Excellent question. I had heard of his name as a possible hockey player making the move from the European ranks to the NHL.
That was it.
So, what have I found out?
Here's what the wonderful world of YouTube has shown me:
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Hold on for one second… we need to address the elephant in the room.
When it was announced the Blackhawks have signed 21-year old, 6'2, 194 lbs right-winger, Matej Chalupa, I expected to see inexperienced, baby-faced kid.
What is this guy eating?
There is no way this "kid" is 21. Look at that beard! He looks like a veteran of 1,000+ games in the NHL.
Anyway, "apparently" the 21-year old Chalupa – which is pronounced MAW-tay huh-LOO-puh – has been signed by the Blackhawks to a 2-year $1.85M ($925k AAV) contract.
TC's Thoughts: My thoughts are simple, Chalupa is a low-risk signing.
Of all the scouts in the Blackhawks' organization, I trust the European scouts the most. They have a great track record and a solid one out of the Czech Republic with the likes of Jan Rutta, Michal Kempny, David Kampf, and most recently (and excitedly) Dominik Kubalik hailing from CZE.
We can add recently signed draft pick Michal Teply, and Jakub Galvis to the mix, and the Hawks are stockpiling a nice Czech community within the org.
This is a smart signing in my opinion as Chalupa was a former teammate of Dominik Kubalik, so there's a nice connection and future chemistry there. Also, it's showing Kubalik a commitment to players of his ilk which may help boost his morale, even more, when he puts pen to paper to sign his deal with the Hawks this summer.
While Chalupa looks more like a bottom 6 forward, what I really like about his game is his size, speed, and ability around the net.
He moves well for a big guy and his frame is NHL ready – even at 21 – so that's a big bonus and gives me optimism for Chalupa's game as it transitions into the NHL.
My feeling is he starts in Rockford, however, so much can change from now until the 2020-21 season, so I'll revisit this at a later date.
Overall, good job Stan and thanks for this signing so I had something to write about.