AHL Interview: Zdenek Nedved

AHL Interview: Zdenek Nedved
By Tricia McMillan, AHL Correspondent

Toronto prospect Zdenek Nedved isn't related to the Penguins' Petr Nedved. It just looked that way when the speedy Zdenek scored his first NHL goal in the first game of the 1995-96 season - against Petr and the Penguins. But other than that, no connection.
Certainly the Maple Leafs were happy to see him score in the first game of the season, but all the same he played only seven games for the Leafs before they sent him back to the St. John's Maple Leafs for more ice time; and although Nedved managed to put in a decent half season in Newfoundland, with 27 points in his 41 games, he also suffered a season-ending injury. So Nedved found himself back in St. John's for most of the 96-97 season.
Nedved, 22, played well enough for St. John's to start the season that he spent a few months with the parent team before being returned to St. John's for the playoffs. "They tell me they just want me to play," he shrugs. And play he has, as Nedved has turned in a solid season for both teams; he scored eight points in 23 games for Toronto with an impressive +4 considering the team, and finished the season with 34 points in the AHL.
Nedved, a native of Lany, Czech Republic, didn't really have a lot of choice about becoming a hockey player, as his father coached the town's youth team. "I was probably five years old when I started practicing with my dad," he says. "He used to coach a team back home, so I was practicing with older guys all the time."
Playing with more experienced players paid off, as Nedved was chosen twice to represent the Czech Republic in the World Junior Tournament; in his second tournament he scored seven points, was a +9 and was acknowledged as a team leader. "[The tournament] was interesting and it's totally a different level of play," he thinks. "I get lots of experience from there, especially when I was wearing A on my sweater."
While the international experience and being drafted by the Leafs in the fifth round in 1993 indicated he had a bright NHL future, Nedved's father convinced him he should play in the Canadian junior leagues for more experience and Nedved joined the OHL's Sudbury Wolves.
"My dad tell me he really want me to go here and learn the language and everything, learn how to play North American hockey, so I did," says Nedved, who appreciated the experience in Sudbury. "I don't feel sorry I did that, because right now I feel speak English a little bit better than guys just coming in right now, and understand the game a little bit more."
Besides getting used to the culture and language, playing for Sudbury made the adjustment to North American playing style much easier for Nedved. "Back home, we got bigger ice surface and the play is more passing, and it's not as much hitting and stuff as here," he says.
Nedved got the hang of North American style well enough that he topped the 50-goal, 100-point mark his first year in Sudbury and finished his career there in 1994-95 with 47 goals and 98 points in only 59 games. His numbers in the OHL were good enough that the Leafs felt he was ready to jump directly to the NHL after graduating from Sudbury. But despite scoring early in his NHL career, Nedved doesn't think it was necessarily a good idea to skip the AHL at first.
"This year when I came back [to St. John's] and I got called up again to the NHL, I felt much better, because you get used to the faster game, more hitting and stuff, so you get used to the play," he explains. "[The AHL]'s very much the same as the NHL."
While the turmoil in the Leafs' organization the last few years hasn't helped Nedved much, it did earn him more playing time than expected at the NHL level this year, and he can expect a long look from Toronto next season. And he has the playoffs with St. John's to keep him busy for the time being, so next year is a distant thought.
Nedved considers his first goal against Pittsburgh and playing for the national team to be his favorite hockey times so far, but Nedved doesn't need much to keep him playing.
"I just love the game."