Slovaks of the NHL (July 1st update)

Elvs

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Jul 3, 2006
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Slovakia's demise (and hopefully soon turnaround) has become a big interest of mine. While the nation may never reach the level of the past, there's some intriguing prospects on the way, especially in the 2022 and 2023 drafts.

In this thread, we'll discuss Slovaks currently signed by NHL teams. Below is what the situation looks like prior to the 2023/2024 season:


Contracted players (NHL, AHL, ECHL):

PosNameClubBornSho/CatHeightWeightSalary & Term
CMartin Pospisil:flames1999Left188 cm78 kg$775k (2024 RFA)
CAdam Ruzicka:coyotes1999Left194 cm98 kg$763k (2024 RFA)
WMaxim Cajkovic:pens2001Right182 cm91 kg$850k (2024 RFA)
WMartin Chromiak:kings2002Right183 cm86 kg$820k (2025 RFA)
WJakub Demek:vegas2003Left193 cm92 kg$852k (2026 RFA)
WMilos Kelemen:coyotes1999Left188 cm95 kg$818k (2024 RFA)
WPavol Regenda:ducks1999Left191 cm99 kg$855k (2024 RFA)
WJuraj Slafkovsky:habs2004Left191 cm108 kg$950k (2025 RFA)
WMarian Studenic:seattle1998Left185 cm82 kg$775k (2024 RFA)
WAdam Sykora:rangers 2004Left178 cm78 kg$838 (2026 RFA)
WTomas Tatar:seattle1990Left179 cm78 kg$1.5 mil (2024 UFA)
DErik Cernak:bolts1997Right192 cm102 kg$5.2 mil (2031 UFA)
DMartin Fehervary:caps1999Left188 cm92 kg$2.7 mil (2026 RFA)
DSamuel Knazko:cbj2002Left186 cm86 kg$848k (2025 RFA)
DPatrik Koch:coyotes1996Left186 cm86 kg$848k (2024 UFA)
DSimon Nemec:devils2004Right185 cm86 kg$918k (2026 RFA)



Free agents:

PosNameClubBornSho/CatHeightWeightStatus
GJaroslav Halak:rangers1985Left179 cm84 kgUFA



Drafted prospects:

PositionNameClubDraftedBornSho/CatHeightWeight
CDalibor Dvorsky:blues1st round 2023 (#10)2005Left185 cm91 kg
CSamuel Honzek:flames1st round 2023 (#16)2004Left193 cm84 kg
CMartin Misiak:hawks2nd round 2023 (#55)2004Lrft188 cm88 kg
CServac Petrovsky:wild6th round 2022 (#185)2004Left181 cm85 kg
WAlex Ciernik:flyers4th round 2023 (#120)2004Left179 cm81 kg
WMaros Jedlicka:avs7th round 2023 (#219)2002Left189 cm90 kg
WFilip Mesar:habs1st round 2022 (#26)2004Right178 cm80 kg
WJuraj Pekarcik:blues3rd round 2023 (#76)2005Left187 cm83 kg
WAdam Zlnka:coyotes7th round 2022 (#204)2004Right182 cm78 kg
DMaxim Strbak:sabres2nd round 2023 (#45)2005Right187 cm93 kg
GAdam Gajan:hawks2nd round 2023 (#35)2004Left191 cm82 kg
 
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Elvs

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Not counting LTIR players Hossa and Gaborik, Slovakia had 16 players signed to NHL contracts in the beginning of the 2018/2019 season, though the number quickly dropped to 14 once Martin Bakos (Boston) and Michal Cajkovsky (Carolina) agreed to terminate their contracts and returned to Europe. So far this offseason Martin Pospisil, Adam Ruzicka and Adam Huska have been signed to ELC's. With a total of 11 players under contract currently, the final number should end up well above 14. Possibly, we're looking at the most amount of Slovaks signed in several years.
 
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CH

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This is interesting.

Not long ago seemed like the "Golden Age" of Slovakian hockey: Hossa, Chara, Demitra, Satan, Palffy, Stumpel, Lubo, Handzus, Gaborik, Bondra, etc. (I know I am missing some, or they don't overlap, but this is off the top of my head). What happened?

I think the biggest thing that happened is Slovakia left Czechoslovakia. This stressed the finances of both countries and it hurt their minor hockey systems. It made the pipeline to the NHL much more leaky. The star players that you name were well on their path when that happened. The younger players who are came to the NHL over the last decade or so came to the NHL came through a weakened system. Add to this the KHL which gives the Slovak players a place to play closer to home. It has kept players from the NHL if they don't get the right position in the NHL. The HC Slovan Bratislava team gives them a place to play but it also gives them a place to grow young talent. That is why there are young players who are potentially coming to the NHL for next year.
 

alko

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I think the biggest thing that happened is Slovakia left Czechoslovakia.

According to this theorem, at the beginning of the 90s we would have regular 30 - 40 NHL players. And how much we had? For example in the famous 92/93 season we had only 3 with more than 60 games and 5 overall.

