With Dylan Larkin out tonight with an upper-body injury, Pardubice native Tomas Nosek will be the next Wing up to make his NHL debut.
Per Coach Blashill: Petr Mrazek will start tonight in Nashville. Dylan Larkin is out (upper body). Tomas Nosek in. #RedWings #DETvsNSH
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 26, 2015
The 23-year old center was signed by the Red Wings in the 2014 offseason as an undrafted free agent after three years playing in the Czech League for Pardubice HC. He totaled 24 goals and 62 points in 129 games, including 19 goals and 44 points in 52 games as the captain of the team in 2013-14. and proved to be a valuable piece to the Griffins in 2014-15, posting 11 goals and 34 points in 55 AHL games playing with the likes of Mark Zengerle, Kevin Porter, and at times Teemu Pulkkinen. He did this after a hand injury in October nearly severed a tendon and put his career in jeopardy.
“He’s a very smart two-way center who can play the wing and is very responsible defensively, makes good plays. He’s more of a playmaker than a natural finisher. He just gets better every year.”
-Jiri Fischer, DET Head of Player Development (2014)
Did playing with Pulkkinen, who at one time posted a double-digit goal scoring streak, boost his stats and plus/minus (+30 led AHL in 2014-15)? Possibly, but he did make the transition from an international ice surface in Pardubice to North American ice look easy with that 6’2″ 210-pound frame.
This season, the point totals are down, through 25 games, as Nosek has scored twice and added five helpers. However, his true value lies with his defensive mentality, speed, and playmaking.
Nosek will be logging bottom six minutes with Luke Glendening and Joakim Andersson tonight. This moves Tomas Jurco, who is represented by the same agent as Nosek, to the third line. It will be interesting to see if Jeff Blashill utilizes Nosek on the PK as well against the Predators, who are tied for 9th in powerplay percentage at 20.9%.
The #RedWings lines vs @PredsNHL: Nyquist-Zetterberg-Abdelkader Helm-Datsyuk-Richards Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco Andersson-Glendening-Nosek
— The Wheel Deal (@Bill_Roose) December 26, 2015
Main Photo:
Quote courtesy of mLive
Stats courtesy of hockeydb and ESPN
