A year and a half ago, Filip Pešán indirectly called him a slacker. In overseas Chicago, however, the talented forward Michal Teplý is growing in the game, one of the club’s coaches is “extremely proud” of him.
When Teplý, as one of the supposed leaders of the team, finished the 2021 World Junior Championships with two points out of five matches, he received harsh criticism from the then national team coach and head coach of the Pešán association.
At that time, Pešán blamed the 19-year-old winger at the championship, but mainly the approach in preparation for the senior Karjala Cup.
“It is unthinkable that I would have to raise my voice for Michal Teplý due to his approach in training,” he said. The longer monologue then ended with the sentence: “I hope it will be a shame for him when he reads what I said about him in the newspaper.”
Teplý himself refused to hang out. At that time he was already fighting at the Chicago camp, which drafted him in 2019 in the fourth round. He made a good first impression on the coaches.
However, he was expected to start on a farm in Rockford. And he didn’t do very well there – he collected only five assists in 18 clans.
In the next season, the last so far, he was expected to improve. But after 15 matches in the AHL, he was at zero. He did not score in October or November and experienced a disgraceful sitting in the stands. He did not receive his first enrollment until just before Christmas.
In the new year, however, he won – out of 42 starts he won a decent 30 points (13 + 17). Overall, with 31 points out of 60 matches, he finished fourth among the Czechs on the farm.
His teammates in Rockford noticed that he was playing as a tradesman. When the American teammate Alec Regula was asked which of the team made the biggest impression of him during the season, he mentioned Teplý in addition to his colleagues from the defense.
“If you asked everyone in Rockford the same thing, you’d probably hear the name Warmly most often. No player has objectively made as much progress as he has,” wrote Scott Powers, a Chicago-based player at The Athletic.
“Of course I was frustrated,” Teplý returned to the disastrous start of the year. “I’m an offensive player, so everyone expects goals, points or good actions from me, but I wasn’t able to get a point. It didn’t go well.”
Chicago worked behind the scenes what happened to Warm. And he came up with the idea that the Czech winger was given special attention by coach assistant Peter Aubry, who specializes in being goalkeepers.
The collaboration still worked. “Peter helped me a lot,” admitted 21-year-old Teplý. “We were still sitting at the video. Every day he gave me cuts of how I played and showed me what to do.”
Aubry again said that he was “extremely proud” of Teplý. The Czech team was also significantly helped by pairing with Lukas Reichel, a year younger, who is one of the greatest talents of Chicago and German hockey. By the way, he is a nephew of the Czech legend Robert Reichl.
“I enjoy playing with him, he’s very talented. I think we’ll do pretty well on the ice, after all. Lukas is constantly creating chances and I’m just trying to find a suitable position for a shot or a record. It works for us,” said Teplý. .
He is also expected to start next season on the farm. But if he keeps up, he could peek into the NHL. He still has plenty of time for development, his novice contract will not expire until the summer of 2024.
