Slafkovsky, Nemec, Mesar make history
Trio mark 1st time 3 Slovak players drafted in 1st round
MONTREAL — Juraj Slafkovsky embraced Simon Nemec and hugged Filip Mesar so tightly he picked his countryman up off the ground.
They had just made history as three players from Slovakia being selected in the first round of the NHL draft, and Slafkovsky and Nemec becoming the highest-drafted players in the nation’s history at 1 and 2.
“It’s just unbelievable moment for me, for my family and everyone who supports me and also for the whole Slovak country,” Slafkovsky said, beaming after being taken first by the Canadiens. “We needed something like this.”
Months after leading their team to its first Olympic medal, Slafkovsky and Nemec are ushering in a new golden generation of Slovak hockey. Decades after Zdeno Chara, Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra and Miroslav Satan put Slovakia on the map, the renaissance is just beginning, with a wave of talent pouring into the NHL from the tiny central European nation of 5 million people.
“Small, but we have really good players, and now more and more players will be better like we are,” Nemec said after going second to the Devils. “Everybody is proud, and we’re proud, too.”
Fewer are as proud as Craig Ramsay, a longtime NHL assistant who took over coaching the Slovak national team in 2017 and determined along with Satan, now general manager, to play a fast, up-tempo style that catches up with the evolution of the sport. When he first arrived in Slovakia, Ramsay was stopped at the entrance to a grocery by a man who told him, “Thank you for coming and for what you and Miro are trying to do, but it won’t work here.”
Except it did work. Success followed at world championships and then a bronze at the Beijing Olympics with a team featuring Slafkovsky and including Nemec and Blue Jackets prospect Samuel Knazko, all under 20 years old.
“We’ve started down the path of speed and compete and giving these young people a chance to play,” Ramsay said by phone Friday morning. “We’ve made that step.”
That step is drawing attention on the international stage and highlighting Slovakia’s best young talent for NHL teams searching for as much as skill as they can find. After taking Slafkovsky over Canadian center Shane Wright with No. 1 pick, the Canadiens selected Mesar later in the first round and the Rangers got 17-year-old Adam Sykora in the second.
“I’m so proud,” Sykora said Friday. “It’s great: the best draft for Slovakia.”
Sykora missed out on the celebration late Thursday but could reunite with Slafkovsky, Nemec and Mesar at the rescheduled world junior championships in August and join them in the NHL not long from now.
“They’ve had a few down years in draft here and now they have 1 and 2,” said Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen, who worked for the Senators when they selected Hossa and traded for Chara well before picking Knazko. “It’s great for that country. They’ve produced a lot of really, really good players over the years. It’s a great country and great, proud hockey country.”