yesterday 22:09
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The only Slovak hockey player is among those selected in the NHL 2021 entry draft, in the 4th round by the winger Jakub Demek. The 18-year-old pupil of Košice hockey was chosen by the Vegas Golden Knights from 128th place.
Demek is a robust 193 cm tall right wing and has spent his career in Slovak competitions. In the past two seasons, he was a member of the Slovak “eighteen” project.
In the year 2020/2021 he made his debut in the highest Slovak competition. In the HC Košice jersey, he entered a total of 12 matches, in which he scored 2 assists, 6 penalty minutes and 2 minus points in the statistics. Demek was ranked 129th among European skaters in the Central Scout Ranking.
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The Golden Knights had two selections in the 4th round, even before Demek they reached for the Czech striker Jakub Brabenec, the son of the former professional Kamil Brabenc, who played for Zvolen and Nové Zámky in Slovakia. “We have another Jakub! Someone calls it 4th round, for us it’s Jakub’s round,” wrote “golden knights” on their twitter account.
Demek will be active in the Canadian junior competition, a few days ago he signed a contract with the Edmonton Oil Kings club, which operates in the overseas WHL. Demek was the club’s only choice in the recent Import Draft to the Canadian Junior Leagues, with Edmonton finishing 47th.
It seemed that not a single name of the Slovak hockey player would be mentioned in the first four rounds of the entry draft, which last happened in 2016, when the NHL teams did not choose any hockey player from under the Tatras. At the very end of the 4th round, however, the Golden Knights reached Demek, who entered the NHL in the 2017/2018 season and advanced to the finals right at the premiere in the profile. Vegas is also a player of Tomáš Jurčo, in the past Tomáš Tatar also wore the jersey of this club.
From the Slovak point of view, the year 2021 did not deviate from the standard of the previous period. Last year, two names fell during talent selection, Samuel Kňažko (Columbus) a Martin Chromiak (Los Angeles), in 2019 NHL clubs chose only Maxim Tchaikovsky (Tampa Bay). The most successful draft was in 2000, when up to 16 names of Slovak hockey players were heard.
This year they were still mentioned in the scout rankings Simon Groch, Róbert Bačo, Alex Géci, or Oleksij Myklucha, but none of them survived. The highest drafted Slovak in NHL history is Marián Gáborík, whom Minnesota Wild chose from the 3rd place in the first round in the first round.
The first young man to draft, 195 cm tall, Power played for the Michigan University team last season and scored 16 points (3 + 13) in 26 games. At the World Championships in Latvia, he played 10 duels for Canada and scored three assists in them. He is very mobile and a good skater who can play well on both sides of the rink. Experts liken him to Swedish star defender Tampa Bay Victor Hedman.
It was Sweden that added the only two hockey players operating in Europe to the top 10 entry draft. Detroit chose defender Simon Edvinsson of Frölund from position 6, followed by striker William Eklund of Djurgarden as a talented acquisition on the San Jose list.
In the second round, the name of the player with Slovak roots appeared among the drafted players. From the 57th place, the Toronto Maple Leafs reached for the striker Matthewovi Kniesovi, who was born in Arizona, but his parents and brother are born Slovaks. Knies is 191 cm tall and since 2017 is the tallest striker Toronto has drafted.
Arizona also wrote an interesting story when she chose American striker Josh Doan from 37th place, whose father Shane is a club legend and played all 21 seasons of his rich career for the Coyotes. He was also interested in the selection of the Chicago Blackhawks, which pointed to the centers of Colton Dach, the younger brother of the “hawks” attacker Kirby.
At the end of the first round, the selection of striker Logan Mailloux evoked passion, followed by the Montreal Canadiens from 31st place. The 18-year-old Canadian has renounced the draft for the sex scandal he had while working in Sweden. The Canadiens disrespected his “wishes” and chose him.
General manager Marc Bergevin then had to explain his actions. “We chose not only a promising hockey player, but also a young man who realized that he had made a serious mistake. We are not easing the situation, but his statement is the first step in the long road ahead. We want to help him and that’s why we chose him.” the Canadiens said in a statement published by the Canadian media.
Canada traditionally had the most drafted players – 82. Clubs also chose 50 Americans, 29 Russians, 24 Swedes, 14 Finns. The clubs also chose eight Chekhovs, highest Columbus in Round 3 (69th) Stanislav Svozil from Brno. Four Germans and Swiss, three Belarusians also succeeded in the draft, and in addition to Slovakia, Norway, Great Britain, Ukraine and Kazakhstan also had one selection.
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Ovečkin junior learns the alphabet with hockey legends, there is no lack of Jágr or Chára:
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