Kings @ World Championships in Czech Rep (?)

[likid]

Report coming in today that Alec Martinez got an invite from the US team along with Trevor Lewis, but Martinez rejected for health reasons.

Gáborík stays in LA until April 29th, reportedly to "continue practicing with his teammates".

The Worlds begin on Friday, May 1st, and both Canada and the US are in action in the tourney's first two opening games, at 7:15 a.m. LA time. Slovenia and Slovakia play their first game on Saturday. Most games in the tourney will be played at 7:15 or 11:15 a.m. LA time, with a few weekend games at 3:15 a.m. (matinee games in Europe).

Strange this regarding Gaborik. Kopitar is coming to Slovenia in the middle of next week and will practise with NT for at least one week before start of WC and will also play in one preparation game in Germany.

 

[kingsfan]

Maybe he wants to be around the trainers? Maybe he got banged up late in the season.

 

[KINGS17]

Strange this regarding Gaborik. Kopitar is coming to Slovenia in the middle of next week and will practise with NT for at least one week before start of WC and will also play in one preparation game in Germany.

Not really.

Beach in So. Cal >>>>>>>>>>> Czech Republic

How many times has Gaborik played in this tournament? What's its real value to him?

 

[Reclamation Project]

Gaborik's international resume is ridiculous. Bronze is the best he's won though.

 

[Faterson]

Strange this regarding Gaborik. Kopitar is coming to Slovenia in the middle of next week and will practise with NT for at least one week before start of WC and will also play in one preparation game in Germany.

Yes, and Gáborík is already getting some criticism from Slovakia fans for delaying his arrival. Given his injuries in the past, his participation at the Worlds has never been taken for granted by fans even in those seasons when his NHL teams didn't make the play-offs or exited early, so I for one am grateful he'll at least be there for the main tourney.

Slovakia plays the last two pre-Worlds preparation games in Latvia, on April 24th & 25th, so if Gabby returned to Europe now, he'd have to travel to Latvia along with the team, and that's perhaps too much to ask from him at this point.

(As you know, Gabby also missed Sochi due to a long-term injury at the time, which may have helped him be energetic enough later on in that season to provide crucial help for the Kings on their way to the second Cup. It may also have spared Gabby the embarrassment that was Sochi for Slovakia's team – getting defeated by Kopitar's Slovenia and all. Chára's reputation has suffered greatly among Slovak fans after Sochi, because he was the team captain there, and some irate Slovak fans are saying they never wish to see Chára on the national team again. Still no definitive confirmation from him as to whether or not he'll be playing in Czech Rep in May.)

Maybe he got banged up late in the season.

That would be "par for the course", unfortunately.

How many times has Gaborik played in this tournament? What's it's real value to him?

Pretty big, I assure you. Gáborík often gets criticized for failing to win a medal for Slovakia so far. (World Juniors medals don't really count, in the eyes of casual Slovak hockey fans; the reputation of the two tourneys is exactly reversed in Europe compared to Canada: the seniors World Championships are considered to be all-important and the annual climax of the hockey season, much like the Stanley Cup play-offs overseas, whereas the annual World Juniors around New Year's Day are considered to be a minor affair.)

Gaborik's international resume is ridiculous. Bronze is the best he's won though.

And that one doesn't "fully count", in the eyes of most Slovak hockey fans, because it was "only" at the junior level. So if by "ridiculous" you mean "unimpressive", that's what it is, in the eyes of most Slovakia fans. Until Gabby wins at least one medal at the senior level with Slovakia, his career on the national team will be considered unsuccessful. (Compare that with Šatan who has won all four Slovakia medals at the senior level, and most of them as team captain.) By the way, Gáborík's pal from the same hometown, Marián Hossa, has been just as unsuccessful on Team Slovakia so far. That's ironic given that Hossa is likely the best Slovak NHL player since Peter Šťastný.

