More i thought about it, this is probably for the better. Medicine Hat would have been a disaster. Team is so bad, What good is his development by losing 5-1 every game. Hopefully he plays top 6 minutes all season next year then comes to the AHL for the 23-24 season.
Sýkora was drafted first overall in the CHL Import Draft.
Only 11 of those first overall selections have made it to the NHL. Out of those 11, only Ivan Huml and Klim Kostin never played in Major Juniors.
2000: Ivan Huml (CZE)
2006: Jakub Voráček (CZE)
2007: Tomáš Vincour (CZE)
2008: Nikita Filatov (RUS)
2009: Stanislav Galiyev (RUS)
2010: Martin Marinčin (SVK)
2011: Olli Määttä (FIN)
2012: Ivan Barbashev (RUS)
2014: Pavel Zacha (CZE)
2016: Klim Kostin (RUS)
2017: Andrei Svechnikov (RUS)
This doesn't necessarily mean anything other than Medicine Hat not doing enough research before wasting that pick.
FWIW: The decision to keep him in Slovakia, was made by HK Nitra. Rangers had no say in the matter.
