VORACEK TO PLAY IN WORLDS: WHICH OTHER FLYERS WILL GO?
Back in November, the editorial director of the International Ice Hockey Federation's official website contacted me with an idea for an article for the site about Flyers right winger
Jakub Voracek's surge to stardom and tie it in with the upcoming 2015 IIHF World Championship in the Czech Republic. The "big" question I was supposed to ask was whether Jake intended to play in the Worlds in his home country if the Flyers either did not make the playoffs or went out early.
I asked Voracek some background questions about his memories of past Czech teams at the Worlds, especially the 2004 tournament (the last time the Worlds were held in the Czech Republic) and being a member of the 2010 squad that won the gold medal when the tourney was held in Germany.
Voracek gave thoughtful responses to both questions. By this point, he already anticipated the next question. Before I could even ask it, he said, "I'm not even thinking about next spring right now."
I laughed and said, "I knew you would say that, and it makes sense. There's way too much NHL season left to go to have the Worlds on your radar yet."
"Yeah," he said. "It's too far away; five or six months away. We'll see what happens. It's something I would think about but it's too far away to think about now. I would rather be battling for the Stanley Cup.”
Fast forward to late March. With the Flyers now out of the playoffs, it is an appropriate time for Voracek and other Flyers to consider accepting invitations from their national hockey federations to play in the IIHF World Championship. The tourney will run May 1-17 with games in Prague and Ostrava.
Yesterday, Voracek informed media at the Skate Zone in Voorhees that he plans to play for the Czech team in the tournament. Many other Flyers are also potential candidates to play. Here is a rundown:
Mark Streit (Switzerland): Streit is a shoo-in for the Swiss team.
Michael Raffl (Austria): Raffl, who reached the 20-goal milestone for the NHL season on Saturday, is a shoo-in for the Austrian team. His national team needs him. At the Olympics last year, the Austrian NHL contingent got thrown under the bus in a non-story about players partying between the penultimate and final games of the tourney and that being the reason why the team lost 4-0 to Slovenia with a trip to the medal round at stake. For the record, Raffl was one of the few Austrian players who had a good game against Slovenia, and he played well the entire tourney. Michael's brother, huge grinding winger Thomas Raffl, is a perennial member of the Austrian national team.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (France): Bellemare is a proud regular member of the French national team and played an important role in the French team scoring massive upsets against Russia and Canada in the past two Worlds. A fourth-line center with the Flyers, Bellemare will play a scoring role on the French team.
Rob Zepp (Germany): The Canadian born and raised Phantoms starting goaltender could once again represent Germany in the Worlds. He played in last year's tourney in Belarus.
Brayden Schenn (Canada): The forward played for Canada in last year's tourney, registering three goals and four points in eight games. Although his NHL season has not lived up to expectations, Hockey Canada may nevertheless extend him another invite.
Wayne Simmonds (Canada): Simmonds' leg injury may preclude his participation in the tournament, although his current four-week recovery timetable would make it possible to play if he pushed it. It's doubtful the Flyers want him to play or that Simmonds will focus on anything other than healing and then getting ready for next season. His previous experience playing in the Czech Republic during the NHL lockout was made unpleasant by a group of idiotic Chomutov "fans", but that in and of itself would not scare or deter him. Simmonds played for Canada at the 2013 tournament in Finland. Last year, Simmonds played through a knee issue in the playoffs for the Flyers and was not available to Team Canada for the Worlds.
Claude Giroux (Canada): Giroux played for Canada at the 2013 tourney, centering a formidable line with Steven Stamkos and Andrew Ladd. Last year, however, Hockey Canada snubbed Giroux for the Olympics. Now he will have the power to say yes or no to Hockey Canada for the Worlds, but the federation undoubtedly would like him to play. Giroux did not play in the 2014 Worlds.
Luke Schenn (Canada): Schenn is a semi-regular for Canada at the Worlds, having played in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. However, he is currently dealing with a lower-body injury that is likely to keep him out of the remainder of the NHL season.
