Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
Our undrafted and late pick players seem to be our better ones.lol Really happy for Szturc. He's a dynamite player... just the size. Curious if he works his way a few NHL games eventually.
Czechs in North America
- Thread starter Czechboy
- Start date
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
Alscher is a beaut. Great size. Great compete. Top 100 pick. He may eventually make it and have a decent career. Solid D in the middle of the D rotation. 3/4 or 5/6.
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
Pittsburgh is bad. The D isn't great. Hoping he can get himself there! he did negotiate a good contract. he makes 225 in AHL
here is his competition
Pickering if a first rounder who is 20.
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
I used to mock Russian posters for thinking their KHL guys were better than their NHL guys.. however, Kubalik is an example of a guy I'd happily take over an NHL guy on a best on best roster. He always brings it for us. Sucks no NHL (and the Swiss window closes this weekend I believe) but makes him available for NT! Cervenka is another. O. Kase is another. Sedlak is another. Believe it or not, Smejkal as a 4th liner as well. Juries out on Zadina.
Yeah we have some above standart players right now in europe. Which is really grate given the state of our NHL numbers lol.
Next season for OG I would probably go like this:
From NHL: Necas, Pasta, Zacha, Hertl, Chytil, Palat, Faksa, Kampf, Kulich (will depend if he makes enough progress)
From EU: Cervus, O.Kase, Sedlak, Kubalik, Zadina (instead of Kulich if he is not ready yet)
There are of course plenty of great names from EU left out even from NA, but this is probably the best we can field right now imo, or am I missing someone there?
To edit: The nice thing is that except Cervus who is still great but too old objectively, all those EU guys would probably have enough quality to play NHL
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
My only concern would be Cervus will be even older in 2026. Aging doesn't seem to affect him though. Czechs like their 'folk legend' so I have all day for him.
While no points, Kulich is being played at C. If Buffalo can turn him into a competent NHL C I'd buy a Sabres jersey! That would make our C depth - Zacha, Hertl, Kulich, Kampf. Yes please.
Hoping for a surprise young guy to be an NHLer by 2026. Kind of like Ivan was a nice surprise this year. So many guys in AHL and drafted in top 100 over last 3 or 4 drafts. Need some guys to break in!
Especially on D.
Finally a game from our Boston guys Pasta 1+3 Zacha 1+2, let's keep it up.
Kulich got one.
Král with another 2 points, I don't understand why they still won't give him a chance in Pittsburgh
Kulich got one.
Král with another 2 points, I don't understand why they still won't give him a chance in Pittsburgh
Last edited:
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
The Kral one makes no sense to me. He must be pissed off. Got hurt in training camp but has clearly turned it around in the A and deserves bottom pair NHL minutes. My fear is this ends with a 'Kral placed on unconditional waivers' and Kral goes back to Europe. I get I'm a fanboy but he was one of the best D in Europe last year and seems to only be improving and hitting his peak. Should be good for a few NHL seasons no different than Rutta, Simek or Kempny who 'probably' came to NHL around same age.
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
Some sunshine.. Pasta is now at 1.0ppg and nearing top 30. I still maintain, and have not waivered, that he ends up top 10. Necas is slipping a bit at 'only' 1.48ppg. My dream is both end up in top 10. Despite my 'stan' like fandom.. I do think it is reasonable.
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
Vej is top 10 in GAA and Save Percentage! I was begging for my Oil to trade for him when he was being benched and had no value. Ingrim is not getting that net back. Dostal, to me, is damn near Russian Tier this season. I would be comfortable with him in net against any goalie in the NHL in a best on best. He just needs a better team in front of him and Duck's are returning to glory nicely in the next few seasons!
Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 27,949
- 25,173
Zacha now on a 41 point pace. I view him as a 50 to 60 point 2C on a great team. Boston is struggling so hopefully he can increase offence a little.
Speaking of C's at the NHL level.. Buffalo may be my fav team becasue they keep giving Kulich C opportunity in the NHL. I consider them the best Czech developer of talent this season.
2 goals in his last 3 as a C. That's f***en great! I'm happy with Buffalo and how they are dealing with him. No rookie of the year but this all bodes well for 2026. AHL is still not out of the picture though.
Speaking of C's at the NHL level.. Buffalo may be my fav team becasue they keep giving Kulich C opportunity in the NHL. I consider them the best Czech developer of talent this season.
2 goals in his last 3 as a C. That's f***en great! I'm happy with Buffalo and how they are dealing with him. No rookie of the year but this all bodes well for 2026. AHL is still not out of the picture though.
To answer to all that:
Kral - its ridiculous to me too, what more they want? I dont want to be that biased czech fanboy again lol, but its hard not to sometimes think that our guys are being overlooked in NHL lol, this feels same like the Blumel story all over again ... always the best in AHL, but almost zero NHL chance to actually show off, I mean sometimes is maybe the best for the players to say "f*** off, I did what I can, if they dont want be, their bad, I will go to europe and dominate there" ... I mean having as much NHL players as we can is great and should be the ultimate goal of course, but last few years we kinda see that the go back to europe trend can be very profitable for NT, maybe not for the best on best, but damn how many of those tourneys is there anyways? We are not invited to NHL tournaments, OG is once per 4 years and you can never be sure if NHL players will be there or not, and for Skodas those returnees like Kubalik, Zadina, Kaut etc. etc. are more then good enough.
With that I am trying to say, that if NHL teams tends to overlook czechs (may be or may not be true), our guys should not overstay in NA figting a lost battle for NHL and be stuck in AHL forever. I say better dominate in Europe then be stuck in AHL forever and never play for NT, cause of that stupid NA leagues schedule which always interfere with Skodas. If Kral wont make it this year I would really like to see him return to eurpe and play for NT, same goes for Blumel and Rousek.
Kinda switched my opinion on this I know, but thats Rulik fault lol
Zacha - yeah he will never be a masssive scorer guy, but we need those kind of players too, as you say 50-60 points guy. After that terrible start this season, if he ends up somewhere between 40-50 points I will be content.
Pasta vs Necas - Carolina hit bit of a slump lately, but I still think Necas will win czech scoring battle this year. I will say that Necas will be somewhere around 100-105 points, Pasta around 90-95. Still if this happens it will be awesome to have two such a beasts in NHL season. Wonder when was list time this happened for the czechs lol
Kulich - hope he finally starts to put up points, its the same old same old again, but I would really love to see him in NT at OG next season, but for that he needs to make a lot of progress. Skodas this year are probably not gonna happen, since Rochester is going strong so far, so I am pretty sure they move him to AHL for the playoffs.
