When Hockey Slovakia announced its training camp roster for the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championship, star center Dalibor Dvorský wasn’t on it, as it wasn’t clear whether the St. Louis Blues would release him from their AHL farm club. The Slovaks, however, made clear their desire to have him, and on Thursday, they announced that he would, in fact, be available.
“I’m very glad that we solved this conundrum very early,” Slovak coach Ivan Feneš said at a press conference, as reported by Šport.sk. “It’s a great help to our work putting together the team. We don’t have to worry about whether it will work out or not and we can focus on hockey.”
Selected 10th overall by the Blues in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, Dvorský has represented Slovakia at each of the past three World Juniors, recording 11 points in 14 games. Now that it’s known he will be available, he is instantly expected to be the team’s top-line center and one of its offensive leaders.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPV9B1iTlZI[/embed]
“I’m glad that (Hockey Slovakia president) Miroslav Šatan took command of the situation and resolved it very promptly for the benefit of Slovak hockey,” Feneš continued. “Dalibor showed an extreme willingness to play during phone calls, and that gives us great motivation and energy to have such a player on our team.”
Dvorský won’t be released from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds – where he has 16 points in 20 games – until Dec. 23, three days before Slovakia’s opening tournament game against Sweden. That means he’ll miss all of training camp and all four of the team’s scheduled pre-tournament games. Feneš, however, said that he’s already spoken to Dvorský about his potential linemates and plans for the power play so that he can join the team as seamlessly as possible.
Feneš expects Dvorský to be the team captain, saying that, “In the locker room when he speaks, every word he says carries a lot of weight.”
“However, there are other key players, such as Maxo Štrbák, Rišo Baran, Luka Radivojevič and Tomáš Pobežal,” Feneš added. “We have a great group of players that we will need to create a great team off the ice for the media and the public, but also to perform confidently on the ice and still play.”