In recent days, a lot of space has been devoted to the story of David Tomášek, who, as a European star, terminated his contract with Edmonton after two months of the regular season and is returning to Sweden. Yes, succeeding in old age is difficult for many reasons, but not impossible.
A number of Russians, drilled by Viktor Tikhonov, did it. Which is a specific sort of people. Sergej Makarov, Igor Larionov or Vyacheslav Fetisov made great careers overseas, even though they left for a completely new world in their thirties. They were extremely trained, quite possibly building their condition in the Soviet era even using banned substances.
Others left under completely normal conditions. It was not a bed of roses, and yet they succeeded. The Czech defender Marek Židlický is also a classic case of a flower that developed later.
Better late than never
It was a time when the constant departures of Czechs overseas rather annoyed us. After the Canadians and the Americans, the Czechs were the third most powerful nationality in the NHL. We perceived more and more contracts for our players as painful wounds to the skeleton of the national team and letting the blood of the domestic top competition live.
Židlický was raised in Kladno. He made his debut for him at the age of seventeen and spent five full professional seasons here. He represented the U20 World Championship twice (0+7 in 14 matches). Then he went to Finland. It was only there after two more seasons that he caught the attention of NHL scouts. It wasn’t until he was twenty-four years old (!) that the New York Rangers selected him in the sixth round from the 176th pick. (If anyone is wondering that Tomáš Galvas still isn’t drafted, don’t worry. It’s all been there.)
In his second season in the north (2000-01), Židlický was the most productive defenseman in the SM-liiga, collecting 37 points (12+25) in 51 games. In the next two years, he was even more pronounced. The best point-scoring defender in the Finnish top flight every time. 47 points in the 2002-03 season even made him the sixth most productive player in the entire league.
Do you think that surprised anyone in the NHL? The Rangers tried to sign Židlický, but they offered completely unsatisfactory conditions. All submitted contracts were always “two-way”, i.e. two-way with a significantly lower salary on the farm.
Due to mutual disagreements, the Riders finally sent Cech to Nashville on December 12, 2002 along with forward Remo Murray and defenseman Tomáš Klouček in exchange for goaltender Mike Dunham. The trade was motivated by the Rangers’ need to bolster the goaltending position after Mike Richter’s injury, and Židlický was part of a package to balance Dunham’s value.
The veteran guard finished the season in Finland before signing and joining the Predators at the start of the 2003-04 season. He was 26 years old, had nine professional hockey seasons behind him – five in Kladno, four in Finland, where he was a clear star of the competition.
A rookie who was no longer a rookie
Nothing easy awaited him in the NHL, but he seized the chance from the very beginning. Židlický made his debut on October 10, 2003 in a game against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, which the Predators won 3:1 and the offensive Czech forward scored his first point. The following day, on October 11, he also scored his first goal in a 3–1 loss to the Dallas Stars.
The star of the Preds defensive line at the time was Kimmo Timonen. Unlike the Czech, the Finn, who is two years older, was already in his sixth season in the NHL, when he collected 40 or more points in the last two. In the 2003-04 season, Židlický had the fifth highest ice time among Nashville defensemen. Gradually, he got space on the power play, where he spent a lot of time, but otherwise he was definitely not the preferred back from the beginning. For example, he almost didn’t go for weakening, due to which he had weaker +/- points.
In the editorial office of nhl.cz, we dealt with Marek Židlický a lot at that time. Colleague Kamil Popelář believed in the experienced Czech from the beginning. And he didn’t let him down.
He finished the premier season with 53 points (14+39), and we are talking about the last year before the lockout, when the NHL was extremely stingy in terms of goals. The average of 5.17 goals per game is rock bottom and the lowest league average since 1956. If it existed, the Defensive Hockey Fanclub would be cheering. The NHL was tough, full of fouls, from which the referees, according to the mysterious key “one-two punches”, sometimes chose a tackle to blow the whistle on.
Even in this defensive era, the technical back with a birth certificate from Most managed to establish himself. As a rookie – a status he no longer fulfilled due to his age – he was the Predators’ second most productive player and the NHL’s fifth most productive defenseman!
“He’s an incredibly smart player. He has the ability to see the ice in a way that very few people can,” said Barry Trotz, now general manager, Nashville’s coach at the time.
Unfortunately, he was unlucky in the playoffs. He suffered a concussion in the opening minutes of Game 1 against Detroit and did not return for the rest of the series. Nevertheless, Židlický’s first season was rated as very successful and laid the foundation for a long career in the NHL.
He played in 836 games, collected 417 points (89+328) and earned almost 33 million dollars gross. He ended his hockey career at the age of 39. Apart from the suspensions (2004-05 and 2012-13), when the players jumped to play elsewhere, he did not play in any competition other than the NHL.
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