Czech hockey defenseman Libor Šulák will continue to play in the Continental League next season. He will move from Vladivostok to Omsk, with whom he signed a two-year contract according to the club’s website.
The twenty-nine-year-old Šulák was part of the national team in the previous season and also competed in the Olympic Games in Beijing. He returned to the KHL last summer despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing military conflict, which closed the door on him to the national team. In Vladivostok, for which he already played in the 2021/22 season, he was even the captain. Including the playoffs, he played 79 games and scored 42 points for 15 goals and 27 assists.
“Our team needs a defender for power plays with a good shot and pass. By signing a contract with Šulák, we have solved this problem. Libor was a real leader in Admiral, scoring key goals and motivating other players on the ice and in the cabin. From the players with a Russian passport to this position there was no one on the market,” said the general manager of Avangard, Anton Kurjanov.
The defender Tomáš Kundrátek, after the season spent in Brno, returns to the team of the reigning extraleague champion Třinec, with whom he celebrated the titles in the previous two years. The owner and general manager of the club, Libor Zábranský, stated this in an interview on the Komety website.
“For Tomáš Kundrátek, it is a fact that he is returning to Třinec by mutual agreement of all parties,” Zábranský confirmed speculation from the last few days.
A 33-year-old participant in three world championships and two Olympic tournaments, Kundrátek, who helped end the national team’s ten-year medal fast at major events last year in Tampere thanks to bronze, played 39 games for Brno in the regular season and scored five goals and 10 assists. He added three goals and four assists in 10 starts in the elimination games.
A hockey player with experience from the NHL, where he defended the colors of Washington, came to Třinec during the 2018/19 season after returning from the KHL. He managed only six starts in the Slezan jersey and played the rest of the season in Davos, Switzerland. But he spent the next three seasons in the Steelers’ jersey.
Kundrátek also figures in the current selection of national team coach Kari Jalonen, who is preparing for the Czech Games, which will take place from Thursday to Sunday in Brno. The tournament is a warm-up for the Czech team for the World Championships in Finland and Latvia, which will begin on Friday, May 12.
