Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Czech Extraliga

Transactions Notes: Flyers, Pokka, Robins

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Earlier today, rather than reporting the transactions they might make, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic reported on the transactions that the Philadelphia Flyers won’t be making at the close of the offseason. According to Kurz, the Flyers have no intentions of bringing in anyone on a professional tryout agreement for the team’s training camp.

The news isn’t surprising, considering the Flyers have a fairly saturated forward core, and many of the top remaining free agents play up front. However, it is interesting that Philadelphia isn’t interested in different possibilities regarding their defensive core, especially on the right side.

If the Flyers aim for balanced handedness on defense, they have set themselves up to give bottom-pairing minutes to defenseman Noah Juulsen, who signed a one-year, $900K contract with Philadelphia at the start of free agency. Given that he’s coming off a season-ending injury and didn’t play particularly well prior, Juulsen isn’t expected to raise the Flyers’ competitiveness level significantly. There aren’t many remaining names that may be enticed by a PTO offer, as mentioned before, but veterans Jon Merrill and Erik Johnson could potentially fit the bill, and would each represent an upgrade over Juulsen.

Other transaction notes:

  • A former second-round pick of the 2012 NHL Draft is on the move in the DEL. According to a team announcement, defenseman Ville Pokka has signed with EHC München for the 2025-26 season. It’s been eight years since Pokka has played professionally in North America, but did spent several years in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs and Belleville Senators. Throughout those four years, Pokka was productive on the offensive side of the puck, scoring 31 goals and 138 points in 289 games.
  • Another former second-round pick is on the move internationally. After scoring eight goals and 24 points in 56 games split between the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda and Senators last season, the Czech Extraliga’s Rytíři Kladno announced they’ve signed forward Tristen Robins. Unlike Pokka, Robins debuted in the NHL, participating in three games for the San Jose Sharks during the 2022-23 season, yet failing to register his first point.

Adam Raška Signs With HC Sparta Praha

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After six years playing in North America, forward Adam Raška is returning to his native Czechia. According to a team announcement, the Extraliga’s HC Sparta Praha has signed Raška for the 2025-26 season.

Today’s signing marks the conclusion of Raška’s unimpressive professional career in North America. He was drafted 201st overall in the 2020 NHL Draft by the San Jose Sharks. During his draft season, he had a quietly successful campaign with the QMJHL’s Rimouski Océanic, scoring 13 goals and 21 points in 35 games.

Aside from a brief loan to HC Oceláři Třinec in 2020-21, Raška spent another year with the Océanic, scoring 12 goals and 25 points in 22 games, including another three goals and six points in eight postseason contests. Still, that’s the last time he’s registered much offensive success in his career.

Raška transitioned to the professional ranks a year later, scoring five goals and 14 points in 49 games for the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. Still, it didn’t take long for the Sharks to realize what they had in Raška, as they allowed him the opportunity to debut in the NHL that same year.

He quickly became a hard-nosed forward who was willing to play aggressively, with nearly zero offensive potential. There’s definitely a place for that at the NHL level, but Raška took too many penalties and never turned into a true shutdown forward. Two years ago, the Sharks traded Raška to the Minnesota Wild along with a 2026 fifth-round selection for defenseman Calen Addison.

Similar to his time in the Bay Area, Raška spent much of his time with the Wild’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, with limited NHL action. He played primarily for Iowa last season, scoring five goals and 14 points in 56 games with 83 PIMs. He’s planning on staying true to his roots in his transition back to Czechia, saying, “My biggest advantage is being such a jerk on the ice. Making the opponent’s game uncomfortable and making room for our guys to play better.“

Jakub Zboril Signs With Czechia’s HC Vitkovice

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Left-shot defenseman Jakub Zbořil has signed on with HC Vítkovice of the Czech Extraliga, per a team announcement. It’s a one-year deal.

Zbořil, 28, was the first of the ill-fated stretch of three first-round picks the Bruins held in the 2015 draft. He would play another two full seasons of junior hockey with QMJHL Saint John before making his pro debut for AHL Providence in 2017, and his NHL debut with Boston came one year later.

