The Portland Winterhawks select Michal Kvasnica in the second round of the 2018 CHL Import Draft. Kvasnica is now the most recent Winterhawk hoping to further make a name for himself and fulfill his dream of playing in the NHL.
During the offseason WHL teams have a few opportunities to improve their club. In late June or July the CHL holds the annual Import Draft.
All three CHL leagues, OHL, QMJHL, and WHL, participate in the same draft. The reverse finishing order from last season sets the draft order. Each team may only have two import players, players not born in Canada or the United States, on their roster. An exception is granted if one of the players on roster is an NHL first-round selection. If the team already has the maximum they must pass on their selection. In Portland’s situation, in 2018, they were able to make two selections since Henri Jokiharju was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft.
Winterhawks have recent success with import players
The Winterhawks recent history of relying on imports to provide an impact includes:
– Oliver Bjorkstrand – Currently playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets and totaled 290 points in three seasons with Portland.
– Richards Bukarts – Acquired via trade from the Brandon Wheat Kings and scored 31 goals in 2015-2016
– Rodrigo Abols – A 20-goal scorer in his one season with Portland.
– Henri Jokiharju – Contributed 119 points in two seasons with the Winterhawks before joining Chicago full-time this season.
– Joachim Blichfeld – An assistant captain who as of Monday has 160 points in 144 games played. He was also selected in the seventh round of the NHL Draft by San Jose.
A look at successful Portland import players is not complete without mentioning Nino Niederreiter, Sven Bartschi, Marian Hossa and Richard Zednik. All four players played a huge role with the Winterhawks before moving on to professional hockey. Kvasnica hopes to add his name to this list of recognizable names.
Portland’s approach to the Import Draft
The Import Draft can yield some high-end players, but also poses a risk as teams do not know for sure if the player they select will in fact sign and come to North America. I spoke with vice president, general manager, and head coach Mike Johnston about this challenge. “You have to check out every single player because they may or may not be coming over. It is a matter of identifying your needs for the next year. What we want in a European player, and then taking a look at which players may be available.”
In the last seven drafts, nine of Portland’s ten selections signed with the team and came to Portland. Some players did not play many games with the team due to different circumstances. The only selection not to sign is 2017 selection Samuel Fagemo from Sweden. The chances of him playing in Portland were minimal with Blichfeld and Jokiharju returning. The Halifax Mooseheads selected Fagemo in 2018, but he has not come over to North America. Overall, Portland has been successful in drafting players willing to commit.
Each CHL team has a different process for how they handle the Import Draft, but I spent some time with Johnston and Kyle Gustafson, assistant general manager and associate coach, discussing Portland’s approach.
Gustafson said, “We [Mike and he] really try to tackle everything together. Mike has an army of contacts. He is going to explore those contacts with agents and other personnel overseas. Mike is going to do everything he can to find out who is coming over and what crop of players are going to be good.”
The Winterhawks know they will be selecting in the first round next year as Joachim Blichfeld ages out of the WHL. Kyle said, “We started to formulate a list to go ahead with Euros. With taking one next year with Blichfeld gone, we are already looking into that process.” Despite the 2019 draft being in the distant future, “we are already a few months down the road in this,” Gustafson shared.
Johnston places an emphasis on “watching under 17 and 18 tournaments” to get an idea on who may be available. In August, Johnston and Gustafson attended the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. Kyle said, “We got a jump start on our list and saw some great players. We like to say we earmarked them and now are going to track them and see how they do.”
The Import Draft involves a significant amount of politics. Players’ agents and teams’ general managers will connect to learn who is willing to come over. Not every player is willing to play in every league, market, or style of team. Johnston said, “We rely on our own contacts, information from scouting services, and NHL teams to compile our list.” Gustafson said, “we will see if a player’s agents feels comfortable with them coming over. There is just a lot of communication back and forth.”
Throughout the year Portland will send “some scouts overseas to help put together our list” Gustafson explained. Unlike scouting in Canada and the United States, “you have to cover a lot more and rely on your contacts,” Kyle continued.
Portland continues to keep an ongoing evaluation of their list and per Gustafson, “We keep an eye on what we have here and how that fits long term. If the players on our list are elite players, we are definitely keeping our eyes and ears open.”
Import Draft process for Michal Kvasnica
The selection process for Kvasnica, drafted in the second round of the Import Draft this summer, was an exciting and stressful one. When I asked Michal about if he had an idea if he would be selected by Portland he answered, “I think I had some ideas ahead of time. My agent called to the team. I was so excited because I wanted only to go to Portland. Portland is one of the better organizations in the CHL. I really wanted to come here and am now so excited.”
While Kvasnica’s excitement was high to “continue improving on my hockey career along with my hockey skills,” the journey hasn’t been easy for the 18-year-old. Portland is approximately 5,442 miles from Michal’s hometown of Ostrava, Czech Republic. He told me his last club, Frydek-Mistek, “was less than an hour away from home. Now, it takes me over 24 hours by airplane.”
Kvasnica thanked both his billets as well as Lane Gilliss, who also lives in with the same family, for helping him make the transition. “I’ve got really good billets and roommate in Gilliss. They’ve helped me a lot with everything; I appreciate them so much.”
Michal is still working on his English. He speaks and understands the language very well. However, when he first arrived in Portland he admitted, “When I come here I didn’t know some of the sentences what the guys said to me because they were talking so fast. Everything is different than in school, what I learned in Czech, I’m still learning.”
The first thing Kvasnica noticed upon landing in Portland was “how much bigger everything is here. I noticed especially the cars, they are so big.” The only area smaller compared to home for Michal is the size of the rink. “The size of the rink is different, so much smaller here.” North American teams play on a rink about 15 feet narrower than European rinks.
North American style an adjustment for Michal
The adjustment to the North American game has been steep. “There are more fights and battles here than in Europe. There are more tough players because in Europe there are more smaller, skilled players.” Kvasnica is disappointed his season has not started better. “I think it could be better because I don’t have a lot of points. I’m still getting better on the type of rink. I think it is tough for me because the game is on different ice. I need to be more inside than outside perimeter.”
Johnston exhibited patience with his rookie import forward. “I think with all European players they don’t break out until Christmas. Even so with Henri [Jokiharju], until Caleb Jones was away at World Juniors. Henri kind of broke out at that time. It takes a while, it is a different game; smaller ice surface, and more confined space. It takes a while to adjust and adapt.”
One area Michal is working to use to his advantage in is his size. “He is a big-body guy with good puck skills though,” Johnston described Kvasnica’s game. Assistant coach Don Hay, coaches the forwards and elaborated. “He does a lot of things well. He shoots, handles the puck, and skates well. I think to get rewarded he has to end up more at the net. He needs to get more involved inside the faceoff dots. He has the ability and the size/strength to make plays.”
Kvasnica did just that on Sunday night against Everett. He worked his way to the front of the net, out muscled an Everett defender for the puck, and fired a shot by Dustin Wolf for his second goal of the season. This was exactly what Hay was coaching him, “For him to get paid off he needs to find rebounds and finish off plays that end up there.”
Johnston closed with, “It is coming for Michal, it just hasn’t translated to points yet.”
All-in-all, Michal Kvasnica has a tremendous opportunity to further the Winterhawks’ legacy with developing import players as well as making a name for himself.
