Frolik: please describe!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Crosby=Gretzky

Registered User
Dec 7, 2004
959
0
i lost myself
I just want to apologize to everyone, my predictions very a little to early.
I'm to hyped in saying "He's the next one". But CAN Frolik be as good or better than Jagr.
 

Twist and Shout

Registered User
Dec 30, 2003
12,538
0
Calgary, Alberta
helicecopter said:
Considering this statement and the quote on your profile i guess you know him pretty well and you have seen him play so...what about describing the player he is?

Frolik is a great skater, and he has sensational hands. He is one player that can 'actually' stickhandle through a phonebooth. His hockey sense is one of his unsung assets, as he has the vision that only a few are blessed with. He can make even the most challenging of plays look easy, and is a strong, strong player with the puck, and without it. He has his head screwed on right, and he knows what he wants from hockey - to play to the best of his abilities, all the time.

Infact, when Jagr (yes) was playing for Kladno, he asked the coach to put Frolik on his line because he was so impressed with the kid.

Frolik is one of those guys that will make you go wow everytime he's on the ice, but he also has the maturity to not let the attention he 'will' receive go to his head. He's not just a electrifying player, he is so much more.

In my mind, he has no weaknesses in his game but some may see him passing off the puck to his teammates instead of shooting it, as a weakness. However, I just see it as a sign of a player that isn't selfish with the puck, and is confident enough in his abilities, as he rarely misses a pass.

It is likely that Frolik won't receive the attention he deserves until he plays his first NHL game, but make no mistake.... this kid is as talented (at the least) as the guy that receives all the hype - Crosby.
 

bossy22

Registered User
Mar 14, 2004
1,853
23
Calgary
Dec 29 WJC Prelimanary Round CZE 5 - SUI 2

So I just finished watching this 2005 WJC game that was broadcast on TSN.

On Frolik's first shift, Pierre McGuire's first comments that people were comparing this 16 year old to a 16 year old Gaborik. Not sure if he meant their styles of play or just that Frolik was causing the same hype or buzz as Gaborik did in Winnipeg in '99. McGuire said that Frolik is not as big as Gaborik was at that age.

For most of the first period, he was unnoticable but there was one series where he was in the SUI zone and the Czech's were cycling down low. I could see Frolik had great balance on his skates as he reached far behind to contnue the cycle and he didn't look off balance.

Midway through the 2nd period Frolik scored a fantastic goal. The play started deep in the CZE zone with Frolik a few steps in front of the CZE Dman who was attempting to secure the puck. Frolik showed excellent puck support and picked up the lose puck on his side of center on the left wing. He then took the puck directly across the middle of the ice and down the right hand side of the ice deep into the SUI zone. Accelerating as he went down ice, he skated past the SUI Dman down to the goalline in the far right hand cornor and then exploed across the ice and took the puck in front of the net. With a quick and strong burst, he was alone in front of the net and put the puck far side past the SUI netminder. Close to an end to end rush and a great goal. Well that started McGuire's hype machine and the viewer certainly knew it when Frolik was on the ice for the rest of the game.

For the 3rd period, nothing special from him. Looks like he has decent hockey sense as he knows where to go without the puck esp in the Off zone. Skating looks very solid. Legs are wide apart giving him great balance and he seemed to be able to turn up th speed to blow by people. Stickhandleing looked good but on his goal he had his head down a little when he went across the middle of the ice. But when he exploded to the net he had his head up and seemed very determined to get there.

Certainly didn't look out of place and you wouldn't say he was the youngest player on the ice.

Off Topic: Other game notes

CZE

Olesz - Had a goal and 2 assists. No doubt this kid has size and skill but he is far from aggressive. He had his bell rung pretty good by Furrer in the 1st period and left the ice slowly. He had a nice goal in the 3rd when he was in all alone and deep on the short side. he stopped, freezing the goalie who had to consider the pass across, and laser beamed a shot high in the top cornor on the short side. Earlier, Olesz had an opportuinty to cut hard to the net a la Frolik but he chose to go around the net. Well, McGuire was all over him for the "weak" play and then the "Mike Keenan will be unhappy with that" comments started. McGuire did admit he has lots of talent but he's young and coachable so Keenan would mold him into a power forward. I wonder in Phaneuf's hit from 2004 has made him a little gun shy?

Vrana looked very good. he has good speed and a great shot. Kasper played fairly well and Smid looked steady but didn't show me anything special.

Schwarz -- McGuire was hard on him at first, commenting that he was having a rough year with the Giants in the WHL. He commented on his raw talent and that he now needed to learn positioning and rebound control. As the game went on, McGuire changed his tune a little commenting on how his game has improved from last year and there were signs of Schwarz showing good positioning and challenging shooters. Rebound control was a little off but he played a solid game.

SUI

For the Swiss, Tobler (G) played really well and for 30 minutes kept his team in the game. Romy and Wick played ok but nothing special, I was expecting more. McGuire thinks Furrer (D) has NHL potential as a shut down Dman.
 

helicecopter

Registered User
Mar 8, 2003
8,242
0
give me higher shots
Visit site
Thanks a lot sevenSteen and bossy22! :handclap:

bossy22- whenever you decide to re-watch the other 4 Czech WJC games i will be here to hear from..

sevenSteen- your description makes drool about this guy, hope you are right!



i am wondering if we can get some inputs from any Czechs that can watch him play in his home country....?
 

bert

Registered User
Nov 11, 2002
35,984
21,916
Visit site
Crosby=Gretzky said:
I've never seen him live, but I suppose he's like any other czech player, fast and a **** of a deker. And I think he's using his body strength pretty much. I think he will be as good or even better than Jagr.

