Red Wings free agent signing Jakub Rychlovsky spoke with iDnes’s Michael Havlen regarding his decision to join the Red Wings after spending over 10 years in the Bili Tygri Liberec organization. Here’s a rough translation of the article from Czech:
Rychlovsky is already in Detroit: the team probably won’t miss me, says the former Liberec forward
Last week, hockey forward Jakub Rychlovsky boarded a plane and headed to Detroit’s training camp, with whom he signed a two-year entry-level contract after his last great season in Liberec. “I’m really looking forward to it, it’s been too long here in Czechia. I trained for four months, it was probably the longest preparation in my career,” confided the 23-year-old player before his departure.
“I think I prepared well. Now it’s just up to me now to show myself in the best possible light in Detroit and make a good first impression. I will do my best to fight my way onto the NHL team,” he told the Liberec team website.
The native of Vrchlabi spent ten long years in the Liberec organization. “Already at 13 I had to take care of myself and start thinking like a 20-year-old person going to college. In the beginning, it was easier for me because my grandmother moved to Liberec with me. But I still had to arrange a lot of things myself,” he recalled about his beginnings in juniors.
He was always one of the great talents, but unlike other young players, he didn’t head over overseas at a young age. And he doesn’t regret it at all. Through the Benatek nad Jizerou team, which used to be Liberec’s farm team, he gradually made his way onto the Liberec A-team.
“I think that it was the best path I could have chosen,” recalls Rychlovsky. “If I had gone, for example, to a Canadian junior team, I might not have succeeded at all, and now I might be fighting for a place here in the Extraliga. On the other hand, in Liberec I soon played among adults and started for the White Tigers from the age of 18. Thanks to this, I was able to adapt to senior hockey more quickly and build an important role on the team at a relatively young age.”
He jumped into the Extraliga in the 2019-2020 season, and has played regularly there for the past three years. Last season, his form improved, with 46 points he ranked among the most productive players in the competition, and thanks to scoring 26 goals, he became the best Extraliga scorer. He narrowly surprassed teammate Tomas Filippi and Lukas Sedlak from Pardubice, who scored one fewer goal. He also showed off his skills playing in the National Team jersey.
After a great last year, it was clear that Liberec was already too small for such a talented player. Everyone on the team was kind of resigned to it. “I’ll be happy if he stays, but Kuba is a player for the NHL. He showed it eve in a difficult season in the playoffs, both in the series with Olomouc and Sparta,” said Liberec coach Filip Pesan after being eliminated by Sparta in the quarterfinals of the Extraliga playoffs in March. “I think he deserves all the attention he’s getting now. Dozens of scouts watched him during the season.”
When Rychlovsky signed an entry-level contract with Detroit in June, no one was surprised. “I’m glad that Kuba managed to sign a contract overseas and we’ll keep our fingers crossed for him to make it to the NHL. It is of course a significant loss for us, but I’m sure that we’ll find a way to at least partially replace him,” coach Pesan said at the time.
Before moving overseas, Rychlovsky continued to train with Liberec on the ice. And he’s already spent a summer week in his new workplace.
“When I came to the main arena in Detroit, it was probably in that moment that it hit me as to where I found myself. The background, number and attitude of the people who look after the players in the organization is at an extremely high level. I don’t think it can be pushed any further,” he observed.
“I enjoyed the week there. We had some initial fitness tests, but mostly it was about getting to know the other players and the leadership of the whole organization. We had lectures on how to eat, sleep and generally take care of ourselves so that we could perform at our best on the ice.”
However, he will have to fight hard for his place in the best league in the world. The path for him will probably lead through the farm team, the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL. “I think the farm will definitely not miss me in the beginning. If you look at the history of how Detroit has handled players, they’ve mostly sent them to the farm team. So my journey will probably lead there, too. But anything can happen,” Rychlovsky says.
The advice of the White Tigers’ biggest summer signing, former Grand Rapids Griffin Radim Simek, also helped him orientate himself in the new environment. The experienced defender ended his overseas career before returning to Liberec in Detroit’s farm team. “We had daily debates about how everything goes on there, so that at the beginning, I would at least have some information that would make it easier for me. I am very grateful to Radim for that, I value his advice very much, and I will certainly draw upon that,” says Rychlovsky.
He went overseas alone without his partner, who is waiting for the last year of her university studies. “She’ll definitely come see me a few times though. After the season, we’ll see whether I continue in North America or return to Europe. It’s all in the stars.”
