Second Czech Bouncing Over to Training Camp

Petr Nedved will be the written-off veteran trying to mount a comeback at Ranger training camp. But he won't be the only Czech trying to crack the Ranger line-up. At the other end of the spectrum, Tomas Kundratek, selected by the Rangers in the third round of this June's draft, says that he has been offered a two-way contract and will come to training camp with hopes of winning an NHL job.

"I have received a three-year contract offer, which of course I am happy about," said Kundratek, according to hokej.cz. "The contract should be two-way for three years. I don't know any more details." His agent said the contract cannot be signed until the Rangers arrange for a transfer with the young defenseman's Czech club, which may be tricky given the lack of a formal agreement between the NHL and the IIHF. "There is a need to agree on compensation with Trinec," he said. "Kundratek decided to try his luck overseas where he would like to break in with the Rangers, who chose him in the draft," a Trinec spokesman said.

"I know that it will be difficult, but I’ll give it my best," said Kundratek of his hopes of making his way to the NHL. "Rangers camp is where everything will be decided. Of course I want to fight for a spot on the team but I rather expect to start on the farm or in juniors. This is up to the club." Kundratek has been drafted by Medicine Hat of the WHL, where he would play if the Rangers decided to start him off in junior hockey. He has already started to prepare himself for life in North America. "The last two months I've had classes in English," he said. "I’m slowly getting into it. I think that it will show most over there. I’ll talk and the words will get into my head by themselves."

Nedved chatted with fans via the internet in Czech, according to the iDNES web site, and shared some of his feelings about trying to make his way back to the NHL with the Rangers. "Of course I am confident," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn’t even go there. I’m reasonable. I know I haven’t played in the NHL for a year. We’ll see how they want to build the roster. We’ll see whether I am good enough. I have nothing to lose. And I have a vision of 1,000 NHL games before me." He's played 982. "If it doesn’t work out, I’ll go into battle with the White Tigers," he said of his Czech team, Liberec.

He explained again how he got in touch with the Rangers. "My agent J.P.Barry started it all," he said. "Then I called Rangers manager Glen Sather and coach Renney. He called me back and just a day before I definitely decided for Liberec, we made a deal. Tom coached me in [the Olympics in] Lillehammer. Glen knows me from the old days in New York. We know what to expect from each other. We made that clear. Now we see whether it happens, and I’ll organize things accordingly. It mainly depends on me, then on the coach himself." But Nedved knows his chances are slim. "Everything’s a little clouded," he said.

We're not going to cover every move Jaromir Jagr and Alexei Cherepanov make in Omsk, but their season debut together was memorable enough to note -- although they didn't play on the same line (Jagr is playing on an all-Czech line with Jakub Klepis and Pavel Rosa), Cherepanov netted a hat trick and Jagr assisted on two other Avangard goals in a 6-3 win over a Slovakian team in an exhibition match. See the Avangard web site for a photo of a happy Cherepanov and click on the link under the photo to see the box score.

In other reading, ESPN ranks Tom Renney in the second tier of NHL coaches ("Proven"), the Post's Blue Seats blog rants about a couple of Ranger issues, Prospect Park looks at the Rangers' recent draftees as their season approaches, Beyond the Blueshirts has an extensive look at the Wolf Pack, and Theo Fleury is playing baseball! Check out Blueshirt Bulletin+ for our latest installment in a series evaluating the newest Rangers -- scroll down to the next posting for more information on BB+. And thanks to our friend DaTeL for improving on the initial Czech-English translations we posted.

Comments

[that guy who loves the rangers]

I thought we were getting rid of the Czech line-up lol

[rangerbill94]

Talking about rating coaches, how 'bout this. The Fishsticks will make Garth Snow Head Coach/GM and he will be Dipi's backup also!