very attractive hockey at every level. Of course, they all leave first chance they get and that isn't good either.

 

[Czechboy]

outside of one real bad game.... Stezka is doing quite well in the AHL. Had a shitty start for sure but he's clearly figuring it out... last 9 games included 2 shutouts and 4 games above .930!

Here are his first 8 games

1 game above .930. I'd actually suggest that 8th game is his turnaround point.

One game in between that is an outlier too.lol

That is a 38 GAA.lol This happened in 4 minutes. He faced 7 shots and let in 4 goals.

So my expert analysis:

First 8 games were meh
Game 9 was an atrocity
Games 10 to 18 have been very good!

For NHL this would be bad... but AHL is for development and it's encouraging to see that numbers have considerably improved. Might be used to NA ice.

FWIW.. if he was avaialble, he'd be my third goalie for the World's... behind 2 proven NHL goalies.

Eg. Mrazek, Dostal and Stezka. Vejmelka, Dostal and Stezka. Dostal, Vladar and Stezka. You get the idea.

 

[martygod12]

NHL players will participate in OG 2026 and 2030!

Not sure if I should cheer about that information given our numbers in NHL right now lol.

That 26 we gonna get wrecked probably lol, but that 30 could be interesting for us if our young guns fulfill their potential.

As I write it I look at results and see Jiricek not having much impact in AHL since he came back, Kulich havent scored for maybe 10games or so. Sale is in absolute shit ... Damn, hope that the 30 OG there will be some players we can bring from NHL lol.

 

[GettingYourMoms]

NHL players will participate in OG 2026 and 2030!

Not sure if I should cheer about that information given our numbers in NHL right now lol.

That 26 we gonna get wrecked probably lol, but that 30 could be interesting for us if our young guns fulfill their potential.

As I write it I look at results and see Jiricek not having much impact in AHL since he came back, Kulich havent scored for maybe 10games or so. Sale is in absolute shit ... Damn, hope that the 30 OG there will be some players we can bring from NHL lol.

If i was Kulich i would say "f it all" as well after all he has done for absolutely nothing, no reward. As with Sale i saw few games, he is one lazy mf. Jiricek seems just salty

 

[Czechboy]

NHL players will participate in OG 2026 and 2030!

Not sure if I should cheer about that information given our numbers in NHL right now lol.

That 26 we gonna get wrecked probably lol, but that 30 could be interesting for us if our young guns fulfill their potential.

As I write it I look at results and see Jiricek not having much impact in AHL since he came back, Kulich havent scored for maybe 10games or so. Sale is in absolute shit ... Damn, hope that the 30 OG there will be some players we can bring from NHL lol.

The 2026 roster is definitely going to be not up to par. I'll love the team and will cheer hard but have very low expectations. We'd need several small miracles to happen... eg. 3 new NHL dman between now and then to join Gudas, Hronek and Jiricek. That could be older guys like Kral, Hajek, Zboril or Galvas returning and becoming full timers (unlikely) or youngers guys making the NHL and sticking like Svozil, Spacek, Hamara and Dvorak (also unlikely). Or some guys make it out of Europe and join the NHL between now and then. Eg. Klok and Knot tried and failed. Most likely candidate today would probably be Tichachek (again, unlikely).

Till we can field 6 solid NHL D it doesn't look good. Goalies will be fine. If Zacha comes then our C's will be fine. Rulik should be coach so that is good too!

In theory our Top 2 C's would be Zacha and Hertl and that's good.
In theory our Top 2 D's would be Hronek and an experienced Jiricek and that would be very good.
In theory we will have 7 NHL goalies to chooose from and that is good too
In theory our top 2 W's would be Pasta and several good options like Necas or Kulich.

In theory, Chytil may be healed by then too! Lots of theorys.

In theory, it could also even get worse as we have a LOT of fringe NHL guys that may be out of the leauge too.lol Kubalik, Lauko, Vrana or Zohorna are not guaranteed much. Need some fringe guys to rise up.. Klapka, Blumel or Jenik would be nice.

I do love the thought of Pasta and Kulich on a PP though.. they shoot from opposite wings and that could be a thing in 2026.

But, yeah, doesn't look like Sale will even be in the NHL in 2026.

 

[Czechboy]

 

[Czechboy]

Can't wait till they call him back up.. only give him 5 on 5 time on third pair and then say he's not doing enough.lol My big fear is that they keep him in Clevelan and he becomes unavailable for Prague as he's easily in our Top 4 and getting PP time this time.

Also, Simek is now the captain of his AHL team... doesn't seem like he's coming back to the NHL.

 

[martygod12]

Can't wait till they call him back up.. only give him 5 on 5 time on third pair and then say he's not doing enough.lol My big fear is that they keep him in Clevelan and he becomes unavailable for Prague as he's easily in our Top 4 and getting PP time this time.

Also, Simek is now the captain of his AHL team... doesn't seem like he's coming back to the NHL.

They will, they already stated it that he will return for AHL playoffs even if he finishes the season in CBJ. That organization is pissing me off lol.

 

[Czechboy]

Smejkal is another guy I would've loved in the NHL this season.

FTR.. hard to keep up with all our goalies... eg. Suchanek and Cajan had great nights. Dobes is improving. We must easily have a dozen guys that may get at least 1 NHL game.

Excluded from 4 nations tourney and so many guys floudering. What a f***ed season.lol

 

[Czechboy]

They will, they already stated it that he will return for AHL playoffs even if he finishes the season in CBJ. That organization is pissing me off lol.

Yup, and they have Cajan and Svozil too. Need to trade the Czechs or fire Jarmo.haha

But I will be livid if this happens... and it probably will.

 

[Chainshot]

Sapovaliv with his second OT winner of the weekend just now.

 

[Czechboy]

Sapovaliv with his second OT winner of the weekend just now.

He is not as consistent a scorer as I'd hope for but he does seem to be clutch

 

[Chainshot]

He is not as consistent a scorer as I'd hope for but he does seem to be clutch

He's entertaining. I don't know what sort of career he will have, but he's certainly entertaining.

 

[Czechboy]

He's entertaining. I don't know what sort of career he will have, but he's certainly entertaining.

I love watching him play.. he does it all... except score.lol

 

[martygod12]

Finally a day, where I wake up in the morning, check the NHL scores and I am not depressed lol.

Shame those are so rare this season

 

[Czechboy]

Finally a day, where I wake up in the morning, check the NHL scores and I am not depressed lol.

Shame those are so rare this season

Necas is on a good pace tbh.

 

[Czechboy]

Cherry picked stat of the day. Here is save percentage with a minimum of 12 games played!

Cherry picked because I chose 12 because that is how many Rittich has played. Dude is at .931 and just shut out the Oilers on Hockey Night in Canada.

He's obviously not a .930 goalie but curious if he can get to 25 games and .910? That would be damnn good!

 

[martygod12]

Hertl out for weeks ... but it seems like something planned, so hopefully he will be back till Prague

 

[Czechboy]

Hertl out for weeks ... but it seems like something planned, so hopefully he will be back till Prague

That top line of kovarcik... Kovarcik and vozelnik is going to be awesome in Prague.lol

 

[martygod12]

Zadina with 2+2 oh yeah!! He is going for ppg pace next season I am telling you