He is one of the biggest Czech talents of recent years, and many expected that by this time he would have played in the NHL. However, hockey player Jan Myšák has not yet broken through even on the farm. It’s a mystery to some experts.
The rookie camp of the Montreal Canadiens will start on Wednesday with Czech goalkeepers Jakub Dobeš and Jan Špunar – although the latter does not belong to the club, he has received an invitation.
They will be joined by the 21-year-old forward Myšák, whose career has stalled somewhat.
He was talked about as a first-round pick before the 2020 draft, eventually going in the second – 48th overall. Even so, he was the most popular Czech.
However, he has not confirmed his star potential much since then. At the penultimate World Junior Championship, he led the Czech Republic to a respectable fourth place as the team’s captain and top scorer, but is otherwise stagnant.
In the last season of the farm AHL for Laval, i.e. a suburb of Montreal, he collected only nine points (5+4) from 40 games. Although he came from the Canadian junior OHL, he already had experience with professional hockey, mainly from extra-league Litvínov. Therefore, more was expected.
“I wasn’t good enough,” Myšák himself told the newspaper The Montreal Journal. “But I know I can show more. I have the skills to push myself offensively.”
He did not want to make excuses about the injury in the lower part of the body, which caused him to miss 32 games of the regular season.
In the ranking of Montreal talent under 23, compiled by the website The Athletic, fell through anyway. At 13th place, he has uncertain prospects. “I can envision him as an energetic third- or fourth-line winger, but I also envision him not even coming close to the NHL,” wrote Corey Pronman.
If anyone still believes in Myšák, it’s his coach from the Canadian junior team, Jay McKee. “He still has a chance at the NHL. Jan is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met,” he said of his former protégé.
“I wish I had five guys like him every year, because it’s players like that who show the way to the younger guys,” he continued. “He was like a Swiss army knife, really. When he wasn’t scoring goals, he made life difficult for opponents with relentless forechecking and speed. He created chances. Just an incredibly effective player, whether he was on the scoresheet or not.”
Under McKee, Myšák collected about a point per game, but he is still struggling among the adults.
The reasons are difficult to find.
Scott Wheeler, who specializes in young talents, once believed in Myšák so much that he assigned him a great twelfth position in his personal rankings before the 2020 draft. He obviously overshot. Even today, he is unable to say exactly what he did wrong. At the same time it does not cause a problem for other mistakes.
“I didn’t come to any great revelation or perhaps a moment of enlightenment. Practically every time I watched Myšák live, whether it was the OHL, junior championships, Memorial Cup, rookie tournaments, or even the AHL, I saw an impressive player who works hard and is pretty handy,” Wheeler began.
According to him, Myšák is a better hockey player than his statistics show in the three seasons after the draft.
“I don’t understand. He plays to his full potential and with a style with which he should be successful anywhere. But the AHL just hasn’t suited him yet. I hope he will make great progress in Laval this year, I really think he is capable of it,” added the journalist.
Myšák can be reassured that he has a contract for two more seasons, only then Montreal must decide what to do with the Czech forward.
2023-09-12 04:15:30
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