I started looking for some local quotes and interviews with Voráček, checking if there are some interesting tidbits. There is this radio interview, taped on the 28th June 2021 where he spells several times
"Philadelphia is my second home but there may be changes this summer, next summer, I am open to anything". Also several interesting thoughts about role of coaches (about CZ national team and in general; nothing about names like Lavi/Berube/Hak/AV), his preference of passing to shooting, his future.
Chatter about soccer and tennis.
Q (16:30) : In Columbus, you have spent 1 year (Voráček: 3 years)... Aha! 3 years, my apologies. They have traded you to Philadelphia.
V (16:37) : Yes, my rookie contract has expired and before the draft 2011 I have been traded to Philadelphia.
Q (16:43) : And... do they regret trading you, Columbus?
V (16:46) : I have no idea, pffft… Jeff Carter who was traded the other way has only played about 40 games there, he did not like Columbus much, so he went on to LA and won the Cup there. But. Whether they do regret trading me? I do not know.
The 1st round pick, 7th overall, was traded with me – which turned into Sean Couturier, one of the best centers in the league currently. And a 3rd rounder too,
I think Philadelphia did well in that trade, but it depends on how people look at it. We haven’t won the Cup; they haven’t won a Cup since 1976 (corr: 1975) and the pressure to be successful is enormous.
Q (17:27) : That’s what I mean to ask. You mentioned that you have been in Philadelphia for 10 years now, you are sort of an old dog there. Do you feel at home there?
V (17:37) : Absolutely. A
bsolutely, I consider it my second home. Of course, I have no idea what is about to happen in the summer, it is possible there will be some changes. But honestly, whenever I read Czech media… I have basically been traded 8 times by the media over the past 5 years already – I don’t really care about those reports much.
But there is a chance something is about to happen this summer; I am open to changes, and we will see what happens.
I have been there for 10 years and honestly the teams (re: rosters) have not been optimal to reach some significant success. But I believe it is a big shame last year there was a pause (re: Covid break), I believe we have been one of the best teams in the NHL and Covid lead to the league pause. But that’s sport, that’s life and if it is not meant to be, it is not meant to be. I hope the success comes (re: in Philadelphia) but I believe there are more important things in life (re: probably league pause / ongoing in times of covid).
Q (18:26) : Absolutely. Anyway, what do you think is the problem in Philadelphia? The roots of being unable to break through the bad luck, get to the SC final?
V (18:37) : Finals, well finals… They have made it to the finals. Before I got there, they made it in 2010 against Chicago, lost in 6 games. Before that, I think Petr Svoboda told me they played the finals in 1997, lost to Detroit in 4 games, and 1987 or maybe 1986 before that; back then they lost to Edmonton, not sure if it was 6 or 7 games. (corr: 1987) I don’t really know. B
ig time expectations. By the fans, of course, nothing negative about that, the pressure is real there but that’s part of the game.
Once you go to play in such a sport city as Philadelphia, the pressure is there. But what is the issue, the reason for not winning a Cup for 45 years? I cannot tell.
Q (19:21) : Right. You must be loved in Philadelphia already. Can you take a walk on the street there without being bothered by a crowd?
V (19:29) : Yeah, definitely, no such issues. Of course, during the season when we play well or when the playoffs start, the interest (re: interest in Voráček) is even higher.
Those 10 years... I can honestly say it is my second home, I am very satisfied there, but everything must end someday. We will see if it happens now or next summer, or maybe in a few years, I don’t know. I am open to everything.
Move on to World Championship. One question later is quite interesting from Philly point of view.
Q (21:49) : It is true that many people, many fans – and you know it well – well, when you are winning, you are a god. When you lose, it is the other way around. (Voráček: It is the same everywhere. In life in general. Immediately, everybody is a smart head.) … Exactly. Everyone is a coach suddenly and
many people blamed Czech coach Filip Pešán for the losses, blamed him for his facial expressions (re: lack thereof) and how neutral he looks on the bench, no emotions etc. I believe everyone is unique, some are emotional, some are not, I don’t think it could be a core issue. Do you see any possibilities for coaching changes, changes in his approach, demeanor, maybe he underestimated something?
