Twenty-two-year-old forward Matěj Blümel, who scored at the last World Cup, continues to perform brilliantly. Thanks to this, he is close to the main team of Dallas hockey.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes at all,” recounted Blümel after the coach of the Czech national team, Kari Jalonen, lined him up next to David Krejčí and Roman Červenka in preparation for the World Championships in May.
The young winger then played with star veterans at the championship itself and became the unexpected leader of the bronze team. He shone even after leaving the place in the key formation to David Pastrňák. In the end, he collected eight points (4+4) in ten races.
Now he shows that his extraordinary performances were not the work of chance. At the Dallas farm, with whom he signed a two-way contract for two years, he scored eleven points (5+6) in seven games. He is currently the most productive Czech in the AHL ahead of Lukáš Rousk and Martin Frk.
He ended up on the farm after going scoreless in two preseason games for Dallas. However, he was visible – he also played power plays and shot a total of six times.
“He’s played great in camp and he’s off to a fantastic start on the farm,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer praised Blümel. “Scoring goals in the AHL is not easy, but he succeeds in almost every game. I’m rooting for him.”
“It was difficult for us to cut him from the main team, but he responded in a way that you like to see in a young kid. He went down and showed us right away that he belongs here in the NHL,” added the coach.
Blümel has even received an invitation to the main team. It came last week after Dallas farmed another young forward, Jacob Peterson, who, if he played one more game in the NHL, would have to travel down the unprotected list to be picked up by another overseas club.
There was speculation that Blümel would start on the right wing of the second or third line, where the Stars, unlike other positions, have reserves, but in the end he remained among the healthy substitutes and after a few days traveled back to the farm where he continued to collect points.
So DeBoer didn’t use Blümel, but during his short stay among hockey’s cream of the crop, he mentioned that he counted on him in the future. “He will get an opportunity and he will get it soon,” he said, adding that he would not be surprised if the Czech winger never returned to the farm after his debut for Dallas.
Since Blümel, who played for his parent club Pardubice in recent years, has a two-way contract, staying in the AHL is less advantageous for him from a financial point of view.
So far this season, he has collected 93 thousand dollars (over two million crowns) as a signing bonus, and he will earn more money depending on where he plays. On the farm, his annual salary is 80 thousand dollars, in the NHL it is about ten times as much.
Blümel signed with Dallas, despite the fact that Edmonton selected him in the 100th position in the draft three years ago. However, due to the unsigned contract, he lost his rights to the attacker.
From a current perspective, Blümel’s draft position is remarkable. When the website The Athletic recently held a so-called re-draft, it promoted the Pardubice native to the 60th position ahead of all Czechs.
Re-drafts are popular in overseas media. Basically, they answer the question of how the selected prospect auction would turn out if general managers had a crystal ball and knew how this or that hockey player would be selected. In 2019, goalkeeper Lukáš Pařík was the Czech number one in 87th place, who is not even among the 108 best in the mentioned ranking.
