Kubalik had a big game on Saturday as host Czechia thumped Sweden 7-3 in the semifinals of the World Hockey Championships.
When the Ottawa Senators dealt winger Alex DeBrincat to the Detroit Red Wings last summer, Dominik Kubalik was the one active NHL player the Senators received in return. They also collected a pair of 2024 draft picks (Boston's first-rounder and Detroit's fourth-rounder) and defence prospect Donovan Sebrango.
Kubalik wasn't ever going to completely replace DeBrincat's offence, but as a former 30-goal NHL scorer, the Senators figured he'd help. In short, they were sort of hoping he'd play like he generally does for Czechia at the World Hockey Championships.
Kubalik had two goals and an assist on Saturday to lead host Czechia to a shocking 7-3 semifinal beatdown of Sweden, a gold medal favourite at the event. Czechia will now try to win a World gold on home ice for the first time since 1985 when the country was still known as Czechoslovakia.
Kubliak's three points are more than he had in any game as an Ottawa Senator this season. In fact, he only had one two-point game all season and was sometimes a healthy scratch down the stretch.
Kubalik has five goals and seven points in the 2024 tournament and will win at least a silver medal. Last year, he had 12 points, finishing second among all scorers at the Worlds.
Granted, Kubalik didn't consistently get the ice time or top six linemates in Ottawa that he gets with his national team. But even with that in mind, the Senators were certainly counting on him to generate more than 15 points in 74 games, with a minus 30. On the day of the deal, they didn't in a million years envision a scenario where Kubalik would be outscored this season by Parker Kelly.
But here we are.
The 28-year-old Kubalik is an unrestricted free agent on July 1st and there's almost no question his time in Ottawa is over.
The one question they do have is, where was all this offence during the NHL season?