In other news, both Nugent-Hopkins and Yakupov failed their exit medical checks with the Oilers, so we won't get to see the last 5 overall no. 1 draft picks at the tournament after all. This despite both of them having been nominated for their teams and wishing to play. But the Oilers medical staff vetoed that. Looks like Martinez vetoed that on his own without consulting the Kings' medical staff.

 

[Reclamation Project]

I meant ridiculous as a compliment. I would never insult a player of Gaborik's ilk.

 

[Faterson]

Yeah, I guessed so. So I wanted to correct that impression for you – over here, he really is considered a bust on the national team so far, and I'm sure that's not the legacy with which he'd like to retire, so I'd say his motivation to have success at the Worlds may be pretty high. He came pretty close to success at both earlier Olympics (2006 – Slovakia wins group play with 5 straight wins while defeating Russia, the US, and Sweden, but then gets bounced in the 1st play-off round by the Czechs; 2010 – Slovakia loses a 2-goal 3rd-period lead over Finland in the bronze medal game). But "pretty close to success" just doesn't equal "success" for the fans.

 

[likid]

Not really.

Beach in So. Cal >>>>>>>>>>> Czech Republic

How many times has Gaborik played in this tournament? What's it's real value to him?

Well, I think time difference is a big factor here. It is 9 hours difference between LA time and Central Europe time. This mean you need app. one week to fully aclimate to such time difference. Othervise in my oppinion also risk for injury will is much higher.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Yes, and Gáborík is already getting some criticism from Slovakia fans for delaying his arrival. Given his injuries in the past, his participation at the Worlds has never been taken for granted by fans even in those seasons when his NHL teams didn't make the play-offs or exited early, so I for one am grateful he'll at least be there for the main tourney.

Slovakia plays the last two pre-Worlds preparation games in Latvia, on April 24th & 25th, so if Gabby returned to Europe now, he'd have to travel to Latvia along with the team, and that's perhaps too much to ask from him at this point.

(As you know, Gabby also missed Sochi due to a long-term injury at the time, which may have helped him be energetic enough later on in that season to provide crucial help for the Kings on their way to the second Cup. It may also have spared Gabby the embarrassment that was Sochi for Slovakia's team – getting defeated by Kopitar's Slovenia and all. Chára's reputation has suffered greatly among Slovak fans after Sochi, because he was the team captain there, and some irate Slovak fans are saying they never wish to see Chára on the national team again. Still no definitive confirmation from him as to whether or not he'll be playing in Czech Rep in May.)



That would be "par for the course", unfortunately.



Pretty big, I assure you. Gáborík often gets criticized for failing to win a medal for Slovakia so far. (World Juniors medals don't really count, in the eyes of casual Slovak hockey fans; the reputation of the two tourneys is exactly reversed in Europe compared to Canada: the seniors World Championships are considered to be all-important and the annual climax of the hockey season, much like the Stanley Cup play-offs overseas, whereas the annual World Juniors around New Year's Day are considered to be a minor affair.)


And that one doesn't "fully count", in the eyes of most Slovak hockey fans, because it was "only" at the junior level. So if by "ridiculous" you mean "unimpressive", that's what it is, in the eyes of most Slovakia fans. Until Gabby wins at least one medal at the senior level with Slovakia, his career on the national team will be considered unsuccessful. (Compare that with Šatan who has won all four Slovakia medals at the senior level, and most of them as team captain.) By the way, Gáborík's pal from the same hometown, Marián Hossa, has been just as unsuccessful on Team Slovakia so far. That's ironic given that Hossa is likely the best Slovak NHL player since Peter Šťastný.

In other news, both Nugent-Hopkins and Yakupov failed their exit medical checks with the Oilers, so we won't get to see the last 5 overall no. 1 draft picks at the tournament after all. This despite both of them having been nominated for their teams and wishing to play. But the Oilers medical staff vetoed that. Looks like Martinez vetoed that on his own without consulting the Kings' medical staff.