V (22:36) : This is difficult for me to comment on given I was not part of the team (re: Voráček decided to reject playing in the 2021 IIHF WC for family reasons). If I was there, I could say a bit more about the issue of course.
As you said. It doesn’t matter how the coach looks, what facial expressions does he make. That’s again some issue fabricated by the media, and then the topic simply did not disappear. It went on and on and on.
Especially when the team lost, media act like this must be the issue. Good stuff for their articles. This guy does this, that, that’s why we lost. What is important is the locker room and what the coach says there, and even on the bench, what he says to the players – even without emotions.
Some people are impulsive, some are not.
I would not care about his face. That’s a fabricated issue and I wouldn’t take that into account at all. What is important is how the coach acts towards the players, in what way does he talk to them, how does he approach the players mentally and I cannot evaluate that because I was not there. I will say this was one tournament without spectators whatsoever and I think the upcoming year is important given there will be both IIHF WC and the Olympics.
Move on to junior hockey in the Czech Republic. Some interesting bits there too.
Q (23:40) : Well, for example Jiří Hrdina who was our guest previously criticizes Czech junior system: too many teams in the top league, the quality is watered down. … And now all those juniors are about to make the jump into senior leagues, what is your view on that (re: juniors league in CZ)?
V (24:11) : When you look at the number of kids in sports nowadays, the number is decreasing. I know it is very easy to say, “well back in the days, we have been outside all the time.” But we didn’t have anything back then – no computers, no cell phones, basically only landline phones. Everyone was outside and you played hockey or soccer. Nowadays, unfortunately – well, unfortunately from hockey point of view – there are major opportunities. Computers, gaming, kids are more spoiled. When you have a player who had a bad game and the coach yells at him, the kid comes home, tells the parents and next thing you know, the parents come over and tell the coach how to do his job properly. First wrong step.
And unfortunately, that’s how it is today, you cannot do anything. Anything. You cannot yell, you cannot… (moderator: slap him, haha) … nothing. We have gotten our ass slapped with the hockey stick, you do that today, you get sued. These kids are basically raised to believe that they are world champions – but honestly, those are 12 or 13 yr old boys who have not achieved anything in life, so to say. Mistake number 1. Then, there are almost no kids. When you have too many teams in the league, on the other hand, the competition is low. Less teams, more competition, and I believe the league would be better for starters. But. The way the kids are raised nowadays is just wrong in my opinion and it stems from how the parents behave. I read the other day Martin Erat says we do not have enough coaches. I agree with that, it is not easy to work with those kids, you got to be able to do that – but the coaches need to be actual coaches instead of what we have: the parent comes over, tells the coach how to do his job, how to build the roster, how/who to play.
Low performance? Alright, work on it, work harder during the practices, once you can play, I will let you play. There is this weird trend lately, basically to claim that rich parent’s kids are playing. Sure, it happens, it happened during my time too, absolutely. But it’s also another easy excuse for the parents who just need to find a way how to excuse their own kids, their failures, their lack of success. If I ever came home and just bad mouthed the coach, I would be slapped a few times and go on to practice harder the following day.
I was raised not to complain about anyone, my dad did the same thing and never questioned the coach in front of me, which I think helped me too – and unfortunately people act differently today and not in a good way.
Q (27:07) : I will ask you now about this weird, insane covid season. You have been basically locked up in the bubble, your family was in the Czech Republic because your wife was a few weeks away from giving birth. You were alone in the US, living in the hotels, that must have been crazy difficult.
V (27:31) : It was tough. Definitely. I lost about 12 kg (re: 26.5 pounds) during the season, no home-made cooking (laughs). And Marketa was bound to give birth on the 2nd of February, therefore we agreed she would give birth in the Czech Republic and maybe came over later. The US embassy in Prague was closed back then, she could not get visa for our baby, and they could not fly over to the US at all. This meant basically 4,5 or 5 months alone and that was tough, long. I don’t want to experience that ever again. There was also the playoff bubble in Toronto, basically I have been alone for 6,5 of the last 10 months. That was obviously difficult both for me and for Marketa but I am finally here, I will be here until September, I am looking forward to it and I am enjoying it.