The 6’1″, 201-lb rearguard went pointless in two games before returning to his minor-league role. But when the COVID pandemic struck, he spent the early part of the 2020-21 season on loan back to his home country of Czechia with HC Kometa Brno, and his stint there was evidently enough for Boston to finally make Zbořil a roster lock when play resumed with the shortened schedule.

Zbořil played in 42 of 56 games for the Bruins in 2021, the most he’d ever log in a single season. While touted as a mobile, two-way prospect, he never rose above the No. 7/8 position on the Bruins’ depth chart and ended up back on waivers and in Providence to begin the 2023-24 season.

It took Zbořil until the 2022-23 season to record his first and only career NHL goal, and he only managed 76 appearances in parts of four seasons with the B’s with a 1-15–16 scoring line and an even rating while averaging 15:38 per game. The Bruins did control a respectable 52.6% of shot attempts and 51.1% of expected goals with him on the ice at even strength, however.

After being waived and assigned to Providence out of camp in 2023, his time in the organization was short-lived. He was sent to the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline in the deal that brought Andrew Peeke to Boston, finishing the season with no goals and 13 assists in 46 AHL games split between Providence and Cleveland. The Jackets – nor any other NHL team – brought him in when he reached unrestricted free agency the following summer.

Zbořil instead returned home on a long-term deal with HC Dynamo Pardubice that was initially supposed to keep him there through the 2028-29 season. Neither side was particularly happy with his performance last year, though – he had 14 points and a +4 rating in 30 games and was released at the end of July. After a couple of weeks without a deal, he’ll look to reestablish himself on a Vítkovice team that employs former NHLers Yohann Auvitu, Marek Hrivík, and Samuel Knazko.

Czechia’s HC Dynamo Pardubice Signs Jakub Lauko

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

HC Dynamo Pardubice of the Czech Extraliga has signed forward Jakub Lauko to a three-year deal, the team announced today. Lauko wasn’t tendered by the Bruins in June, and after presumably not receiving any suitable NHL offers as an unrestricted free agent, he’ll be returning to his home country.

Lauko put up a career-high five goals and 11 points in 56 games in an injury-plagued campaign split between the Wild and Bruins last season, missing long stretches of the early going with Minnesota while dealing with a muscular lower-body issue. Lauko played in all 18 games for Boston after they re-acquired him from Minnesota at the deadline in the Justin Brazeau deal, finishing the year with five points and 50 hits while averaging 12:07 per game.

After making his NHL debut with Boston in 2022-23, four years after they drafted him in the third round of the 2018 draft, the Bruins moved him to the Wild last summer in exchange for veteran depth forward Vinni Lettieri. While Minnesota was hoping the young energy winger could flash a little more upside than he had in his first two years in Boston, he struggled to produce like everyone else the Wild tried in a fourth-line role. He had six points and a minus-five rating with 69 hits in 38 appearances for the Wild before getting shipped back to the B’s.

The Prague native now returns home to build on his previous Extraliga experience, which includes stints with Piráti Chomutov (2016-18) and HC Energie Karlovy Vary (2020-21). He has a 10-11–21 scoring line in 95 career Extraliga games, but he presumably hopes returning home helps him rediscover his offensive game. In his post-draft season, Lauko came to North America to play junior hockey and recorded 41 points in only 44 games for the QMJHL’s Rouyn-Noranda Huskies en route to a Memorial Cup championship.

Entering his age-25 season, there’s still time for Lauko to put himself back on the NHL radar by the time his contract with Dynamo ends. He joins a Pardubice roster that has over 1,100 combined games of NHL experience with names like Libor Hájek, Lukáš Sedlák, and Vladimír Sobotka. They’re looking to get over the hump after back-to-back Extraliga final losses in 2024 and 2025.

Minor Transactions: Zbořil, Frasca, Fulp

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Former Bruins first-rounder Jakub Zbořil has terminated his contract with Czechia’s HC Dynamo Pardubice, the club announced today. The Extraliga squad didn’t say whether the termination was so that Zbořil could pursue an NHL return or if he intends to remain overseas.

