Czechs in North America

[Czechboy]

Szturc had 3 goals in last 2gp in the AHL, great season for him.

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.

 

[Czechboy]

He is coming along nicely, Sapo also getting there after the slower start, plus we must take to account he will be more 3/4th line defensive center then scorer. Alscher doing also surprisingly good in Charlotte so far. Sale hit a slump but still 18games and 12 points is good. Hope he gets back in form at WJC.

Still nice transitions from CHL to AHL from multiple our prospects, it's encouraging.

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]

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]

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.

 

[martygod12]

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]

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

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.

 

[martygod12]

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

 

[Czechboy]

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

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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[martygod12]

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.

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.

 

[Czechboy]

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.

With Kral.. he's a UFA signing for 1 year and is 25. Development is done, he's not their draft pick. He signed with Dubas with some kind of 'if you play well, you'll get NHL time'. Well, the bottom guys in Pittsburgh are not anything special. No idea why Kral hasn't got the call. Nice he triples guys like Jiricek and Spacek in AHL salary at least. In fact, he makes more than Svozil, Spacek and Jiricek combined in AHL.lol He has a 225K downside. I don't follow the Pens at all so maybe I'm missing something but I'm not sure what more he can do.

Zacha - great player and very important. This is not MacK or McDavid tier. It's not even Krejci tier. Any international success though, he's key. I forgot, if Kulich keeps playing C - our C depth could be Zacha/Hertl/Chytil/Kulich/Kampf not one tippy top guy but that is nice.

I say Pasta 101 and Necas 100.lol Pasta is now like my Oilers... the 'mean' is high and the regression back to it is lovely.

.ppg is actually his worst pace since 2018. I'm confident saying 100 points (barring injury).

 

[Czechboy]

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.

Forgot to mention.lol

My BIG fear and I think it will happen

Skoda's come and Blumel, Kral, Jiricek, Svozil and Spacek are all tied up in AHL. Those 5 are all guys I'd heavily consider for 2026 Olympics... and I mean heavily consider! I'd love for them to go to the World's and get that experience with Cervus and the Euro's!

I think Ottawa f***ed up with Jenik and he got hurt long term down there on the shitty salary too. His NHL outlook is probably done. In fact, looks like Blumel/Jenik are going the Spacek/Kaut/Chlapik route! Great for Europe but bad in general.

 

[Czechboy]

Last one.. I have slacked enough today.lol

Our top 10 in AHL

I have no idea what more Blumel needs to do. Maybe a waiver wire pickup for a bottom feeder to give him time?
Same with Rousek.

Frk doing much better than I thought but I think his NHL days are done.
Svozil has always been 1 year away to me and this is just fine
Klapka is a beaut and will get more NHL games and, I think, will be a full time bottom 6 NHLer for at least 150 games
Sale has gone dead cold. Get him the hell out of there and to some warm Czech hands in Ottawa.

Kral is on f***en fire.. it's a conspiracy!
Szturc is our next Ivan.... just quietly working away with that smaller frame, high iq and skillset. I think he eventually gets a game or 2.
I thought Spacek was AHL all season and then some NHL looks at end. However, Minny is fantastic! So I don't see a cup of coffee this season. I do think he'd get the call ahead of Jiricek though right now. They are slow cooking Jiricek.
Sapo is just fine and I do think he is a future NHL player. Not winning any titles but he'll be good!

 

[Czechboy]

Here is the remainder of the list in AHL. I highlghted guys that will or have gotten 1 NHL game. I love Mysak and am worried he's done. I don't know enough about Rychlovsky but didn't he lead Extraliga in goals last season? ouch. Bad look for Extraliga. Shit, Raska has played in NHL .. should be highlighted. Jenik is injured, derailed and will win a Spengler and be a new fav on EHT for me next year. I think they are slow cooking Hovorka as a project.