Coach Rulík surprisingly removed him from the nomination for the WC in Prague at the last moment. Instead of gold, the Czech hockey representative now has at least a contract in the NHL.
A somewhat unexpected message arrived from overseas. Striker Tomáš Nosek is moving from New Jersey to the Florida team after a year, the current Stanley Cup winner. Thirty-one years old According to the Canadian television station TSN, the Pardubic student signed a one-year contract with the Panthers as an unprotected free agent for 775 thousand dollars, i.e. converted to 18 million crowns.
Rulík surprisingly knocked him out
Nosek has not had a very successful year. He played only 36 games in the NHL last season for New Jersey, also due to an injury to his right leg and an operation at the end of November, scoring two goals and four assists. And that’s a lot of trouble even for a defensive-minded attacker. Just when it looked like he would improve his taste in the national team at the home World Cup, a crushing blow came. Coach Radim Rulík removed Noska from the team without further explanation.
At the time, there weren’t too many players with overseas experience in the squad. According to the original assumptions, Nosek was supposed to be one of the driving forces of the team. After arriving from the USA, however, he was given a chance to prepare for the Czech national team before the World Cup opportunity only at the Czech Hockey Games in Brno in a duel with Finland in a 1:4 loss. Rulík was not sure of his contribution and so simply did not nominate him, which many experts blamed him for.
Nosek played 434 games in the NHL
In 2017, Nosek won the Calder Cup with Grand Rapids, i.e. the trophy for the winner of the lower AHL. Immediately after this season, the new NHL club Vegas Golden Knights reached for him in the expansion draft, who later became the first ever NHL scorer. “Tomáš is an experienced forward who can do it on both sides of the rink. We look forward to having him join our team for the upcoming season.” Florida general manager Bill Zito told the club’s website.
In total, the former player of Detroit, Vegas and Boston has over 400 games in the regular season of the NHL with a balance of 107 points for 44 goals and 63 assists. In the playoffs, he scored six goals and eight assists in 52 games. With Vegas, Nosek, whose teammate from the national team lost millions, as we also wrote on SportechŽivě. But Washington was happy to win the trophy.