Now 28, the left-shot defenseman headed to Pardubice last summer after becoming an unrestricted free agent and failing to land a contract from a camp tryout with the Devils. Zbořil made 30 regular-season appearances, scoring 14 points with a plus-four rating. That was his best offensive output in a season since he scored 19 points in 58 games for the AHL’s Providence Bruins in 2019-20.

The 2015 No. 13 pick never panned out for Boston, but he seemed to get things back on track back home in Czechia and will now look for a different opportunity, likely in a more competitive European league like the KHL or SHL if he doesn’t anticipate returning to the NHL. He has 16 points and an even rating in 76 career NHL appearances, all with the Bruins.

There’s more minor moves from across the hockey world:

  • Free agent forward Jordan Frasca has signed a one-year deal with the ECHL’s Reading Royals, the Flyers’ affiliate announced. Frasca, 24, spent last season in the Predators organization after being acquired from the Penguins in last summer’s Cody Glass trade. Injuries limited him to just five appearances with ECHL Atlanta, though, where he scored one goal and four assists. He has 50 points in 81 career ECHL games over the last three years and now takes his talents to Reading after being non-tendered by Nashville.
  • Ex-Islanders defense prospect Aidan Fulp has caught on in the Sabres organization on a deal with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, per a team press release. Fulp was an undrafted free agent signing by the Isles out of Western Michigan in 2023 but was non-tendered this summer when his entry-level contract expired. The 25-year-old righty posted 13 points in 84 games for AHL Bridgeport since turning pro along with a -29 rating.

John Ludvig Signs In Czechia

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Free agent defenseman John Ludvig has signed with Czech Extraliga club HC Dynamo Pardubice, the team announced Wednesday. It’s a three-year deal, keeping him with the club through 2027-28. It’s the expected result after a report back in May linked Ludvig to the six-time Extraliga champions.

Ludvig, 24, spent last season with the Avalanche after they claimed him off waivers from the Penguins at the beginning of the season. A third-round pick of the Panthers in 2019, Ludvig signed a two-year, two-way deal to remain in the Florida organization in 2023 but never played a game for them under that contract, instead getting claimed off waivers by Pittsburgh during the following training camp.

While Ludvig was a consistent No. 6/7 option for the Pens in 2023-24 when healthy, he didn’t get the same usage in a deeper Colorado depth chart. He made only eight NHL appearances for the Avs after seeing 33 games of action for Pittsburgh the year before, serving as a frequent healthy scratch before landing back on waivers in January. That time, he cleared successfully and spent the remainder of the season with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles.

He would have still been under Avalanche control, but they opted not to issue him a qualifying offer last month, making him an unrestricted free agent. He now heads overseas to the club where his father, former Devils and Sabres winger Jan Ludvig, works as a skills coach.

The 6’1″, 214-lb lefty was a strong two-way threat in juniors with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks and carries a physical edge, but he’d likely reached his ceiling as an NHL extra – particularly since the pandemic rushed him into pro hockey a year early and robbed him of development time.

Ludvig is a Canadian citizen but was born in Czechia, therefore he doesn’t count as an import signing for Pardubice. He hits pause on his NHL career for now with three goals, four assists, seven points, a -16 rating, 53 PIMs, and a 49.7 CF% in 41 appearances, averaging 12:02 per game when dressed.

He joins a Pardubice roster that boasts over 1,100 games of NHL experience thanks to veteran names like Vladimir Sobotka, Lukas Sedlak, Libor Hajek, and Jakub Zboril. The club has played exclusively in the top Czech or Czechoslovak league since records began, dating back to the 1937-38 campaign, and has made the Extraliga final in back-to-back seasons, losing both times.

International Notes: Brennan, Cerny, Dello

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Former NHL defenseman T.J. Brennan has played in Europe ever since the pandemic hit in 2020. While he’s spent most of that time in Switzerland, he’s now making the jump to HK Olimpija Ljubljana, the lone Slovenian club in Austria’s ICEHL, the team announced on Facebook.

