Some go directly to the draft, some watch it on TV, some on their mobile phones with their family. But not Czech goalkeeper Nick Malík. He overslept his selection and only found out from his mom about the team he got into. In turn, he flew to Tampa Bay, where a development camp was held under the auspices of the Lightning.
As they say, the twenty-year-old goalkeeper didn’t even want to see the draft. “I was in bed when they drafted me,” said Malík. “I didn’t watch the draft because I didn’t want to be sad if nobody picked me. But my mom and my friends watched it, so it got to me pretty quickly.”
Then it went from time to time. Malík had to travel from Finland, where he worked, to Florida. Everything had to happen very quickly, missing the development camp would be a serious blow. “It was all very fast. They drafted me, I jumped on a plane and now I’m here,” Malík added on the subject of the nearly twenty-hour journey.
It is worth adding that Malík is not going into an unknown environment. When his dad Marek, who is certainly remembered by all Rangers fans thanks to the famous raid, ended his career in the NHL, it was in the Lightning jersey. Nick was six at the time.
“I remember it here. We rode scooters here with my brother,” he recalled. “But a lot has changed. The Lightning have a beautiful training facility. I don’t remember it being here before.’
It is clear that he would be very happy if he got used to the new resort thanks to his frequent stay there. However, he would have to fight his way into the first team, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
However, this does not mean that he is without a chance in the future. Quite the contrary. Andrej Vasilevsky is, of course, the unshakable No. 1, but the Lightning alternates its No. 2s quite often. In addition, the only young goalkeeper in the organization is Hugo Alnefelt, who was already drafted in 2019.
“He’s very competitive, and we like that around here,” Stacy Roest, one of the assistant general managers whose job includes developing young players, said of Malík. “It could be seen especially during the tournament we had here. We’ve seen the type of player he is. Now we will focus on the areas where it wants to improve.”
Malík’s return to Finnish KooKoo is generally expected. In it, he experienced a great year, when in thirty-four matches he reduced the average number of goals conceded to below two and picked up fifteen wins. He then helped the team to the semi-finals in the playoffs.
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