Czech hockey goalie Jiří Patera signed a three-year rookie contract with the Vegas Golden Knights team in the NHL. Representatives of the club chose a 21-year-old Prague native in the 2017 draft from 161st position. In the same year, the Golden Knights also entered the elite competition as the last club and reached the finals in the opening season.
The final agreement of both parties was sought for several weeks. Now, however, the offspring of Prague’s Slavia, who captured the last two seasons in the junior WHL for the Brandon Wheat Kings team and was awarded the club’s most useful player in the spring, can look forward to a fight for his chance to shine.
“Of course I felt a little nervous. I’m very happy, it’s the fulfillment of a child’s dream. But I know that the contract is just the beginning of another journey and a lot of hard work. I firmly believe that in the future I will add more sporting reasons to family celebrations,” Patera said. a press release from Sport Invest, which represents him.
However, due to the current situation associated with the coronavirus pandemic, he does not have more precise information from the club regarding the nearest development. “We are waiting for the final start of the current season, which will of course be a crucial variable for the next time scenario. However, it is clear that training camps will generally start as close to the new season as possible, other partial changes can be expected. for any scenario, “Patera emphasized.
Then he would like to confuse the coaches’ head and win a start on a farm in the AHL. “And, of course, the longer-term goal is clearly to be in the NHL. Vegas has elite goalkeepers led by (Marc-André) Fleury, who is one of the biggest personalities of the league for me. He’s my role model, I try to learn all the details from him. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to work with him live, “Patera made no secret.
In addition, he has an excellent relationship with the coach of the first team goalkeepers. He believes that even that could play cards for him. “Mike Rosati has been watching me since the draft three years ago. He wrote to me honestly almost every week and watched all the highlights from our matches. After my injury from the start of last season, he came to see me because he saw that I was a little worried. He spent ten with me. days and he helped me a lot. He is a really great person with whom anyone can talk about hockey and life. I believe that he will help me to get to an even better level in the next seasons as well, “said Patera.
The talented goalkeeper in the last season in 41 WHL matches had an average of 2.55 goals scored per match with a success rate of 92.1 percent. Thanks to that, he probably spoke very loudly about the contract.
“Negotiating Jirka Patera’s contract in Las Vegas was more complicated than it might seem at first glance. Vegas has a lot of interesting goalkeepers and has to plan well how and in what time frame to work with them. However, Jirka made a keen attention to attention. and a long-term chance, “said Robert Spálenka.
The head of the hockey section of the Sport Invest agency admitted that, in general, the signing of any contracts in the NHL is now more difficult, the more he appreciates the current one. “It is, of course, a question of when the overseas competitions led by the NHL and the AHL will start and what training options the individual clubs will offer their players. The ideal option would be for Jirka to win a place in the AHL at the pre-season camp. ready, “Spálenka added.
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