There’s been some significant concern of late, via some fine reporting from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff, that Red Wings free agent signing Eduards Tralmaks might end up playing in the Czech Extraliga (where he was the leading scorer last season) for HC Energie Karlovy Vary if he doesn’t make the Red Wings’ NHL roster.
Thankfully, Tralmaks gave an interview to Rem Ratnikov on HokejaZinas.com in which the 28-year-old winger (who stands at 6’4″ and 209 pounds) seems receptive to starting the season in the AHL.
There’s an 8-minute video accompanying the interview, but it’s in Latvian–as is the interview itself–so you’ll have to be patient with the rough translation from a hard-to-translate language:
Tralmaks: My style of play doesn’t fit the NHL’s first or second line
Eduards Tralmaks, the forward of the Detroit Red Wings and the Latvian national ice hockey team, and now the National Hockey League (NHL), told Sporta Studija about his preparation for the season.
HokejaZinas.com has already reported that Tralmaks signed a two-way contract with Red Wings for one season.
“I know how to prepare. I’ve been preparing in the Czech Republic for the last two years, I know the training plan. At the beginning or middle of August, I will have to fly to Detroit, where I will be examined and continue to prepare in the presence of their coaches.”
“If it were that easy, I would love to withdraw the one-way contract. After such a season, I’ve been given the opportunity to move back [to North America] and fulfill the goal of the dream I have. At that point, I didn’t really think whether the contract is one-way or two-way, it was just important to me that the team sees in me the potential to play in the NHL. I think I have that with the Red Wings organization,” says Tralmaks.
Recently, Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said that Tralmaks is likely to start the season at the American Hockey League (AHL) – with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
“Detroit has some plans [for me]. I think I’ll start playing AHL to gain experience and remind myself of what it’s like to play in America.”
“Of course, the first two lines in the [NHL] aren’t the ones I’m aiming for. I am thinking more about getting on the third or fourth line. I know the players who are there, I’ve played against some of them. My style of play doesn’t fit the NHL’s first or second-line player’s. I can go and fight, chase the puck, try to battle to the front of the goal. I think that’s what Detroit saw in me, at my age they wouldn’t have signed me otherwise.”
“In modern hockey, it’s believed that at the age of 28, you have already reached your peak potential. So there’s the question of whether you can jump in right away. You have already grown up physically and mentally, have accumulated experience, so you have to jump inside and try again to fulfill what you have dreamed of throughout your life,” says the Latvian striker.
In the last two seasons, Tralmaks spent with the Czech Extraliga team Kladno “Rytiri”, the owner of whom is the legendary hockey player Jaromir Jagr.
If in the first season in the Czech Republic, Tralmaks posted 32 (21+11) points in 52 games, then in the second season, he became the league’s top scorer with 51 (23+28) points in 48 games.
“What Jagr promised me was fulfilled. Maybe not as I thought, however. I thought Jagr would call the NHL teams himself and get me a contract. But I thought I gained more with my job. Jagr definitely helped me get better both on the ice and as a person. That’s what I’m going to take with me from Kladno. The last two seasons I spent there are my most successful careers,” reveals Tralmaks.
