Red Wings prospect Patrik Rybar gave an interview to Pravda.sk’s Pavol Komar, and the interview is hard to translate, so I’ll offer some of the highlights thereof:
- Patrik is the son of Pavol Rybar, a goaltender who played for Slovakia in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics. Pavol played for HC Slovan Bratislava for most of his career;
- Patrik says that he’s been told that he’ll battle with Harri Sateri for the starter’s spot in Grand Rapids–per the Red Wings’ coaching staff–and he expects to take some English lessons;
- Rybar was unable to play at the summer development camp because he had surgery on an ankle injury. His ankle has apparently been bothering him since the 2016-17 season, his first of two played for HC Hradec Kralove, and Rybar’s been rehabbing his injury this summer, yielding little to no summer vacation as a result.
- Rybar says that he talked to Tomas Jurco about playing for the Red Wings organization, and Rybar says that he will rely on himself, work with the Wings’ goalie coaches in Detroit and Grand Rapids at the end of August…
- And Rybar says that he’s going to have to adjust to the smaller goalie pants and new NHL-regulated chest protectors required by the league. If you’ve seen pictures of Rybar playing for Slovakia or Hradec Kralove, he wore a very large chest protector, so there may be some significant adjusting involved;
- It sounds like Rybar will try to make the NHL this year and next year, and if he doesn’t make it, he’ll head back to Europe.