Brennan, 36, was the first pick of the second round in the 2007 draft by the Sabres. While he’s long been a high-end point producer from the blue line at the minor league and European levels, his all-around game never translated into a full-time NHL career. He only made 53 big-league appearances with the Sabres, Panthers, and Maple Leafs between the 2011-12 and 2016-17 campaigns, scoring 13 points with a -22 rating.

The New Jersey native has spent the last three seasons with Switzerland’s HC Ajoie in the National League, the country’s top flight. The team isn’t very good, fighting to stay in the league in a relegation series in two of the last three years, but Brennan still managed 63 points in 109 games for the club.

He now returns to the ICEHL, still among Europe’s better leagues, where he spent the 2021-22 season with EC Salzburg. He was named a league All-Star and won a title with Salzburg, leading the league in scoring by a defenseman with 47 points in 48 games. While he’s now four years older, he’ll look to recapture some of that success with his new Slovenian side.

A few more recent international signings of note:

  • After going undrafted this year, 2007-born defenseman Stepan Cerny is continuing his development in North America after his European team, Czechia’s Mountfield HK, announced he’s departing the club to join the USHL’s Fargo Force. Cerny won a silver medal with Czechia’s under-18 squad at last year’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup and put up great numbers with Mountfield’s under-20 club, putting up a 6-27–33 scoring line in 36 regular-season games. However, the lefty clocks in at just 5’9″ and 139 lbs, making it hard to imagine him as anything more than a late-round pick. He’ll look to grow both physically and in his on-ice progression with Fargo in hopes of being selected in 2026 as an overage pick. He was selected No. 13 overall in the 2024 CHL Import Draft by the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques, but he opted to remain at home for his draft year.
  • There’s more news out of Czechia: longtime AHL defenseman Tory Dello has joined Extraliga club HC Energie Karlovy Vary, the club announced over the weekend. Dello, 28, was a two-time Big 10 champion with Notre Dame and has recorded a 13-43–56 scoring line with 134 PIMs and a +37 rating in 229 AHL games since turning pro in 2020. He spent last season on a two-way deal with the Red Wings and was traded to the Devils in the league’s lone post-deadline trade, posting eight points in 39 games split between Detroit’s and New Jersey’s affiliates in Grand Rapids and Utica.

Samuel Kňažko Signs In Czechia

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Columbus Blue Jackets are losing one of their organizational depth defenseman for the time being. According to a team announcement, defenseman Samuel Kňažko has signed a multi-year contract with HC Vítkovice of the Czech Extraliga.

Kňažko wasn’t the most well-known defensive prospect in the Blue Jackets system. The 22-year-old blue liner was selected with the 78th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft by Columbus, coming from TPS’s U20 SM-liiga program. He never displayed higher-level offensive talent, but he proved to be an efficient puck mover and more than capable in the defensive zone.

He came to North America for the 2021-22 season after transferring to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Kňažko scored five goals and 20 points in 27 games with a +14 rating, with one goal and six points in 26 postseason contests. He even suited up in seven games for Team Slovakia during the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, helping Slovakia to a bronze medal.

Unfortunately, since he started playing in the Blue Jackets organization with their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, his development has stagnated. Since the beginning of the 2022-23 AHL season, Kňažko has scored seven goals and 49 points in 149 regular-season contests with a -27 rating, and three assists in five Calder Cup playoff matchups. He only played in two games for Columbus over that stretch, going scoreless.

Carrying a bevy of defensemen in their pipeline and on their NHL roster, the Blue Jackets likely didn’t prioritize retaining Kňažko this offseason. He’ll join a Vítkovice team that finished 12th in the Extraliga during the 2024-25 season and was quickly eliminated in the wild-card round of the postseason.

Ales Stezka Signs Three-Year Deal With Czechia’s HC Kometa Brno

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After spending the last two seasons with the Kraken, goaltender Ales Stezka is headed back to his native Czechia. The Extraliga’s HC Kometa Brno announced a three-year contract for the netminder on Wednesday.

