Hypothetical Czech - Slovak team for the 4 Nations Face-Off

[jcbio11]

Tourney rules apply. Only NHL players. Idea from sport.sk website.

Lukáš Dostál, Karel Vejmelka, Petr Mrázek

Erik Černák – Filip Hronek
Martin Fehérváry – Radko Gudas
Ján Rutta - Šimon Nemec

David Pastrňák – Pavel Zacha – Martin Nečas
Juraj Slafkovský – Tomáš Hertl – Martin Pospíšil
Jakub Vrána – Filip Chytil – Ondřej Palát
Radek Faksa – David Kämpf – Tomáš Tatar


Sadly, there's not much choice. Thoughts? I think they could compete.

Click to read more...

 

[Czechboy]

I hate the idea of combining us. But, for fun, the Slovak Dmen improve us tremendously! Slat, Nemec and cehalarik are exactly what the Czech NT is missing. Slaf up front would be amazing.

I don't see faksa or Vrana being in a Czech team selection yet alone a combined roster. Maybe Kulich instead? Struggling but seems like he will figure it out.

First line is slick as hell. Second line is gigantic and tough. Not sure how they'd gel but they'd be a solid pain in the ass.

If also split up Necas and pasta. Necas is the ultimate second line killer. Needs the puck.. doesn't need a tonne of skill around him.

It's be a good team.

Jiricek and Nemec could be the top pair of everyone's dreams in 2 seasons

 

[Eye of Ra]

That D is stronger than Finlands

 

[moropanov]

That D is stronger than Finlands

Quite even D~ Forwards also. But on paper Fin might be 55~45 typic favo vs combined Cze+Svk team atm. Againts only Czech would estimate 65_35 and Svk 80_20~

 

[Hanji]

@Czechboy
What would Czechia’s defense be if it was an olympic year?
I assume Rutta, Gudas and Hronek are the locks. Stats wise Kempny looks done, or has he been injured?

Has Jiricek shown enough to warrant top 4 usage?
Sklenicka, Krejcik, Kundratek, Sulak (if KHL included), Spacek, Kral, Hajek, Scotka, Simek?

 

[karhukissa]

Quite even D~ Forwards also. But on paper Fin might be 55~45 typic favo vs combined Cze+Svk team atm. Againts only Czech would estimate 65_35 and Svk 80_20~

Pastrnak, Necas and Hertl would fit to Finnish team, Slafkovsky maybe. So Finnish forwards are clearly better and it's not close.

D is pretty even like you said, without Heiskanen i would give it to this team.

 

[Saablic]

We are lacking D-mans, if it would be possible to take players with NHL/AHL contracts, it would be maybe possible for us to create a full roster. Of course, we have some good players in Europe, but this is clearly an NHL event, I understand. We need to wait till we will have solid nr of NHL players again, numbers are rising, slowly, but I hope it will be much better within couple of years.

 

[Saablic]

@Czechboy
What would Czechia’s defense be if it was an olympic year?
I assume Rutta, Gudas and Hronek are the locks. Stats wise Kempny looks done, or has he been injured?

Has Jiricek shown enough to warrant top 4 usage?
Sklenicka, Krejcik, Kundratek, Sulak (if KHL included), Spacek, Kral, Hajek, Scotka, Simek?

There is more Czech D-mans in Europe to choose from. E.g. Knot, Gazda, Pyrochta, Sirota, Jandus, Zábranský, Zbořil, Mašín or Ticháček, Vandas from younger ones. At WJC e.g. Galvas, Jiříček. Don´t forget also about AHLers (some of them you already mentioned) Svozil, Král, Dvořák, Špaček.. The most importan would be to test as much as possible, coach Rulík said it before WC in Prague, that he needs to see them in action (that is why he didn´t take Kulich, there was no time to test him in prep game).

 

[Svedu]

That D is stronger than Finlands

You are probably right. Just like Finnish forward lines with their centers are stronger than the Swedish ones

 

[Svedu]

I've had an older very wonderful individual from Czechia as a neighbor. Our families are friends nowadays. I've asked him about this Czech- Slovakia thing sometimes and he doesn't seem to be a big fan of Slovakia lol. ( I' ll fill on that later on).
We have also spoke about corruption in Czech sports. Especially in hockey. But also the declining development in football. Money, nepotism, a lot of contacts instead of meritocratic system and so on.
Slavia Prags dominance in football and importing a lot of their players. (He's a Sparta supporter). Which probably affected their national team as well. Reminiscing Czech team when they had Nedved, Koller, Baros, Poborsky, Galasek, Czech, Ujfalusi, Rosicky and others. Insanely skilled team and generation.

