Notorious Czech Goalie Signs In Finland

Czech goaltender Patrik Bartošák, 31, has signed a contract to play with the Lahti Pelicans for the remainder of the current season, the Finnish Liiga club announced on Tuesday.

Bartošák previously played for the Pelicans from 2020 to 2023 season, backstopping the team to the 2023 Liiga finals.

“Bartošák is known as a demanding goaltender who sets high standards both for himself and his teammates,” said Pelicans goaltending coach and team manager Toni Pasuri. “He has the ability to play a game within a game, break down situations into small parts and read individual game situations quickly and creatively. He never assumes or expects what will happen, but adapts to situations seamlessly.”

Bartošák was a fifth-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft and his professional career got off to a promising start, but started to go off the rails in October 2015 after he was arrested on second-degree assault charges related to a domestic violence issue with his then-girlfriend. He was immediately suspended and later released by the Kings and hasn’t played in North America since.

Since his return to Europe, there have been reports of other incidents relating to alcohol abuse, impaired driving, an accusation of assaulting his own father and numerous accounts of him turning up for practise either late or not at all.

But there have also been stretches where he’s settled down and provided solid goaltending. He had the top save percentage in the Czech Extraliga three seasons in a row, was Czechia’s starting goaltender at the 2019 IIHF World Championship and was also named to the Czech roster at both the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics, although he did not appear in a game either time.

After his previous three-year stint in Lahti, he had four shutouts in his first 17 games of the 2023-24 season for Mountfield HK in the Czech Extraliga before being released by the club in late November for failing to attend a team meeting. There were other rumors that were never substantiated, but it’s clear that Bartošák was already on a short leash at that point.

In late October, Bartošák began training with Czech second-division club VHK Vsetín and it appeared for a time like he might resume his career with that team, which has aspirations of advancing to the Extraliga.

“We negotiated with Patrik but in the end, according to our information, he chose an offer from abroad, which we could not realistically compete with,” said Vsetín club manager Petr Neumann. “We wish him good luck and all the best in the future of his career.”

The Pelicans currently sit 11th in the 14-team Liiga but have multiple games in hand over the four teams immediately ahead of them, so there is a path to moving up the standings. To this point, Swede Olof Lindbom – a former New York Rangers prospect – and Finn Jasper Patrikainen have given the team competent but unspectacular goaltending, so Bartošák should be an upgrade if he can regain his peak form.