Stezka, 28, was set to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He was a fourth-round pick of the Wild back in 2015 but never signed with them, spending his entire professional career in Czechia until landing an entry-level contract with Seattle in 2023.

The 6’4″ netminder spent his first season on the West Coast as the No. 4 option on the depth chart and the backup in AHL Coachella Valley to veteran Chris Driedger, logging a strong 2.48 GAA, .914 SV%, two shutouts, and an 18-6-2 record in 27 appearances. While he could have been a UFA last summer as well, the Kraken liked what they saw and wanted to keep him around for another season, especially since they didn’t plan to re-sign Driedger. He accepted a rather rich two-way extension for 2024-25 as a result, paying him a $300K minors salary.

2024-25 wasn’t as smooth a campaign for Coachella Valley as a whole, particularly in the goaltending department. Stezka’s numbers regressed to a 3.07 GAA, .899 SV%, and 9-12-9 record in 26 games as he lost the starter’s crease to 21-year-old Niklas Kokko. He still got his first NHL start, though, and spent a couple of weeks on the roster while veteran Philipp Grubauer was sent to the minors in an effort to jumpstart his game. He allowed three goals on 23 shots in a 4-1 loss to the Lightning on Feb. 23, which will likely stand as his lone career NHL appearance when all is said and done.

With some other young goalies in the Seattle system looking for more AHL time next season, there wasn’t a logical fit for Stezka moving forward. He’ll return to the Extraliga, where he was named the league’s best goalie in 2022-23 following a 2.14 GAA and .924 SV% with HC Vítkovice in 39 games, instead of pursuing another NHL contract. He has a career 2.45 GAA, .913 SV%, six shutouts, and a 49-42-0 record in 92 games in the top Czech league.

Jaromir Jagr Hopes To Play 38th Professional Season

at CDT | by 7 Comments

Enough will never be enough for former NHL superstar Jaromir Jagr. The two-time Stanley Cup Winner, five-time Art Ross Trophy winner, and future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer called an end to his NHL career in 2017-18, after 24 years in the league. But he’s continued his journey in pro hockey through this season, spending the last seven years with Rytíři Kladno in the Czechia Extraliga. Now, after completion of his 37th season in pro hockey, the legendary Jagr committed to one more year on TNT’s pre-game broadcast for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Jagr will extend his career after previously stating the 2024-25 season would be his last. But he performed well throughout the year, netting five goals and 16 points in 39 appearances. He told the TNT broadcast crew:

“I still love the game. I love to practice. I don’t want to get fat. I lost some weight right now, like 20 pounds, so I feel a little bit better… I just do it just to be healthy, and I just enjoy the existence…”

That sentiment will launch Jagr one step closer to spending four decades in pro hockey. He’s now 53 years old and no longer holds the majority ownership stake in Kladno’s hockey club – selling an 80 percent ownership stake in January, after previously serving as a rare combination of club player and owner for 14 years. It was under that title that Jagr supported Kladno’s surge back to Czechia’s top pro league in 2018, and then again in 2021. The team has stayed at the top level in the three seasons since.

Jagr’s physical upkeep seemed to be declining through last season. He only appeared in 15 games on the season, and – for the first time in his life – didn’t record a goal all season long. But he bounced back to form this year, appearing in more games than he has since the 2021-22 campaign, when he scored 19 points in 43 games.

With health back on his side, Jagr will look to continue Kladno’s surge at the top flight. The club finished second-to-last in the Extraliga last year, though they avoided relegation by four wins. Aside from Jagr, they were led by Eduards Tralmaks, who recently signed with the Detroit Red Wings after netting 51 points in 48 Czech games last season.

Jagr’s trophy cabinet has been filled beyond capacity. He’s a member of the Triple Gold Club – a winner of Gold Medals at the World Championship, Olympic Games, and a Stanley Cup winner – on top of taking home hardware at truly every level he’s appeared in. He may fall shy of repeating that in Czechia next season, but one more year will push Jagr even closer to the illustrious, unheralded feat of playing 40 years in pro sports.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top