Sorry, over to this Slovak thing. He said that when getting independent the Slovaks wanted half of the state treasury? And that some Czechs thought it was insane when Slovaks had what, 4 million citizens and Czechs would've been 12. 4 plus 12 is 16, so a quarter should've been more fair? In the end he said that Slovakia got 1/3. Is this correct?

So in the end, my question is. Would Czechs even want to compete together with Slovaks? Because that's not the impression I've got.

 

[tobu]

Sorry, over to this Slovak thing. He said that when getting independent the Slovaks wanted half of the state treasury? And that some Czechs thought it was insane when Slovaks had what, 4 million citizens and Czechs would've been 12. 4 plus 12 is 16, so a quarter should've been more fair? In the end he said that Slovakia got 1/3. Is this correct?

Not sure about who these Slovaks are that wanted 1/2 of the treasury, but the split wasn't done by a public vote, majority of the population in both Czechia and Slovakia was against, and in the end was agreed upon by politicians without public support at the 2:1 ratio you mentioned. If there were any Slovaks against that ratio, they would have to have been a voiceless minority. Not sure why your friend has any beef with Slovaks about that.

You have the population numbers wrong. Population ratio was 2:1 in favor of Czechia at the time.

 

[tobu]

So in the end, my question is. Would Czechs even want to compete together with Slovaks? Because that's not the impression I've got.

Don't base an assumption based on your talk with a single disgruntled individual. ;-) Czech/Slovak relations (outside of current governments) are better than they were during the federal republic. Lots of interconnected families, lots of cross border travel, and lots of Slovak players playing in Czech leagues and Czechs in Slovak leagues, albeit the higher quality players go to the better league for obvious reasons.

So to the question if Czechs would want to compete together with Slovaks? If not with Slovaks, then with who else would they? Slovaks are definitely the closest to them amongst any other nations.

On a personal opinion take, I'm against any gimmick teams, while it would be fun to see team Czechoslovakia on a purely entertainment level, I could care less for it in a tournament.

 

[Czechboy]

@Czechboy
What would Czechia’s defense be if it was an olympic year?
I assume Rutta, Gudas and Hronek are the locks. Stats wise Kempny looks done, or has he been injured?

Has Jiricek shown enough to warrant top 4 usage?
Sklenicka, Krejcik, Kundratek, Sulak (if KHL included), Spacek, Kral, Hajek, Scotka, Simek?

If would be bad today.. it may have some hope in 2026.. need Spacek, svozil or jiricek to become NHL regulars. And Spacek and jiricek are on same team and same position lol.

Then we have Kral who is quite good but not getting NHL time .

Then we have the busts Zboril and Hajek.

No matter how I slice it.. it won't be very good.

Gudas Hronek
Rutta jiricek
Spacek svozil
Hajek Zboril
Krejcik kempny (veteran leadership)

Something like that. But once you get past Hronek.. it's all hopes and wishes. I suspect coach will favor guys in Europe over AHL too. But it will be below average for best on best standards. Unless a few guys become NHL regulars in next 18 months. Ugly situation

 

[Czechboy]

I've had an older very wonderful individual from Czechia as a neighbor. Our families are friends nowadays. I've asked him about this Czech- Slovakia thing sometimes and he doesn't seem to be a big fan of Slovakia lol. ( I' ll fill on that later on).
We have also spoke about corruption in Czech sports. Especially in hockey. But also the declining development in football. Money, nepotism, a lot of contacts instead of meritocratic system and so on.
Slavia Prags dominance in football and importing a lot of their players. (He's a Sparta supporter). Which probably affected their national team as well. Reminiscing Czech team when they had Nedved, Koller, Baros, Poborsky, Galasek, Czech, Ujfalusi, Rosicky and others. Insanely skilled team and generation.

Sorry, over to this Slovak thing. He said that when getting independent the Slovaks wanted half of the state treasury? And that some Czechs thought it was insane when Slovaks had what, 4 million citizens and Czechs would've been 12. 4 plus 12 is 16, so a quarter should've been more fair? In the end he said that Slovakia got 1/3. Is this correct?

