This is from the Czech hockey's official website. Assistant Coach Ivo Mocek worked under him with the Chinese program and KRS for a little context.
This news has also been confirmed by Kyle Cushman on Twitter this morning as well.
Feel free to share your thoughts.
Well, uh, this was sure not on my bingo card.
Feel free to share your thoughts.
Round 1: Nurse, Jaques, Maschmeyer
I think all three are self-explanatory. They have all been consistently our best players at every position throughout the year. It's a good place to start, as you have three of your best players guaranteed to stay for another year.
Round 2: Bell, Vanišová, Daniel
Bell is the team captain so yeah she's definitely the first player to be protected in this second round of choices. I know T hasn't been the player that we've expected so far from her, and a large reason of this was because in the season prior to joining us back in Ottawa she was shooting at crazy shot percentages that was very much above average and this year looked to regress to the mean. However, I feel she has definitely been our best and most consistent playmaker and driver, especially later this year. And Daniel once she figured out the system here has for sure been one of our best and most consistent players as well.
Players that are common choices but I decided not to go for:
Gardiner: I know the reasons why everyone would want to protect her, but honestly with this year, it seems like players have more rights to choose where they want to go. And I think Gardiner is just not gonna leave this city (much like how Watts and Spooner are never leaving Toronto under any circumstances) for obvious reasons. Therefore, I think it's kind of a waste of a protection spot on her, especially when there are other players that are more valuable to keep behind.
Miller: Similar to the reasons above.
Thompson: Yeah, I think there's just too much uncertainty around her to really fully commit to protecting her.
Boreen: A couple of months ago, I would've definitely protected her, but I think she's really disappeared in the later half of the season. I remember it was a similar situation in her previous seasons as well, and it's just really hard to predict if she will bounce back at the start of the next season either.
What are your protection choices? Feel free to reply below.