I don't think I have ever seen fans criticising Gaborik (or Hossa for that matter) for not winning a medal. What fans criticize him for is failing to show up when the NT needs him, there have been a lot of times where everyone was hoping real hard that he'd come to the WC and he didn't. Of course, he had injuries as reason, but fans who were used to players playing through injuries in the early 2000s at the WC in the hey day of Slovak NT were not always satisfied with that explanation.

If people make comments about him and Hossa never getting a medal it's usually in the vein of making fun of it. Hossa never having won a medal (not even at the u20 and u18 levels like Gaborik has) gets some comments about him being jinxed, but noone from the people who makes the comment would ever complain about Hossa playing for the NT.

Both Gaborik and Hossa have generally played great on the NT and they do have good numbers (Hossa 28pts in 19 games at Olympics, 41 points in 52 games at the WC, Gaborik 12 points in 13 games at Olympics, 27 points in 35 WC games), however saying that Satan has had a better national career (at least by this points in Gabby's and Hossa's career) than these two is pure fact. I mean he has played in 12 elite level WCs, 4 Olympics, has been captain 9 times, has all the senior medals Slovakia has ever won (and contributed to all of them significantly), he had 14 points in 21 Olympics games, 75 points in 88 WC games, he's the best goal scorer of Slovak NT historically with 86 goals, has played the most games for Slovak NT (183), he was there right from the start when Slovak hockey was climbing up from the bottoms in the lower level WCs and at the Lilehammer Olympics and one has to think really hardto recall those few instances when he refused the NT.

Hossa's nor Gaborik's NT career just doesn't compae to that at the moment (although of course both have been limited, Hossa mainly due to late involvement in play-offs and Gaborik due to injuries).

And it can't be schocking that for many (especially casual) Slovak hockey fans achievements on the national team (even if it is in a tourney as meaningless as WC for some North Americanfans) means much much more than some far away league like the NHL.

 

[Faterson]

Yeah, it's all pretty ironic. Šatan owes his legendary status in Slovakia mostly to the fact he spent most of his NHL career on (usually) crappy (at the time) teams like the Sabres and the Islanders, which frequently made him available for the Worlds tournament. (That can't be said for Hossa who made the Stanley Cup finals with 3 different teams in 3 straight seasons, etc.) Because we all hope the Kings will regularly go deep in the play-offs in upcoming seasons, this makes the current opportunity to play at the Worlds all the more precious for guys like Gáborík and Kopitar.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Well, Gaborik's name is on the Cup now so he must want a gold more now than ever.

 

[Faterson]

Right. He's in exact reverse mode compared to Lubo Višňovský. Višňovský got his gold back in 2002 because the Kings were a crappy team when he played for them. (Otherwise, he wouldn't have been available for the tourney.) So, I'm an avid Islanders fan this spring. I hope Gáborík will win (well... at least bronze; gold is too much to hope for, I'm afraid) at the Worlds, and Lubo wins the Stanley Cup. And all will be good!

 

[VEGASKING]

Too bad the Slovaks didn't have much defense or goaltending years back when they had all that high end forward talent. Now that that has developed they are lacking the amazing forwards to be a top contender.

 

[Faterson]

A few promising youngsters are coming up now (Tatar, Jurčo, Daňo). All 3 may yet get to play at this year's Worlds if the Red Wings get defeated in the first round. But before Gáborík joined the national team, it's true that the top offensive threat there was another (brief) ex-King, Ladislav Nagy. Nagy is 35 now, but he's just had a great KHL season, and some say that Nagy is playing the best hockey of his career right now.

It's expected that Gáborík might get to play with Nagy on the 1st Slovak line, possibly with Kopecký (Panthers) centering them. Kopecký has just had his worst NHL season ever, but as a defensively responsible center between Gáborík and Nagy, he might be a good fit.

 

[Quattro]

But before Gáborík joined the national team, it's true that the top offensive threat there was another (brief) ex-King, Ladislav Nagy. Nagy is 35 now, but he's just had a great KHL season, and some say that Nagy is playing the best hockey of his career right now.

