Ondrej Roman
www.whl.ca

Ondrej Roman

Hometown:

Ostrava-Poruba Czech Republic

Currently Playing In:

Pro

Birthday:

1989-02-08

Position:

C

Eligible for draft:

2007

Shoots:

Left

Drafted:

2007

Height:

5-11

Acquired:

Trade with Dallas, 2012

Weight:

165 lbs.

Probability of Success
  • C

History

After a terrific year in the Czech junior league, Roman arrived in North America via the 2006 CHL import draft, in which he was selected fifth overall by the Spokane Chiefs. The native of Ostrava, Czech Republic posted modest numbers in his rookie campaign, to the tune of 48 points in 70 games, good for fifth on the club. He saw some time on the power play, where he scored three of his four goals, and was bounced around the lines in even strength situations.

2007-08: Roman built off of his rookie season for Spokane (WHL).  He upped his plentiful amount of assists to 46, which is good for second on the team, and started finding his shot, to the tune of 15 goals (up from four).  Roman had a tremendous playoffs as he helped lead the Chiefs to a Memorial Cup championship; he led the club in assists (11) and points (20) in 21 games.

2008-09: Roman split time between the Spokane Chiefs(WHL) and HC Vitkovice of the Czech league. In 32 games in the WHL, Roman scored 10 goals and 22 assists. He also played in 12 playoff games, scoring once and adding 4 assists. Back home, Roman scored 3 goals and added 6 assists in 26 games with the Men’s club. He picked up 4 points in 4 games with their U20 Club.

2009-10: Roman stayed in the Czech Republic, splitting time between three clubs. He played in 10 games with HC Vitkovice’s U20 squad, scoring 9 goals and adding 17 assists in just 10 games. He moved up to HC Vitkovice’s main squad, picking up just 3 points in 26 games. He was loaned to HC Havirov, where he played in the second division. He scored 1 goals and added 6 assists in 11 games with his new club.

2010-11: Hopping from one side of the pond to the other every year is probably not what Ondrej Roman had in mind, but he finally landed in the AHL in 2010-11.  The Czech import played in 72 games, registering 14 assists and 22 points in what was a fairly mundane season for Roman.  He played up and down in the lineup and was sometimes used as a winger as opposed to center.  He didn’t provide the offensive spark for the defensive-minded team and his more-technical/less-physical style saw him scratched throughout most of Texas’ abbreviated playoffs.

Talent Analysis

Quick playmaking forward (can play center and wing) with slick hands.  Not the most beautiful skater in the world but he can move in quick bursts.  Smooth playmaker with very good vision.  Reticent shooter that prefers the pretty play to the shot.  Decent in the dot and has shown flashes of quality defensive play.  Not a very physical player and his size prevents him from penetrating high traffic areas with regularity.

Future

Will return to the AHL in 2011-12.  Roman was dealt to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Andelo Esposito.  

Potential: Longshot 2nd/3rd line tweener playmaking forward, like a less talented version of Ladislav Nagy (in his last NHL seasons).

Training Camp Opens

by pbadmin
on
The Islanders fresh new start has finally arrived as training camp opened in Lake Placid. This camp figures to be especially spirited as many young players look to impress new coach Butch Goring and earn spots. For several Isles prospects this iwill be a make or break season. This is the best and quite possibly last chance for players like Dmitri Nabokov, Vladimir Chebaturkin, Ray Schultz, and Sean Haggerty to win a regular role in the NHL. If some of these older prospects fail to impress don’t expect them to stay in the ISles system much longer. Another floudering prospect continues to be Mike Rupp. Publicly, management has continued to bachk the 9th overall pick but unless he has a break out year he will not be signed and would re-enter the draft. As of now the lumbering winger is not worth the minimum salary for a first round pick which is just under $1 million per season.
Read more»

Blues Rookies Defeat Nashville To Win Tournament Championship

by pbadmin
on
In what was a hard fought game from start to finish, the Blues youngsters avenged last years loss to the Pred’s with a 2-1 victory. St. Louis went undefeated in the round robin tournament with a strong team effort. All but three players contributed to the scoring, and goaltenders Alex Westlund and Kenrick Exner played solid in goal. The Blues got on the scoreboard first with a goal by James Desmarais at 9:56 of period one. Ladislav Nagy and Barret Jackman assisted on the play. Nashville then tied the score with an early second period goal at 3:49. Jeremy Reich put the Blues on top with his first goal of the tournament at 9:19 of the second period. Dean Stock and Brad Twordik assisted on what stood to be the game winner. The third period was scoreless as the Blues held on for the 2-1 win.

