Who's David Musil? If you haven't heard of him before, he is only considered to be perhaps the best Czech defenceman prospect ever. Yes, ever. Sort of their version of Viktor Hedman, perhaps. He's 6'5" and played last year in the Czech 2nd-level mens league as a 15 year old, as well as for the Czechs at the World U-18's, again as a 15 year old in what is predominantly a 17 year old's tournament. He has good bloodlines - in addition to his father, his uncle is recently-retired NHLer Bobby Holik and his grandfather is Jaroslav Holik, a star defenceman for Czechoslovakia in the 70's. He is one of the current favourites for #1 overall in the 2011 NHL draft.
Anyway, according to Hollick, the WHL held a special lottery to determine which WHL team got Musil's rights and the Kootenay Ice won. Musil wants to play closer to his family in Burnaby, so the Ice promptly traded Musil's rights to the Vancouver Giants for a 2010 5th round bantam pick and a 2011 first round bantam pick. Yeah, a first round bantam pick for a 16 year old who hasn't played a game in the WHL yet and will likely only play two seasons here before going to the NHL.
Good for the WHL to land a player like Musil....those are the kinds of guys who make everyone else in the league better for having played against them.
6 comments:
So the Ice promptly traded Musil's rights to the Vancouver Giants.
The rich just keep getting richer.
Well, yeah, but at least the Giants paid what looks like a fairly reasonable price here. I mean, they gave up their 2011 first round bantam pick and that's a big thing, it will have an effect on them come the 2012-2016 seasons.
If Musil continues his development the way he has, it's quite feasible he could be in the NHL at age 18 - he's 6'5" already, he has the size to play with men now - and the Giants will only have him for the next two seasons. So, I think it's a reasonably fair trade. The Giants will benefit for the next two years but they'll be paying for this trade five and six years from now.
I met Frank and David at an outdoor rink in Edmonton 10 years ago. At that time Frank asked me about my kids who were on the ice. I told him that the bigger one was '91. He responded by telling me - and this is a quote "So is David." That is not hearsay nor rumour, Those words are directly from the kids Dad. They played against each other that year as 8 year olds.
Over the years our paths crossed as David played for a number of different local organizations, never staying more than a year at any one it seemed. And then we met again at the Quebec pewee tournament where David appeared on the Czech team playing against '93s. I sincerely hope someone can provide an accurate and legitimate birth certificate for the kid. I have my own opinion - and I firmly believe that David is not a '93.
Interesting comment re: David Musil's real age.
I have found no information that indicates he is not a '93. Everything you can find on the internet refers to him as a '93 who is eligible for the 2011 NHL draft. There's also an article in the Edmonton Journal from last fall (http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/sports/story.html?id=e95abce6-7bfd-4b91-96e9-e7bbeee7bffa&p=2) which indicates that he played minor hockey with Keegan Lowe and Dillon Simpson (sons of Oilers Kevin and Craig respectively) when he lived in Edmonton, and those two are both 93's.
In any case, David Musil was apparently born in Edmonton and as a result, there will be a reliable public record of his birth if anyone wanted to do a search of Alberta birth records.
Wow, not even Ovechkin nor Crosby nor Malkin ever played at the U-18's as 15 year olds...and usually underage forwards make the roster before d-men!
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