Thomas Hertl | Photo: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Tomasz Hertl, the forward of the National Hockey League (NHL) Vegas “Golden Knights” team, will not help the Czech hockey team in the upcoming world championship, the general manager of the national team, Petr Nedved, has revealed.
The Czech national team named the squad for the WC yesterday, but until the last moment the team counted on Hertl’s help. As Nedvėds revealed, the “Golden Knights” team did not allow Hertl to join the national team. “Unfortunately, Tomas will not join the national team. He was interested, we had agreed, but the club wouldn’t let him leave,” explained the GM of the Czech national team.
The 30-year-old Hertl was one of the leaders of the San Jose Sharks in previous years, starting this season with this team as well, but he was traded to the Golden Knights in February. However, Hertl was repeatedly hampered by health problems this year – he participated in only six games of the main tournament as part of the “Golden Knights”, but in the season, the forward played 54 matches of the regular championship.
However, Hertl played in all seven “play-off” games, where Vegas lost to the Dallas “Stars” 3-4 in the first round and put away their championship credentials. “To some extent, your role in it [ka Hertls nepalīdzēs izlasē] his health played. Although Tomas took part in the play-off and played an average of 20 minutes per match, his knee is not 100% healthy,” Nedvėds added.
Despite the shaky season, Hertl with 38 (17+21) points was the fourth most productive Czech in the NHL behind David Pastrniak, Pavel Zaha and Martin Nečas. Hertl signed an eight-year, $65.1 million contract with the Sharks in 2022. The GM of the Czech national team mentioned that Hertl’s contract situation could also be the reason why the Golden Knights did not let him go.
“Tomas is an investment for Vegas for the next six years. I suspected that this would happen and the club would react negatively to it, not allowing him to play in the national team,” admitted Nedvėds. “It’s a huge loss for us because we were looking forward to Tomáš. Unfortunately, such a decision must be respected.”
It should be reminded that this year’s World Cup in hockey will take place in the Czech cities of Prague and Ostrava. The Czech Republic will play in Group A in Prague against Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Austria, Great Britain and Canada.
The hosts Czechs name the composition of the World Cup, three players from North America remain behind the board