This win, no matter how small it may seem, is a huge step for an organization with a history of not producing prospects. The Blues, having concentrated on building from within, have more depth at the minor pro level than ever before. With each draft year comes a list of capable young players that are groomed for the NHL. Instead of rushing a player through the organization or trading away top picks for quick fix, the Blues have held the hard-line and eventually will be rewarded for that. This victory for the Blues rookies gives us just a glimpse at what will filter down in the coming years. No more big free agent signings, no more headline stealing trades, and no more “sell the farm” tactics. Yes, the Blues prospects are good; very good! Maybe even under rated. Read more»

Sabres Report: Training Camp Preview

by Ken McKenna
on

With the beginning of the Buffalo Sabres ’99 training camp just a day away, this would be a good time to present a camp preview. The main purpose of this article will be to speculate which Sabre prospects, if any, will make a push to stay with the big club. The Sabres have seven restricted free agents, as well as one unrestricted free agent, so it is possible that some younger players will be thrown into the fire until the veterans arrive. Given the fact that the Sabres are coming off a Stanley Cup final appearance, however, it is unlikely that many of the prospects will make the Sabres roster on merit, since there would be few roster spots available without the training camp holdouts.

I’m going to break down each position, listing the incumbents (veterans) and prospects at each position, and follow that with a brief analysis identifying which prospects, if any, have an opportunity to make the Sabre roster. An asterisk (*) next to a name denotes either a restricted or unrestricted free agent. There will be instances where a player’s name will appear at more than one position, which means that the player is not exclusively used at a certain position.

Center

Incumbents

- Mike Peca, Curtis Brown *, Stu Barnes *, Wayne Primeau *, Joe Juneau *, Brian Holzinger

Prospects

- Mike Zigomanis, Brad Moran, Francois Methot, Aaron Goldade, Kamil Piros, Brad Self
Read more»

Brandon Wheat Kings Preseason Prospects

by pbadmin
on

Last night the Brandon Wheat Kings faithful had a good look at the future of the Wheat Kings as Brandon faced off against the Regina Pats in the first pre-season tilt of the year.

This is definitely a whole new year for the Wheaties as many high profile players have graduated to the pro ranks this past year. Gone are Burke Henry, Andrei Lupandin, Ryan Robson, Jason Chimera and Brett McLean. I fully expect Brad Twordik to hang on in the St. Louis organization, so count him out too.

Hold overs, not including the 20 year olds are: Goaltenders, Jomar Cruz and Jamie Hodson (injury list until December). Defensemen, Brett Thurston, Corey Unser and Wade Skolney Fowards, Richard Mueller, Jan Fadrny, Brett Girard, Petr Kudrna, Aaron Goldade, J.D. Kehler, Mike Wirll, Ryan Craig and Randy Ponte.

Twenty year olds is where it is extra interesting for Brandon. Not including Brad Twordik, the Wheat Kings have four high quality 20 year olds. They are Daniel Tetrault, Les Borsheim, Scott McCallum and Alex Argyriou. I count for sure one too many, three if maybe Twordik comes back.

With a plethora of hold-overs coming back and extra 20 year olds, trades are imminent. Who goes? Who stays?

A look at the future might hold the keys to what Brandon does.

Let’s look at the prospects, those not on the roster last year.

Read more»

IHL History: Utah Grizzlies

by Andrew Bourgeois
on

The Utah Grizzlies begin their 5th season in the IHL this up coming season and though the
franchise has been around 6 years (1 year was spent in Denver), there is alot of history
surounding the team. The Grizzlies first year of existence was in Denver, Colorado which is no
stranger to professional hockey. The International Hockey League granted Denver their first IHL
franchise in 1959-60 as the Denver Mavericks, but due to unseen circumstances the Mavericks
ended up moving to Minneapolis to complete the season as the Minneapolis Millers. The NHL moved
into Denver with the Colorado Rockies until moving to New Jersey.
The IHL moved back into Denver as the Colorado Rangers in 1987-88 in which the Rangers lasted
two seasons. In 1987-88 the Rangers finished 5th with a 44-35-3 record for 91 points in 82
games. Todd Elik lead the Rangers in scoring with 44 goals, 56 assists for 100 points and had 81
PIM in 81 games. Also Simon Wheeldon finished the season with 99 points on 45 goals, 54 assists
with 80 PIM in 69 games. Mike Ritcher lead the Rangers goalies posting a 3.14 GAA, with 1
shutout, 68 goals against and 1298 minutes played in 22 games. In the playoffs the Rangers
defeated Kalamazoo 4 games to 3 games, but were outsted by Salt Lake in the quarterfinals 4
games to 2 games. In 1988-89 the Rangers became known as the Denver Rangers instead of the
Colorado Rangers and posted a 33-42-7 record for 73 points in 82 games. In the Playoffs the Read more»