Holy crap, I am stunned that

A) Nagy is still playing
B) He's only 35

 

[Faterson]

Yup. Nagy's most productive NHL season was as a 23-year-old... he went through a tough crisis a few years ago, but now he's back to playing at top KHL level, which can't be too far from at least respectable NHL level.

Handzuš (38) and Stümpel (43 this summer) are still playing, too, but not at Nagy's level. Still good enough to be among the leaders on their Slovak league teams this season. (Ziggy, also 43 next month, hung 'em up a few years ago, after a relatively brief career revival.) Stümpel got nominated for Slovakia at the Worlds a couple of seasons ago, but ended up being a healthy scratch in most games, so that's over, I guess. Handzuš was considered for this year's Worlds, but declined himself, saying he no longer felt he was up to it.

 

[likid]

Kopitar is already in Slovenia and will start practising with the NT today. It is good that he will practise with team for 10 days before start of World Championship.

 

[Quattro]

Handzuš (38) and Stümpel(43 this summer) are still playing, too,

OMG

 

[KINGS17]

Well, looking on the bright side, none of the guys at the WC were in Las Vegas.

 

[fsanford]

Well, looking on the bright side, none of the guys at the WC were in Las Vegas.

Well some of the guys had not left yet, I thought Jones was going to the WC, and sounds like he was in Vegas.

 

[Faterson]

Handzuš (38) and Stümpel (43 this summer) are still playing, too

OMG

Well, not only Jágr can still do it at 43. Though Stümpel admittedly can no longer do it on the top international level. Still pretty impressive, though. And there's another: former Montreal player Martin Ručinský is 44, and he's been one of the top scorers in the Czech League this season. As Wikipedia puts it, "He is the last player for the Quebec Nordiques still active in professional hockey." He's extremely active these very days, because the Czech league is going to Game 7 in play-off finals this week, and Ručinský's team is in it. He might well get nominated for this year's Czech Worlds squad at 44. Jágr is practicing but has not yet confirmed whether he'd be joining the team.

Speaking of the Czech league, one prediction is that Gáborík might get to play on the same line with Montreal-drafted Martin Réway, the captain of Slovakia's bronze-winning team at the most recent World Juniors tourney in Canada. Many people say Réway reminds them of Ziggy Pálffy with his style of play. He's kinda undersized, but with great on-ice vision, and superb passing skills, which might be just what Gabby needs to be productive at the tourney. Slovakia has no Kopitar, so we need to take the next best thing. Réway has just spent his first season in a men's league and won the Rookie of the Year award in the Czech league.

A third option for Gáborík's linemate, if it's not Nagy or Réway, might be Columbus's Marko Daňo (another 20-year-old), who has just had a pretty awesome rookie season split between the NHL and AHL. He recorded 21 points (8+13) in 35 NHL games this season. There's a stat somewhere that says Daňo recorded the most points from among all NHL rookies this season in terms of points production in proportion to ice-time. Luckily, Springfield failed to advance to the AHL play-offs at the last second, so Daňo is free to go to the Worlds, and (unlike Gáborík) is flying to Europe this Wednesday or Thursday, joining (if possible) Slovakia's team for the last two pre-tournament preparation games in Latvia.

Yep, it's too bad Gáborík isn't flying to Europe until at the last minute, so that he can't even try and develop some chemistry with Nagy and/or Réway and/or Daňo before the tournament begins, but that's just the way it is with superstars.

 

[Faterson]

Crosby joining team Canada. Nice. Gáborík should be in Europe on Tuesday, a couple of days sooner than previously reported. His first game is on Saturday – should be enough to overcome jetlag.

 

[taz346]

Brown needs to go to a local rink in LA and take some intro to skating classes instead.

I suggest once again....double bladed training skates.

 

[taz346]

I always seem to get in trouble for things I say but, I want to state that I don't know bout anyone else, but I for one will be glad with the p/o's and this world thing will be over so we can all go back to concentrating on what's going to transpire with the Kings.

 

[damacles1156]

I can understand A-Mart saying no. The poor guy has been banged up all year, and his play suffered for it.

A-Mart needs some serious rest.