So, what i want to say is, there are ups and downs. And now we are in the downs.
 

MartinS82

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May 26, 2016
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According to this theorem, at the beginning of the 90s we would have regular 30 - 40 NHL players. And how much we had? For example in the famous 92/93 season we had only 3 with more than 60 games and 5 overall.

So, what i want to say is, there are ups and downs. And now we are in the downs.

I am sure you guys know more on this subject -

But I know as late as 1990 (with Jagr and Nedved) that Czechoslovakia was still not allowing it's players to come to the NHL freely. So wouldn't it take a few years before these players started showing up in the NHL in larger numbers?
 
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SuperScript29

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Nov 17, 2017
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I think the Slovakians in general might have benefited from being part of Czechoslovakia (In sports I'm talking). The best player drafted since the year 2000 is Tomas Tatar, let that sink in for a bit.

Oddly enough, my wife's cousin is married to a Slovakian woman, and this past week I spoke to one of her relatives in a birthday party who is a big hockey fan. He mentioned that there's some serious corruption in Slovakian hockey at the moment. He said that a lot of players come from rich families and they're paying their way to the top. Not sure how accurate that is, but sounded interesting nevertheless.
 

Elvs

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I think the Slovakians in general might have benefited from being part of Czechoslovakia (In sports I'm talking). The best player drafted since the year 2000 is Tomas Tatar, let that sink in for a bit.

Oddly enough, my wife's cousin is married to a Slovakian woman, and this past week I spoke to one of her relatives in a birthday party who is a big hockey fan. He mentioned that there's some serious corruption in Slovakian hockey at the moment. He said that a lot of players come from rich families and they're paying their way to the top. Not sure how accurate that is, but sounded interesting nevertheless.

The corruption should hopefully be history now. The Slovak hockey federation has been replaced with a new one, and former players such as Miroslav Satan, Michal Handzus and Jan Lasak are involved in getting the development program back on track. But yes, there seems to have been systematic corruption recently. Even the local newspaper I work for in Sweden made a little story on it a handful of years ago. A slovak player, Alex Vyhonsky is his name, came here on a tryout and told how young Slovak players were seeking better oppurtunies in other counries because of corrupted leaders in Slovak hockey.
 

alko

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Oct 20, 2004
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I am sure you guys know more on this subject -

But I know as late as 1990 (with Jagr and Nedved) that Czechoslovakia was still not allowing it's players to come to the NHL freely. So wouldn't it take a few years before these players started showing up in the NHL in larger numbers?

No. It was (is) still about the quality.

I think the Slovakians in general might have benefited from being part of Czechoslovakia (In sports I'm talking). The best player drafted since the year 2000 is Tomas Tatar, let that sink in for a bit.

Oddly enough, my wife's cousin is married to a Slovakian woman, and this past week I spoke to one of her relatives in a birthday party who is a big hockey fan. He mentioned that there's some serious corruption in Slovakian hockey at the moment. He said that a lot of players come from rich families and they're paying their way to the top. Not sure how accurate that is, but sounded interesting nevertheless.

The corruption should hopefully be history now. The Slovak hockey federation has been replaced with a new one, and former players such as Miroslav Satan, Michal Handzus and Jan Lasak are involved in getting the development program back on track. But yes, there seems to have been systematic corruption recently. Even the local newspaper I work for in Sweden made a little story on it a handful of years ago. A slovak player, Alex Vyhonsky is his name, came here on a tryout and told how young Slovak players were seeking better oppurtunies in other counries because of corrupted leaders in Slovak hockey.

Corruption was, is and will be a issue. To say, that this problem is a history, is from fantasy land.
 
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slovakiasnextone

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Jul 7, 2008
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The corruption should hopefully be history now. The Slovak hockey federation has been replaced with a new one, and former players such as Miroslav Satan, Michal Handzus and Jan Lasak are involved in getting the development program back on track. But yes, there seems to have been systematic corruption recently. Even the local newspaper I work for in Sweden made a little story on it a handful of years ago. A slovak player, Alex Vyhonsky is his name, came here on a tryout and told how young Slovak players were seeking better oppurtunies in other counries because of corrupted leaders in Slovak hockey.

Corruption will continue to be an issue, because it is not an issue that is on federation level only, but one that has much deeper roots not only in hockey or sports, but in society in general.

The current SZLH leadership's term will expire in June this year and it's not confirmed that they will continue yet.

They have done some good things in the past three years - brought foreign experts such as Ramsey or Tiikkaja in, there were some infrastructure improvements, improved marketing which brought new sponsors, new system of giving out money to the clubs based on merits that the clubs seem to consider pretty just, new IT system for player registration that the clubs like.

Still, they have not been without their scandals - see this years WJC. Also there seems to be a tendency to include former players in positions that would be better suited for experts to fill.

Also, they have not delivered on some of their biggest promises yet. It was not realistic to expect them to deliver in such a short time preiod, but it was them who said they would deliver.