Thats ridiculous, if he was that good he would have more hype than Crosby. Jagr is the third most statistically dominating player ever. By a wide margin, when you compare his ppg vs gpg being scored.
 

markov`

Registered User
Feb 23, 2003
3,647
0
Top 2 in the world
Visit site
Unbiased Canadian said:
That takes some balls to say on this site !! Good on ya!
:handclap:

I say that Crosby is comparable than Lindros as a prospect and you laugh at me.

He says Frolik is a better prospect than Crosby and it takes balls to say that.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Captain Conservative

Registered User
Apr 1, 2004
3,842
1
My Blue Heaven
King'sPawn said:
Still. Jagr was amazing several years ago while on the Pens. I think you're a little too quick to label a 2006 prospect as "Better than Jagr."


God it annoys me when quotes are taken out of context. The guy said "WILL BE AS GOOD OR better than Jagr".

Although I too would be incredibly surprised if Frolik comes close to Jagr.
 

Rabid Ranger

2 is better than one
Feb 27, 2002
31,015
11,021
Murica
Captain Conservative said:
God it annoys me when quotes are taken out of context. The guy said "WILL BE AS GOOD OR better than Jagr".

Although I too would be incredibly surprised if Frolik comes close to Jagr.


The original statement was ludicrous anyway you frame it.
 

cagney

cdojdmccjajgejncjaba
Jun 17, 2002
3,817
39
Crosby's accomplishments are more impressive than Frolik's IMO. If you look at the stats it's way in Crosby's favor. Nobody has done what Crosby is doing right now in years. One Czech who had better numbers than Frolik recently was Hudler. I'm not saying that Frolik=Hudler, I just haven't seen anything that would justify him being compared so favoribly to Crosby.

I think Frolik is worthy of the 1st overall in '06 hype at this point but I just don't buy any comparison with Crosby. This thread is pure hype machine.
 

Twist and Shout

Registered User
Dec 30, 2003
12,538
0
Calgary, Alberta
cagney said:
I think Frolik is worthy of the 1st overall in '06 hype at this point but I just don't buy any comparison with Crosby. This thread is pure hype machine.

Everything about Crosby after Gretzky proclaimed him as the guy who could break his records has been purely hype.

Frolik is a year younger than Crosby, btw and has been playing with men, not boys.
 

Rabid Ranger

2 is better than one
Feb 27, 2002
31,015
11,021
Murica
sevenSteen said:
Everything about Crosby after Gretzky proclaimed him as the guy who could break his records has been purely hype.

Frolik is a year younger than Crosby, btw and has been playing with men, not boys.

Playing with men and doing what? It's my understanding his stats are nothing to write home about.
 

Rabid Ranger

2 is better than one
Feb 27, 2002
31,015
11,021
Murica
sevenSteen said:
Check the icetime he's been getting.


If he's so great why isn't he getting any ice time? The argument that "x" player is better because he play's in a "men's" league is a weak one IMO. Frolik IS playing in a men's league, but because of his age, inexperience, and lack of strength is stuck on the bench more often than not.
 

bossy22

Registered User
Mar 14, 2004
1,853
23
Calgary
helicecopter said:
Thanks a lot sevenSteen and bossy22! :handclap:

bossy22- whenever you decide to re-watch the other 4 Czech WJC games i will be here to hear from..

sevenSteen- your description makes drool about this guy, hope you are right!



i am wondering if we can get some inputs from any Czechs that can watch him play in his home country....?

Here is a link to the gameday discussion thread for the CZE/SUI game.

http://www.hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=120915

I'm going to watch the USA / CZE prelininary round game from Dec 30th next and I'll post some notes on Frolik.
 

Genghis Keon

Registered User
Apr 1, 2002
918
115
Visit site
Rabid Ranger said:
The argument that "x" player is better because he play's in a "men's" league is a weak one IMO.

You're being way too nice: there's no opinion about it. If there was any truth at all to it, going up to the 2002 draft no one could argue against Hudler being better than Nash, or Ondrej Nemec being better than Bouwmeester. We all know how true that is.

If Frolic is in Crosby's class (or better than him), it's because he's an insanely talented player whose play is in the same class as Crosby's, not because he happened to be born in the Czech Republic, where all good prospects end up in the Czech elite league. Unless, of course, some of the " 'x' player is better because he play's in a 'men's' league" people believe that player x would *automatically* be a worse player if he was transplanted into the CHL or NCAA; and if that's the case, I don't really know what to say.
 

Nielson81

Registered User
Feb 28, 2002
3,228
21
www.hockeysfutureradio.com
Frolik is legit, I've seen him play 4 times in person. He makes players older then him look stupid more often then not.

He has an NHL all-star career ahead of him.

I'm not taking sides in the Frolik-Crosby battle, I'll let them decide that for themselves.

Unbiased Canadian
Frolik is better :lol:
 

King'sPawn

Enjoy the chaos
Jul 1, 2003
21,812
20,607
Captain Conservative said:
God it annoys me when quotes are taken out of context. The guy said "WILL BE AS GOOD OR better than Jagr".

Although I too would be incredibly surprised if Frolik comes close to Jagr.

I paraphrased because I was in a lazy mood, but even "as good as" Jagr is a reach.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->