Move on to Covid in general.
Q (28:32) : About Philadelphia. Back then (re: the covid outbreak) I remember we have seen those crazy footages from New York that was probably hit hard, even my childhood friend who lived there moved to the countryside somewhere. Was Philadelphia hit in a similar way like New York, similar restrictions, did Covid hit Philadelphia hard?
V (28:57) : Look. Obviously, Covid was there. The situation in the US was not optimal so to say, as everyone knows. On the other hand, everything was open in a way. Entering buildings, you wore masks, these were the rules, the restaurants were open. Of course, maybe everything was closing down at 9 in the evening. But everything is open now and that’s how it was during the season too. We have been recommended during the season not to go anywhere, stay home when you are not on a trip. Go into contact with other people outside the rink as little as possible, on the trips we only stayed at the hotels. These were the ways until vaccination was possible, or when you had the antibodies after already recovering from Covid. It opened up a bit afterwards. But it was a difficult time, on the trip just closed on the hotel for 4 or 5 days straight, then going back home. It was weird.
Move on to chat about how Jake acts and/or moves whenever he plays hockey, soccer, tennis. Jake’s answer regarding his speed
V (30:27) : I used to be even faster when I was younger. Now I feel that the first 2 or 3 steps are not as fast as they were 6 or 7 years ago. I still believe that when I have a good summer, work hard, practice a lot, that those first steps can come back. We will see how I will look; in what shape I will be during the upcoming season. I have been lucky so far,
I have not encountered many injuries, yes there were several concussions – but no muscle injuries, no joint injuries so far.
Q (30:57) : My apologies for interrupting. Those first 2 or 3 steps when you step hard, that’s the point where you told me you wreck your skates? You told me you would wreck 2 or 3 pairs of skates during the season.
V (31:08) : More, way more. I have recently changed the type of my skates; these skates are not that easy to destroy. I still need 7, 8 or 9 pairs of those per season. In the past, when I wore those CCM skates in 2015, 2016, I think I ruined about 33 pairs of skates. Basically, ruin the material, the shoe with sheer power in legs. I put too much weight into those steps – I got trouble with feet; therefore, I enjoy softer skates. But given those skates are so soft and I lay so much power into them and my skating style is based on it, you can feel after about 2 games that your first step is not that strong anymore. And basically, yeah, one year I went through almost 35 pairs.
Q (32:02) :
Statistics show that you prefer passing to shooting, you have even said that you like to pass because you suck at shooting (both laugh) – and when I saw you last year, we went to see you last year in Philadelphia for 4 games, I saw guys passing you from the blue line and you were shooting right under the crossbar from the circle. It didn’t seem like you suck at shooting.
V (32:33) : Well. I can… Well, during the practice it is always easier because you got time. The thing is, the top snipers like Pasta (re: Pastrňák), Ovechkin, Stamkos, Matthews, they can basically be anywhere with the puck and they can always shoot so fast and so accurately on the net from that position, the goalie has no chance to react. They have got perfect sticks for shooting.
My stick is quite soft, ideal for immediately passing the puck after receiving it. The softer the stick, the easier it gets. Shooting is obviously hurt by that but the passing and puck receiving is easier. I don’t think my shooting is bad. Goals… I cannot say that I can score goals but I know how to! But. When I consider how many chances can I create that way, or into how many chances I get that way, I think I could have scored way more goals. There may be an extra pass that shouldn’t have been there – but given I have it already figured out in my mind, one second ahead before retrieving the puck, that guy will be open, I prefer passing to shooting. Everybody says “shoot more, shoot more” but I honestly believe I cannot change that much now.
Move on to Jake’s charity/foundation, KlukPuk. Help for multiple sclerosis patients. Nadace Jakuba Voráčka No English version of the site as far as I can tell.
Voráček: Filadelfie je můj druhý domov. Jsem tam spokojený, ale všechno musí jednou skončit
