According to a Monday afternoon report, and in a case of totally expected news, Boston center David Krejci has been named to the Czech Republic Olympic squad.
It’s the second time the 27-year-old will find himself in Olympic play, suiting up for five games for the Czechs in 2010, tallying two goals and three points with a plus-2 rating, and it’s a trip to Sochi that’ll see Krejci reunited with plenty of former teammates.
Along with Krejci, Bruins past and present making the trip in March include Jaromir Jagr, Vladimir Sobotka, and even 2011 Cup champion Tomas Kaberle. Another d-man and you have a starting five with B’s ties.
A top line talent for the Black-and-Gold, there’s little doubt that Krejci, a skater with nine goals and 36 points in 42 games this year, will be anything but that for the Czechs.
On a Czech team with some skill down the middle -- with Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec, the Coyotes’ Martin Hanzal, and even Roman Cervenka challenging Krejci for ice time at center -- it’s Krejci’s big-game experience that should certainly put him in a class of his own.
Leading the postseason in scoring in both 2011 (23 points in 25 games) and 2013 (26 points in 22 games), Krejci should be a fixture on the country’s first line with the Flyers’ Jakub Voracek at right wing and (perhaps) Patrik Elias on the left wing.
On the aforementioned Boston note, it’ll be great to see the 41-year-old Jagr (a Bruin in 2013) have one final go-round on an Olympic roster, and even Sobotka (a fourth round pick from the Bruins in 2005 and with the big league club from 2007 to 2010) finally crack an Olympic squad.
And for old time’ sake, it’s nice to remember that Kaberle -- who was really never as bad during his brief tenure with the B’s as people like to think -- still plays professional hockey.
Krejci becomes the first Bruin officially named to an Olympic squad, with Patrice Bergeron (Canada), Zdeno Chara (Slovakia), Loui Eriksson (Sweden), and Tuukka Rask (Finland) also expected to be easy picks for their respective countries.