What I noticed when I watched Vladimir Ruzicka was just how clunky he looked on the ice. He wasn't a particularly responsible player on the defensive side of the puck and would just float around until the puck went up to him.
He was a terrible fit for the Edmonton Oilers under coach John Muckler.
Ruzicka joined the team in January 1990, played 25 regular season games with the team, and then sat in the press box throughout the entire 1990 Stanley Cup run.
Ruzicka was very prolific in international play and especially at home, though, during the 1980s. He was a star in the top Czechoslovak league, enough so that HC Litvinov retired his number just before he decided to depart for the NHL.
When Jaromir Jagr was a prospect, a few reports compared him to Ruzicka.
Ruzicka, funnily enough, was compared to Mario Lemieux.
"He can be like Mario... They have the same style. Both are big, have long arms and seem slow, but they're not... [Ruzicka] is great in the offensive zone, but he's never played defensively." - Jiri Hrdina, former Team Czechoslovakia teammate, 1990 ("Mario's shot is Jim-dandy - trainer," Patrick Doyle, Toronto Star, 15 Jan 1990).
"We [Sather and chief scout Barry Fraser] saw him play once in Prague. He scored a great goal. He's big and rangy. He's got lots of talent. He shoots the puck like crazy and can really handle it... He gets a lot of room. He's up the ice like [Mario] Lemieux a lot; he's so big and intimidating, and there's a lot more body contact over there than in, say, Finland or Sweden." - Glen Sather, 1989 ("Sather hits snag in Czech deal," Jim Matheson, Edmonton Journal, 1 Dec 1989).
"Ruzicka is a highly skilled offensive player, the breakaway king of international hockey who excels on the power play. In Canadian street hockey he would be called a goal-suck - cherry-picker is the term in Saskatchewan, according to Dave King - the kid who plays three houses up the street waiting for the breakaway pass . . . Ruzicka is a dandy big-ice swooper of the Vaclav Nedomansky and Ivan Hlinka style whose effectiveness would be diminished greatly in the close quarters of the small NHL ponds." - Frank Orr, journalist, 1987 ("Rebellion in the ranks," Frank Orr, Toronto Star, 20 Dec 1987).
"Not letting the individual use his skills is the game here, and Ruzicka is a highly skilled hockey player... He makes great plays given the opportunity to do that. I think he has to make his plays a little bit quicker... And the team concept we're using is totally different from what he's been used to throughout his career. You can only do this through time, and I find that he is a fast learner. He works very hard, he's dedicated, he's really trying to adjust... When you're going through an adjustment like this, you're not sure of yourself...
You have to think about what you're doing, and that's the problem. Hockey is a game of instincts and reflexes, and that's something a player has to learn through repetition... I think that's where Ruzicka is at this particular time... I think we're hurting him... We hurt his game, we hurt his skills, because we made him think about it... We don't demand so much backchecking from Ruzicka as it seems...
But, in our system, he's got to have some defensive responsibilities. We can't change the team for Ruzicka. He's got to change for the team. To win the Stanley Cup, it doesn't take the team with the best talent. It takes the best team at that time. We're trying to work Ruzicka into our system so he can benefit from it, and the club can benefit from it." - John Muckler, March 1990 ("Ruzicka a rookie all over again," Peter Adler, Edmonton Journal, 10 Mar 1990).
"Ruzicka realizes he has to play better defensively... He was the best player in Czechoslovakia, captain of the national team, 48 goals in 40 games and now he has to adjust his style. It's not easy but he is not blaming the coaches or anything like that... He knows what he has to do. He doesn't want to go out there, make a mistake and hurt the team." - Petr Klima, teammate and Czech-English interpreter, April 1990 ("Czech mates in review," Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun, 1990).
He was a very opportunistic type of player. Both Klima and Hrdina had played with him before and were quite blunt about it. It's a very one-way style that later allowed Pavel Brendl to light up the WHL in 1998-99.
Vladimir Yurzinov, long-time assistant coach of Team Soviet Union, commented on Ruzicka's play in Boston.
"I've known him since he was a child... I was not surprised but it was pleasant to see how he played... He's always been talented, but in our understanding, he always played according to his mood at the time... I think they like to use him only on attack. He did not play so well defensively since he was young... I think the Boston coaches use him the right way... They play him with [Cam] Neely and [Craig] Janney." - Vladimir Yurzinov, Soviet national team assistant coach, May 1991 ("Bruins using Ruzicka wisely," Toronto Star, 5 May 1991).
Rick Bowness was able to put Ruzicka in a situation in which he could thrive in Boston. However, the very next season Bowness was replaced by Brian Sutter. The latter was known for his intensity.
"Talent doesn't just come in six-foot-four bodies... It's not how big you are in this game, it's how bad you want to compete. There's a difference between guys who come to play and guys who come to bleeping compete... The guys I want are the ones who come to bleeping compete... I've coached four years in the NHL. I know the league and I knew this team. It had the reputation for winning by out-working other clubs, but the problem it had last year was too many people thought all it took to out-work the opposition was just showing up." - Boston Bruins coach Brian Sutter, December 1992 ("Sutter philosophy is simple to follow," Lloyd McLachlan, Windsor Star, 19 Dec 1992).
When Ruzicka went to Ottawa in an attempt to rekindle his success with Bowness, it never happened. The Senators weren't quite as talented at that point as the Bruins were. They were a bad team.
