Kmoníček on Hradec Králové: Budget, Winter & Staff | Hokej.cz

Hradec Králové is experiencing a turbulent season. Especially because of the widespread blight that haunted East Bohemia mainly at the beginning of the year. “Given what we’ve been through this year, we have nothing to complain about,” the general manager of the club, Aleš Kmoníček, sums up in an interview for the website Hokej.cz.

I hear from a number of players that they are already waiting for the national team break like a mercy. The current program is very demanding, isn’t it?
There are enough matches, I think everyone is really looking forward to the break. We are all looking forward to rest. On the other hand, it’s a shame that it takes almost a month. We’ll see who it helps and who maybe not so much.

Considering the end of the season, such a long break is quite unpredictable…
The question mark is big. Anyway, we welcome the break. Also because we will have the opportunity to get back together healthily and train in the composition in which we want to enter the final phase of the season. With regard to our extensive team, there was not much space during the season to adjust things in a complete composition.

Are you planning to diversify the almost monthly training process for the players?
The boys will get a few days off after the match with Litvínov. We will meet again at the end of next week and start training. The plan is a three-day concentration in the mountains to change the environment and the style of training a little. At the same time, we promise that it will be good team building. But we are definitely not going to hang around, we have a lot of work ahead of us.

Are friendly matches not in the solution? After all, a match is always something different from training. As said before, the hiatus is long.
We do not negotiate anything like that. My view is that teams from the extra league will play a lot of matches against each other during the season and it would not be appropriate to add another match during the international break. And as for foreign teams, those with whom we have good ties do not prefer anything like that.

Will you be sending young players to the Max league for a match load?
There is such a possibility here, we are in contact with Kolín. It depends on them if they are interested. It’s not like we say: These players will come to you and did not talk to them about it. Anyway, Šimon Marha started for Kolín on Wednesday and immediately scored a goal, which is nice and it’s the reason why the players go there.

A few days ago, you exercised an option for the services of Šimon Marha until the end of this season.
Šimon is a talented player, but he still needs to strengthen and improve other things in order to play full-fledged adult hockey. At the same time, he needs to train, because he was not very busy in Switzerland before coming to Hradec. We think it shows in him. We will see how the situation around him will continue to develop, we have not yet discussed possible cooperation in the upcoming season, or rather his agent had a request that we sit down to discuss it after the end of this season.

The end of this year’s transfer window is approaching. A few days ago you said that Hradec is not planning any changes, is that still true?
We are not actively looking for anyone. If an interesting offer did appear, someone would have to leave for the newly arrived player. Our budget is currently full, we are not in a position where we can afford to just bring someone in.

A month ago, you said that by the end of January you want to have the squad for the next season practically settled. Did it work?
Yes. Thanks to the signatures of Kevin Klíma and Radovan Pavlík, we have the squad for next year 99 percent complete. But of course I do not rule out that circumstances will arise that will make us look for other players or release someone.

What grade would you give Hradec for their performance so far in this year’s extra league season?
A tough question, but probably the worst of the two. However, given what we’ve been through this year, I’d say we have nothing to complain about. Players and coaches are doing their best and we are still in the fight for the elite four.

A wave of injuries is mowing down practically all of hockey Europe this year. Does it have an explanation in the inflated schedule of the Olympic season?
Partly yes. There are a lot of matches, so the players don’t have much space for training and recovery. Fatigue increases, then injury is close. On the other hand, if you look at the list of our health problems this year, there are broken legs, broken insteps, concussions… I think it was more extreme bad luck than a demanding schedule this year.

In any case, Hradec isn’t only plagued by rot this year, you have problems with it basically every year. Isn’t that something to think about?
If it was problems with ligaments, knees and the like, then yes. That way, I don’t think that we train badly or that we should fundamentally change anything in the way we prepare. But we monitor health issues and deal with various ways to minimize it.

Was it necessary to increase the budget unplanned due to the poor condition and the need to bring in players to help?
Yes. We didn’t initially count on these expenses, so we’re glad that we managed to bring in players who helped us in our time of greatest need. Now we are trying to return the budget to the original amount, therefore in December and January the decision was made to release some players.

Overall, it is clear that the volume of money is constantly increasing in extralization. The general manager of Mladá Boleslav, Jan Tůma, recently told me that during the last ten years they have increased the budget by roughly forty million, in which numbers do you operate?
If we are talking about the overall budget for running the club, over the last ten years there has been an increase of around forty to fifty million. The cost of players has been going up significantly in the last few years. The richest clubs offer them above-standard conditions, which of course everyone else can see. This year I signed new contracts with a number of our key players and that alone meant an increase in the budget for next season by several million crowns. No one is talking about the amount from the previous contract, in all cases the amounts were higher.

Let’s break down some of the players. In response to the infirmary in the back rows, an experienced man came to Hradec Tommi Kivistö, he helped you a lot, didn’t he?
At the very beginning. Now you can see that he needs to rest and train. Anyway, yes – Tommi a very successful arrival.

The same can be said about Lukáš Radil…
I’m not saying it can’t be better, but Lukáš fulfills everything we expected from him. He brought us a lot of experience, we are satisfied with his contribution.

How did Steve Moses fit into Hradec?
It is too early to evaluate Steve, he played a few matches with us. We certainly practice a different system than the one he was used to from Boleslav and Brno. I believe that he will be helped by a month’s break, in which he will be able to play with the team.

Did you discuss Moses’ arrival with Petr Koukal, who knows him thanks to a joint engagement in Finland?
Yes, Petr personally spoke with him even before we took over the contract. His observations also understandably helped us. As I say, I believe Steve will be even better after the Olympic break.

Koukal will work on the Hradec substitute in the next season, was it a clear choice?
In the summer, we were all a bit on edge. We didn’t know what to expect, but Petr fit in perfectly. In addition, he wants to train as a coach. A sequel deal was on the table in practically a minute, so yes, an obvious choice. It is important for us to maintain continuity not only in the player squad, but also in the implementation team.

What about the future of the Hradec Králové winter stadium, which is not one of the most modern in the Extraliga?
We are constantly solving it with the city, a working group was created. The construction of a new arena is currently not realistic due to the possibilities of the spatial plan. So we are concentrating on modernizing the current stadium so that it meets all extra-league parameters and all regulations in the future. Especially with regard to the youth categories, because the current hall was designed at a time when it was not assumed that the Hradec Klub club would play in the extra league and have so many youth categories. Despite the fact that we will have a new U16 category next season. We would like to implement a lot of investments that should ensure full operation in the future, and we will see how the town hall reacts to this.

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