One of their projects was building small rinks (with 20x40 ice surface) and they should have built dozens of them by now and they will only finish the first one this fall.

Same with hockey academies, pilot project in Trencin will start only in 2019/2020 next season and some other clubs see this as Trencin gaining an unfair advantage over them.

3 years was a short time for them anyway, and they would need several more years in order for us to see any results.
 
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Treb

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May 31, 2011
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I still have some hope for Martin Reway. Even just the fact that he's still able to play professionnal hockey after what happened to him is impressive. Hopefully he can continue climbing back up to where he was in 2016.
 

alko

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Even just the fact that he's still able to play professionnal hockey after what happened to him is impressive.

That is very questionable now. You can hear here and there some rumors, nothing confirmed, that his old demons dont disappeared. And we dont know, how fit he is. Maybe the guys from Tingsryds AIF know it, but they dont want to say it.
 

MrThomas

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Oct 31, 2017
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Slovakia is maybe not even top10 country in ice hockey yet. Hope the game will get bigger there also some day! :)
 

SuperScript29

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Nov 17, 2017
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Slovakia is maybe not even top10 country in ice hockey yet. Hope the game will get bigger there also some day! :)

They're definitely in the top-10, the following teams are obviously ahead of everyone by quite a bit:

Canada
USA
Russia
Sweden
Finland
Czech Rep

Then the next tier would be Slovakia, Switzerland, and Germany.
 

beakerboy

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slovakiasnextone

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Jul 7, 2008
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Prospect Info: - Martin Pospisil: 2018 4th round, 105th overall

I don't know if that link works, but there was some discussion of the scandal around the WJC where Martin Pospisil slammed the organization and coach on facebook after it ended.

Yeah, and it wasn't just him. Milos Fafrak also said similar things.

Some players have given up hockey for good after that tourney, one of them being D-man Martin Kupec. There was an interview with a person from the management of his Slovak home club Banska Bystrica and what they said was that they talked to him for hours trying to convince him not to give up, but didn't succeed. They said that Kupec has confirmed some things that Pospisil/Fafrak said, denied others.

Still, that doesn't speak very well about the atmosphere around the WJC team, especially when you compared it to the good atmosphere the same birth year seemed to have on home U18 IHWC 2 years ago.
 

Outofbodyinhungary

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Aug 6, 2018
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There always seems to be scandals in Slovak sport. Funny enough it’s always the players or the staff and those in charge. Never the fans. Sorry but I agree with @Jakub1904 on what he has been saying. This is all false hope. It’s like a magic show where the magician shows an illusion, and behind reveals the degeneration. Even the best Slovak prospects are miles behind the big 5, on pretty much every front. Instead of punishment, incompetence is rewarded here. Slovak players prefer to look good on the ice, rather than actually care about result of the game.
 

slovakiasnextone

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Jul 7, 2008
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There always seems to be scandals in Slovak sport. Funny enough it’s always the players or the staff and those in charge. Never the fans. Sorry but I agree with @Jakub1904 on what he has been saying. This is all false hope. It’s like a magic show where the magician shows an illusion, and behind reveals the degeneration. Even the best Slovak prospects are miles behind the big 5, on pretty much every front. Instead of punishment, incompetence is rewarded here. Slovak players prefer to look good on the ice, rather than actually care about result of the game.

Really? I am pretty sure it were some fans who were throwing bottles and whistling at Canadian anthem last week. And everyone acknowledged that.
 

ohheyhemsky

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Nov 1, 2010
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This is interesting.

Not long ago seemed like the "Golden Age" of Slovakian hockey: Hossa, Chara, Demitra, Satan, Palffy, Stumpel, Lubo, Handzus, Gaborik, Bondra, etc. (I know I am missing some, or they don't overlap, but this is off the top of my head). What happened?
TIL Bondra was/is Slovakian.

Whoops.
 

karhukissa

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Apr 2, 2019
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They're definitely in the top-10, the following teams are obviously ahead of everyone by quite a bit:

Canada
USA
Russia
Sweden
Finland
Czech Rep

Then the next tier would be Slovakia, Switzerland, and Germany.
It was a bit harsh from him, but in reality Slovakia barely is a top-10 country. Gap between countries like Denmark/Latvia and Slovakia is smaller than Slovakia and Czech for example. In my opinion:

Canada
USA
Russia
Sweden
Finland

Czech

Switzerland
Germany
Slovakia
Denmark
 

Elvs

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Jul 3, 2006
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It was a bit harsh from him, but in reality Slovakia barely is a top-10 country. Gap between countries like Denmark/Latvia and Slovakia is smaller than Slovakia and Czech for example. In my opinion:

Canada
USA
Russia
Sweden
Finland

Czech

Switzerland
Germany
Slovakia
Denmark

I'd take Slovakia at 8th still quite comfortably above Germany. They don't have a Draisaitl, but they are deeper on offence and a ton stronger on defence. Both nations are well off in net with Halak and Greiss/Grubauer.

This is of course if we are talking right now, best on best. Germany has a more promising future with better young core players at this point.
 

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