So in the end, my question is. Would Czechs even want to compete together with Slovaks? Because that's not the impression I've got.

To answer you question in HF speak. Everytime a thread combines us.. it isn't a czech or Slovak poster. It is usually a north american poster who feels his A and B team would destroy everyone. Then they post paper rosters to prove it.lol. The purpose seems to because they feel that Canada just doesn't have enough competition and they remember the term Czechoslovakia from their youth lol

 

[Svedu]

Don't base an assumption based on your talk with a single disgruntled individual. ;-) Czech/Slovak relations (outside of current governments) are better than they were during the federal republic. Lots of interconnected families, lots of cross border travel, and lots of Slovak players playing in Czech leagues and Czechs in Slovak leagues, albeit the higher quality players go to the better league for obvious reasons.

So to the question if Czechs would want to compete together with Slovaks? If not with Slovaks, then with who else would they? Slovaks are definitely the closest to them amongst any other nations.

On a personal opinion take, I'm against any gimmick teams, while it would be fun to see team Czechoslovakia on a purely entertainment level, I could care less for it in a tournament.

No I know. That's why I asked in the first place. I'm not american nor easy to brainwash with neither propaganda or a black or white perspective on life in general or politics overall.

Not sure about who these Slovaks are that wanted 1/2 of the treasury, but the split wasn't done by a public vote, majority of the population in both Czechia and Slovakia was against, and in the end was agreed upon by politicians without public support at the 2:1 ratio you mentioned. If there were any Slovaks against that ratio, they would have to have been a voiceless minority. Not sure why your friend has any beef with Slovaks about that.

You have the population numbers wrong. Population ratio was 2:1 in favor of Czechia at the time.

I didn't fact check so you are probably right. It was the day after Christmas and we shared a good Czech beer. Not the time to hit my phone and google these things up lol. Thank you for sharing though. Appreciate it.

 

[Svedu]

Don't base an assumption based on your talk with a single disgruntled individual. ;-) Czech/Slovak relations (outside of current governments) are better than they were during the federal republic. Lots of interconnected families, lots of cross border travel, and lots of Slovak players playing in Czech leagues and Czechs in Slovak leagues, albeit the higher quality players go to the better league for obvious reasons.

So to the question if Czechs would want to compete together with Slovaks? If not with Slovaks, then with who else would they? Slovaks are definitely the closest to them amongst any other nations.

On a personal opinion take, I'm against any gimmick teams, while it would be fun to see team Czechoslovakia on a purely entertainment level, I could care less for it in a tournament.

Regarding your question, no one. I just think they would've competed for themselves. Nothing controversial or against slovaks. Both nations are rising and it's matter of time when Czechs will have a full roster with players in the NHL. They've jumped back and have very interesting prospects backing Pasta and Necas. The latter could still be a star player for 5-10 years as well so the future is promising. They have so good D's coming up. in 3-5 years they could be the new Sweden with their D-core being super stacked if their prospects pan out. And it's not a single one. There are at least 5-6 who have some serious potential. And lots of players have some serious size to them, both attackers and D's. These factors combined with a goalie like Dostal who can steal games? I'm optimistic.

And I share your opinion regarding gimmicks. Takes away the prestige completely for me.

 

[RBbandit]

Don't base an assumption based on your talk with a single disgruntled individual. ;-) Czech/Slovak relations (outside of current governments) are better than they were during the federal republic. Lots of interconnected families, lots of cross border travel, and lots of Slovak players playing in Czech leagues and Czechs in Slovak leagues, albeit the higher quality players go to the better league for obvious reasons.

So to the question if Czechs would want to compete together with Slovaks? If not with Slovaks, then with who else would they? Slovaks are definitely the closest to them amongst any other nations.

On a personal opinion take, I'm against any gimmick teams, while it would be fun to see team Czechoslovakia on a purely entertainment level, I could care less for it in a tournament.

You're right about our excellent relations as separate nations. Still, frankly many of us on the Czech side were surprised at that time by how resentful many Slovaks (not all of course) suddenly became after velvet. Still, remember saying from some SK politician "We want our own little star" ( on EU flag)

 

[DuklaNation]

Not competitive enough. Amount of talent from that region has been very low in recent years.