Hertl will not strengthen the Czech team at the Hockey World Cup, the club did not release him

The general manager of the national team, Petr Nedvěd, announced before today’s first training session in the O2 arena that the club did not release the player.

“Unfortunately, Tomáš Hertl will not join the team. He was interested in coming, we had an agreement, but the club did not allow us to do so,” said Nedvěd.

“It’s a huge loss for us, we were looking forward to him, but unfortunately… We have to respect that,” added the manager of the national team.

Nedvěd admitted that Hertl’s recent knee surgery played a role to some extent, although the 2022 WC bronze medalist in Tampere played six games of the regular season and then all seven of the playoff series against Dallas after recovering (3:4 per games).

“Tomáš is, of course, an investment for Vegas for the next six years. Although he played in the playoffs and played about twenty minutes, he had a large portion on the ice, but that knee is not 100 percent,” admitted Nedvěd.

“And I kind of suspected that this would happen, that the club would react negatively to it and not want him to play in the World Cup,” he added.

Another attacker, David Kämpf, on the other hand, passed the exit medical examination and interviews in Toronto and is on his way to the Czech Republic. He should join the selection of coach Radim Rulík on Thursday.

“Regarding David, on the other hand, the news is positive. He flew from overseas, he should be in Prague tomorrow afternoon and he will join us for training on Thursday,” said Nedvěd.

The championship will start in Prague and Ostrava on Friday. The Czech team will start against Finland on the opening game day at 20:20.