Czech Striker Dmitrij Jaškin Hopes to Play at Hockey World Championships Despite KHL Contract

Jaškin will continue to play in the KHL, having signed a three-year contract with Kazan last week.

“I hope that something will change before the next World Cup and I will have the opportunity to play for the Czech national team. Unfortunately, this matter is not in my hands,” said Jaškin in a comprehensive interview for the website sport-express.ruin which he also explained the reasons why he left St. Petersburg for Kazan after a year.

The native of Omsk was the most productive KHL player and the best scorer with 62 points and 40 goals in the regular season. But in the playoffs, St. Petersburg lost to CSKA Moscow and did not confirm the position of the main favorite. In the fight for the Gagarin Cup, Jaškin added five goals and two assists in 14 games, but finished the season injured. Knee problems limited him.

Jaškin has started at the World Championship and the World Cup, he has played over 300 games in the NHL. He is currently not in contact with anyone from the management of the national team.

But Jaškin can’t be surprised – the hockey players of St. Petersburg wore special jerseys with military motifs to the last game of the regular season of the KHL against Sochi. In the video, the selected players, including captain Dmitry Yashkin, wished a happy holiday and congratulated the Russian army, which has been conducting brutal aggression against Ukraine for a year.

“Before the World Cup, one of the coaches asked the top management (ČSLH) if the situation had changed. But everything remains the same – players from the KHL are not called,” said Jaškin. The president of the hockey union, Alois Hadamczik, confirmed the decision not to call up players from the KHL before the championship.

The most valuable player of the competition in the past season previously played in the NHL for St. Louis with the general manager of the Czech national team, Martin Havlát. “It would be easy to find a common language with him. But there was no point in calling me and asking me how I’m doing,” said Jaškin.

Three Czech hockey players finished the last year of the KHL – in addition to Jaškin, defender Libor Šulák and forward Rudolf Červený. Yaškin claims that more of them would like to go to Russian clubs, but he is afraid that they will drop out of the national team. “Guys who play in the Czech Republic or Switzerland often write to me and ask about the situation. I am sure that many Czech hockey players would like to return to Russia. But next year the World Cup will be in Prague and many of them want to play there, ” he stated.