yesterday 11:36
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No Slovak hockey player has made such a huge progress in the past two years as Erik Černák. He made his Tampa Bay Lightning debut in 2018 and has since joined the new generation of excellent NHL defenders.
ERIK ČERNÁK would like to help in the Olympic qualification, if the situation allows it
It is admirable that the Košice native is constantly adding aspects to his game. He jumped into the profile as a defensive specialist. He focused on defense from the beginning, when he got the opportunity in the second pair with the experienced Ryan McDonaugh. He worked out so that in his second season he competed against the biggest stars of the opponents.
The proof was last year’s play-off, when he was primarily on the ice during weakening and skating in the very last minute of the year, when the Dallas Stars played a bait without a goalkeeper. However, Tampa’s players defended the resistance and raised Stanley’s cup over their heads for the second time in history.
Cernak was an integral part of the team, which Lightning knew well. It was a priority for them to extend their cooperation with the 24-year-old defender. Even today, a three-year contract worth less than nine million dollars is proving to be fantastic.
The grown-up back shows that he is far from just a defensive specialist. What he already indicated at the 2019 World Cup, when he had three goals and five points in seven games. In this year’s basic part, he has enormously increased the average of points per match. In the first two seasons he had it at the level of 0.22 points, in the current year he increased it to 0.4 points per meeting.
He had four assists in 25 doubles last year, and has now added six assists in eleven games as Tampa Bay advanced to Round 3 to challenge the New York Islanders.
PLAY FINALS AGAIN
„We believe in the finals again, we just have to play as a team and not underestimate anything, ” Černák wrote to us briefly. When asked if he would like to play in the August August Olympic qualification, where he is definitely expected to be the leader of defense, he answered in the affirmative, but with the addition that he does not know what will be until then, how the team will react and how it will feel.
Everything will be decided after the season. At the moment, the first place is the playoffs and the fight for the Stanley Cup, which he could not bring to his hometown of Košice due to the pandemic last autumn.
Erik Černák.
Source: SITA
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The talent and abilities of Černák are also evidenced by the fact that in 2017 the then general manager of Lightning, Steve Yzerman, came to see him at the junior OHL. “Yzerman is a great person, I’ve never experienced such an approach from a manager,” mentioned the Slovak defender after years.
“We already watched him during the 2015 draft, but we did not manage to get it. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to get him to us in exchange, we did not hesitate. Its progress is faster than we expected. “ said two years ago in an interview for our newspaper the legendary centers. He has already traded Tampa for the Detroit Red Wings.
Cern was given the opportunity in Tampa, not Los Angeles, which drafted him. While the Kings are at the bottom of the NHL with an outdated expensive cadre, the Lightning enjoy a prominence with an important link from the Tatras in defense.
“Erik is the most underrated and irreplaceable defender for Lightning. Together with Ryan McDonaugh, they can stop elite players from rivals, from Sidney Crosby to Auston Matthews, or in this year’s playoffs of Alexander Barkov or Sebastian Ah. “ wrote journalist Joe Smith for The Athletic.
COULD PLAY ANYWHERE IN THE NHL
„When you look where Erik grew up, it’s clear to him that he can play in the first two defensive pairs in any NHL team. You won’t find many similar players, especially right-handers. It is also a rarity in profilige. He can defend and play evenly against all the world’s stars. It’s a star for us, ” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper praised the Slovak.
„He was physically dominant in his junior years and is similarly strong in the NHL. You brought a great physical game there. There are not many stronger defenders. He’s a player who makes things less visible, and maybe that’s why he doesn’t talk about him as much as he deserves. “ Anthony Cirelli, who played with Cernak in the junior Erie Otters, on the farm and then in the NHL, told us in an interview during the 2019 World Cup. Today, the Canadian striker is one of the best young defensive centers in the profile.
„Erik is a monster. He is an athletic, hard worker. After a year, we knew he had to get a chance in the NHL. He quickly learned how to play the right position, and that was crucial. ” quoted The Athletic Syracuse Crunch farmer Ben Groulx.
„It is hard as a stone, as evidenced by its points. He has grown into a defender who is not afraid to play with the puck and come up with something in the offensive, ” praised his teammate Victor Hedman, whom they consider the best defender of today. “Even when he joined the team, he was the strongest of the team. He has very dexterous hands for how big he is. I still don’t understand that the Kings replaced him. “ added former Blackman teammate Kevin Shattenkirk for The Athletic.
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