Adam Ružička & Mário Grman sign with KHL clubs; Hockey Slovakia to vote on the national team issue

In two separate announcements on Wednesday, two Slovak players signed with KHL clubs. Center Adam Ružička signed with Spartak Moscow and defenseman Mário Grman with Admiral Vladivoskok.

Grman, 27, has spent the past two seasons with Czech club Vítkovice. At the recent IIHF World Championship, he had a goal and an assist in eight games for Slovakia. Ružička, 25, was released by the Arizona Coyotes in February – just three games after being acquired from the Calgary Flames – after a controversial video briefly appeared on his social media account, showing a line of white powder and a credit card. He was not selected to play for Slovakia at the Worlds, possibly due to the same issue.

“I’m glad that everything turned out this way,” Ružička is quoted on the Spartak club website. “I’m especially excited that I’ll be playing alongside my sister’s husband, Michal Čajkovský. And besides him, there are a lot of great players on the team. I want to tell all Spartak fans that I can’t wait for the start of the new season and our victories with you!”

These signings bring the total number of Slovaks under contract with KHL clubs to seven. In addition to Ružička, Grman and Čajkovský, Martin Gernát, Christián Jaroš, Adam Liška and Michal Krištof have also committed to playing in the Russian-based league. All of those players have represented Slovakia at a major international tournament in their careers and most of them would be at least considered for the squad today.

Prior to this year’s IIHF World Championship, however, the Slovak Ice Hockey Association announced that no KHL players would be eligible to play for the Slovak national team. With the final round of Olympic qualifying upcoming in late August, it seems that the issue is going to be reopened.

According to Slovak media outlet Šport.sk, it was proposed at Hockey Slovakia’s annual congress meeting in April that the issue should be voted upon.

Specifically, the question proposed by HKM Zvolen club president Dušan Mráz was: “Are you in favor of players with a Slovak passport who have a valid contract with a KHL team being nominated for the Slovak national team in upcoming 2024-25 season while the war in Ukraine is ongoing?”

While that question wasn’t voted upon, a proposal was eventually approved that would see hockey clubs that are full members of the Slovak Ice Hockey Association vote on the matter after the World Championship ended. It’s not clear exactly when this vote will take place, but it will presumably occur before the team for the Olympic qualification tournament is selected.

From August 29 until September 1, Slovakia will host a four-team tournament that also includes Kazakhstan, Austria and Hungary. The team finishing first will qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. Even without the KHL players, the Slovaks should be overwhelming favorites in the tournament, especially with all of their NHL players available.