It was the best day of Tomas Kundratek’s young life. Maybe he’ll someday soon surpass the thrill of playing in his first NHL game alongside a fellow Czech, the grizzled veteran Roman Hamrlik. But this will do for now.
The 21-year-old played just 11 minutes, 9 seconds. He took one shot on goal with one blocked shot. It wasn’t exactly an impact performance and his nerves showed some early. But for a player who was a healthy scratch for seven games at the AHL level earlier this season while still with the New York Rangers’ organization, he might as well have scored six goals.
Kundratek, acquired for AHL Hershey in a Nov. 8 trade, was recalled on Tuesday. He was packing his gear on the bus for a long bus trip from central Pennsylvania to Charlotte, where the Bears were set to play back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday. Instead, Kundratek was rerouted to Washington by Hershey general manager Doug Yingst and assistant coach Troy Mann. An NHL appearance this season was the furthest thing from his mind when the Connecticut Whale scratched him in seven straight games. If you can’t play in the AHL, no reason to think an NHL appearance is imminent.
“It was a really tough position there because they had a lot of really good players- there’s Wade Redden, Brendan Bell and a lot of older guys,” Kundratek said before his debut. “There were nine defensemen also and I was the youngest and that’s probably the reason why [I didn’t play]. The coaches had a tough time, I was talking to them and they didn’t even know what to do. It was a really tough position.”
Instead, Kundratek asked his agent to pursue a trade. Little more than two months after that happened he found himself playing alongside Hamrlik in the NHL. He was also picked up from his hotel by another fellow Czech, goalie Michal Neuvirth. The two were teammates on the Czech Republic’s World Juniors team in 2008. Neuvirth helped Kundratek get settled and introduced him to his new teammates.
“Hammer really helped me a lot. He talked to me all the time, guys talked to me on the bench,” Kundratek said. “On the ice they were talking to me a lot, what should I do, about the system kind of because it’s new for me.”
Kundratek is a 6-foot-2, 192-pounder who was acquired for forward Francois Bouchard. In 21 games with the Bears, Kundratek has six goals and two assists. He was a third-round pick of the Rangers in 2008. Including his time with Connecticut, Kundratek has 16 points and 16 penalty minutes in 28 AHL games this season. To make room, the Caps put forward Nicklas Backstrom on injured reserve. He’s still not feeling right after taking an elbow to the head from Calgary’s Rene Bourque.
Tough day, though, for Jeff Schultz and John Erskine. The combined salary-cap hits of those two players is $4.25 million. They want to play. Neither was happy sitting behind an AHL recall neither had ever heard of. With Mike Green out again with that right groin injury it seemed the opportunity was there for one of the two to push their way back into the lineup. Not sure if a trade is imminent or if this is just a chance to see Kundratek at this level while they have the opportunity with Green hurt. But Caps coach Dale Hunter has some egos to soothe. Schultz told Comcast SportsNet’s Chuck Gormley in an interview Wednesday that he just wants to get on the ice – whether that’s here, his preference, or with some other team. For now, that isn’t going to happen.
“They’re professionals,” Hunter said of Erskine, 31, and Schultz, 25. “I’d imagine they worked out hard after just to be ready to play when we need them.”
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