Lukáš Dostál and Radko Gudas are helping lead the Czech contingent for the Anaheim Ducks.

IRVINE, Calif. - Lukáš Dostál may not have known who the members of The Offspring were before filming a promo video with them for the Ducks’ collaboration with the Orange County-based punk rock band, but he is certainly familiar with their songs.

“I think Lukáš knows all the songs,” said Radko Gudas, who was also part of the promo video. “He just doesn’t know it’s them, so it’s pretty funny.”

The two Czechs have listened to their fair share of The Offspring’s discography, with Gudas saying that he thinks “a lot of people back home know them more than The Offspring realizes.”

“(Ducks publicist Sammy Glantz) was asking around the team who would be interested and for us in Europe, they’re pretty big, especially in my younger years,” said Gudas. “I think it was pretty cool for us to be able to do that stuff with them and be able to be recognized by them and shoot this video with them.”

“It was fun,” said Dostál. “It was kind of unexpected but growing up, I was always listening to them. I had absolutely no idea that it was them and when we kind of got a chance to go with them, I was listening to songs and it was just like ‘Yeah, that’s them’. I used to play NHL 09 on the computer and their songs were there and everything, so it was pretty cool to get to know them and see them. They’re awesome guys.”

Not only do Gudas and Dostál share a love for The Offspring, they also hail from the same country. Czechoslovakia had not yet been dissolved into Czechia and Slovakia when Gudas was born, but his hometown of Prague still resides in Czechia and is a little over a two-hour drive from Brno, where Dostál was born.

“I think it’s very cool,” said Gudas on having a Czech teammate again. He did not have one in the past three seasons while playing for the Florida Panthers. “Before that, I’d never had one without. Last three years in Florida were different for me not to be able to speak Czech, so it’s very nice and refreshing that I get a young guy. He makes me feel younger too with his problems,” he said with a grin.

“He’s a young, bright guy which is great to have in a young goalie like that. To know what he wants and he knows especially if he’s on his game, so it’s fun to see him develop. I can help him with little things throughout his career or off the ice or maybe sometimes mentality and just the way you look at things and just the way to accept things. It’s a long process. Your career is not that long, so I’m making the right steps and hopefully somebody like me is going to help him in the long run.”

“It’s great. He’s a great guy and has a great family too,” said Dostál of Gudas. “Before training camp, I could stay with him for like two to three weeks, so that helped me a lot just getting to know him and get to know his family. Sometimes I go over to his house and grab dinner and stuff like that. Such a nice guy and I’m just so glad I can have him here."

"Whether it be sometimes we talk on the ice, or off the ice. The things I can ask him because he’s been in the NHL for some time. So whatever I want to know, he always has an answer. It’s great and he’s kind of the mentor for me as well that way. He’s great.”

Gudas has settled in well after trading one coast for the other this past summer, inking a three-year, $12 million deal. The 33-year-old has been the Ducks’ best defenseman this season and has been a steadying force for Jackson LaCombe and Urho Vaakanainen, his most frequent defensive partners.

“Jackson’s a little more upfront,” said Gudas. “He likes to jump up the ice a little more. Urho’s a little bit more defensive-minded like me, so it’s very fun to play with both. Both of those guys are very good players, very talented. Urho had a very hard go with injuries. He made some strides and he’s very solid this year. He’s been doing very well defensively, he’s been rock solid.”

“Jackson playing off his off-side has been very impressive for a first-year guy too, so it’s fun to play with both of them and communicate with them. Being on the ice with them, I feel more comfortable and I think both of those guys took enormous steps from Game 1 to right now. So it’s very fun to see them developing and not looking back and taking the strides forward that we need as a group for them to make, so it’s been fun to be their partner this year for sure.”

It hasn’t been smooth sailing entirely for the team as a whole, with the Ducks currently sitting at 30th overall in the standings with a 19-33-2 record. A whopping (and league-leading) 14.5 penalty minutes per game coupled with a bottom-10 penalty kill (76.47%) have been two of the main culprits in a lack of constant success this season for the team. They also lead the league in losses in one-goal games with 10.

“I think the transition’s been there (for me),” said Gudas. “I'm really happy with the way I’m able to perform this year for my team. Unfortunately, we are not doing as well as I thought we can. There are some games that we play very well and then unfortunately, one or two hiccups cost us the game. I think the record overall doesn’t speak for the way we can play and we are playing some of these games.”

‘It’s a learning curve and we have a lot of youth and a lot of learning in front of us. It’s a process, one step at a time. There were a number of games that I really enjoyed the way we played as a group and we played as a team and we didn’t get the results or we did get the results. There’s a very bright future coming up here, we’ve just got to make sure the foundation’s right.”

Part of the adjustment period has been working in a new system under rookie head coach Greg Cronin, who was hired from the Colorado Avalanche organization this past summer. Cronin spent the last five seasons as head coach of the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate.

“I think it’s been good for us,” said Gudas. “I think I consider myself a player that he wants on his team. He wants us to play a similar way and with the way I play, I think a lot of it’s in his system. A lot of my DNA is already what he’s trying to put into these guys, so it’s maybe a little easier for me to transition, even with a new coach first year here.”

“He’s also trying to get a feel for the guys here. He’s got a lot on his plate. For me overall, it’s been a good connection for us too. Between us two, I know what to expect from each other, so that’s huge for me to know what to expect from the coach and vice versa.”

“He’s a tough coach,” said Dostál. “But obviously it’s always important that you have someone who’s trying to push you to your limit every single day and I think he’s been great for us as a group. He’s trying to push us to our limits every single day and I think for the young core, it’s always important. Things have been good.”

Cronin isn’t the only new face behind the bench. There’s also assistant coach Brent Thompson––who was head coach of the New York Islanders’ AHL affiliate during part of the time that Cronin was an assistant coach for the Islanders––and assistant goaltending coach David Rook, who came over from the Nashville Predators and took on the role after Sudarshan Maharaj was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June. Maharaj, who is affectionately known by many as “Sudsie”, recently met up with the Ducks when they were in Toronto to give them an update on his treatments and his status.

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“I’m always trying to stay in touch with Sudsie to see how everything goes for him,” said Dostál. “Sudsie was the person who was here when Anaheim drafted me, so Sudsie is an important person for me. Obviously having David around right now and he’s been great. He was in Nashville, so there’s a lot of stuff similar in the game that Juuse Saros plays."

"I don’t want to say we are similar goalies, but there’s kind of similarities with the size, the movement and the technique. (When) David was in Nashville, he had a chance to work with him. A new person brings something new and it’s always about a conversation or discussion. And with David, it’s been great so far. There’s some new stuff that I brought to my game and so far, it’s been good.”

The Czech connection runs a bit deeper in the Ducks’ organization this season than it has in the past. Not only was Gudas added to the fray, but the Ducks also drafted defenseman Vojtéch Port and signed goaltender Tomáš Suchánek to an AHL deal.

Dostál only got to know Port a little bit during training camp, but his history with Suchánek goes back much further. The two share the same goalie coach back in Czechia and first met when Dostál was 16 and Suchánek was 13. Dostál also told Ducks brass to keep an eye on Suchánek two years before the team added him to the organization this season.

“He’s been doing great down there for San Diego,” said Dostál. “Obviously I’m happy for him and I always cheer for him. Both of them are great guys. Vojtéch, I got to know him this camp. Quiet guy, but such an open and nice person too. But, obviously, Tomáš, I’ve known him much longer too, so I’m just happy that he does well.”