Steve Mason (Canada): Mason has had a tremendous NHL season when healthy enough to be in the lineup. He is deserving of a spot -- perhaps even the starting job -- for Canada at the Worlds but the safest course of action for him would be to rest and strengthen the knee that has caused him trouble this season.
Nicklas Grossmann (Sweden): Grossmann was last invited by SIF to play in the 2012 Worlds but declined due to knee issues and a recent concussion during the playoffs. In 2011 while still a member of the Dallas Stars, Grossmann accepted an invite to play in the Worlds but had to be shut down after his second game when he re-aggravated a knee injury that kept him out of most of the stretch drive for Dallas.
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SCHULTZ NOMINATED FOR MASTERTON
The Philadelphia chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) has nominated defenseman
Nick Schultz as the Flyers nominee for the NHL's Masterton Trophy. The award goes to the player who best represents the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedicated to the game of hockey.
This was a tough year to pick a Flyers nominee.
Kimmo Timonen would have been a shoo-in, and he is a very strong candidate to win the Masterton, but he became ineligible locally when he was traded to the Blackhawks. It will be up to the Chicago chapter of the PHWA to nominate him.
In lieu of Timonen, perhaps the most dramatically compelling stories of perseverance and dedication are those of Rob Zepp and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
Zepp was my personal choice, because he became the oldest goaltender since 1926 to win his NHL debut. He took a very long and winding path to get here, and finally decided to leave a secure situation with Eisbären Berlin in Germany's DEL to take one final shot at the NHL. This time, it paid off.
Ultimately, because Zepp has spent most of the season in the American Hockey League and is not currently on the Flyers' NHL roster, it took him out of consideration among many of the local voters. My argument was that Zepp would be on the Flyers' roster in the event of an injury to Ray Emery or Steve Mason -- something beyond his control -- and the basis for his nomination was his backstory and not whether he is currently the Flyers backup or the Phantoms starter.
Bellemare's story is somewhat similar to Zepp's, In Bellemare's case, the player actually is a current regular in the Flyers' NHL lineup. Hailing from a secondary hockey country and moving around frequently in his youth, Bellemare eventually had to leave his native France to play in Sweden in order to advance his hockey career. He worked his way up from the Swedish minor leagues to the SHL and finally made his NHL debut at age 29. If that is not perseverance and dedication, I don't know what is.
Schultz's "Masterton story" is subtle rather than dramatic but he is nevertheless a worthy nominee. I listed him as a secondary candidate on my vote along with Bellemare. To me, Schultz's candidacy is NOT primarily based on him having a bounceback year and re-establishing himself as an NHL regular after a couple of down seasons that made his one-year contract with the Flyers into a potential final shot at staying in the league.
To me, Schultz's story is one of what goes on behind the scenes in many hockey players' lives; things that most fans do not know or care about.
Schultz was traded at each of the last two trade deadlines after a long tenure with the Minnesota Wild. He has a wife and young kids. The trades meant uprooting the family. This year, on a one-year deal with the Flyers, the family has been renting a home in New Jersey.
If Schultz had not made the most of his opportunity this year or if he had been out to squeeze the most possible money out of his next contract, he very well may have been traded again at the 2015 deadline before testing the unrestricted free agent waters this summer. Instead, he parlayed his strong season into a multi-year extension and gave the Flyers a rather significant "hometown discount" (sacrificing at least $750,000 to $1 million off his likely open-market price tag) to get the deal done and ensure stability.
Of course, there is also a hockey component as well. Schultz is a very hard worker and a dedicated team player who has come in under tough circumstances to be a stabilizing force on a much-maligned blueline.
Is Nick Schultz likely to win the Masteron at the national level? No.
In lieu of Timonen, is Schultz a worthy local chapter nominee who deserves recognition for his on-ice and off-ice character? Absolutely.
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