Sheng Peng
What was a dream became a nightmare for Lukas Radil.
In 2018-19, Radil was a surprising sparkplug in his NHL debut, playing up and down the line-up for a deep San Jose Sharks team. He notched seven goals in 36 games, perhaps none more pivotal than his first, a game-winner for a Sharks squad that was just a little over .500 in December. These efforts earned the Czech forward a one-year, one-way NHL contract, a crowning achievement for a 28-year-old undrafted European veteran.
This year, San Jose hoped some forward, any forward would step up and take on middle-six responsibilities to cover up the losses of Joe Pavelski, Gustav Nyquist, and Joonas Donskoi. Radil started the season next to Tomas Hertl and responded with zero points in 14 games under Peter DeBoer.
It didn’t get any better for Radil under Bob Boughner. A day after Boughner replaced DeBoer behind the bench, the Sharks sent Radil down to the AHL. He never played a game for the new regime.
After the NHL season’s pause on March 11th, Radil didn’t waste much time drawing up a new plan. On May 31st, Radil left the Sharks and returned to the KHL.
San Jose Hockey Now caught up with Radil, who was training in the Czech Republic, for an exclusive interview. Radil was forthcoming about his disappointing campaign, his request to be dealt at the Trade Deadline, the reality of being a bubble NHL player when you’re almost 30, and what happened between him and Aaron Dell before Game Six of the 2019 Western Conference Finals.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Sheng Peng: You just signed with Spartak in the KHL. Why did you go back there? Why did you not try to stay in North America?
Lukas Radil: I got the message that San Jose didn’t have interest in me. They didn’t have plans for me next year.
I hoped, during this season’s Trade Deadline, I could be traded to another team and get another chance in the NHL. But it didn’t happen. I know I didn’t have any chance to make it back to the NHL in San Jose.
When I got there like two years ago, I would have never thought I would play like 50 games in the NHL. But when you get there, everybody wants more and more and more.
I would like to stay [in North America], somewhere. It could be another team. But, you know, I don’t think so, that I have a chance to play in the NHL. I probably get a two-way contract, and I probably play in the AHL, fighting with guys 10 years younger. I don’t know if it makes sense for me because I’m almost 30.
So it was good fun. Many, many dreams came true for me in the NHL and America. I enjoyed it a lot. But sometimes, you have to honest with yourself and say what is best for yourself and what makes sense for you. For me, it’s to go to Europe and get some success here.
SP: You mentioned the Trade Deadline, did you let San Jose know you wanted to go elsewhere?
LR: Yeah, my agents, I told them that I would like to be traded. My agents worked on it last year, but there weren’t other teams interested.
I was a little bit upset because I would like to get one more chance.
I hoped, but it didn’t happen. I’m just going to move forward and look for another time.
SP: Yeah, I understand. I know it wasn’t the best year for you in San Jose. We talked when you were with the Barracuda, and you mentioned you had a back injury. Why didn’t it work for you in San Jose this year?
LR: You know, I’ve been thinking about it lots. As a team, we had a tough start of the season. My start wasn’t good, either.
I don’t know how to describe it; there were a lot of questions, no answers.
You can try 100 percent, and success doesn’t come. You have nothing left to do.
But I tried to do my best, and it didn’t work. Two years ago, I got to the NHL and got a couple of goals. You sometimes feel it. Things around are like going really good…
SP: You don’t feel as much responsibility on you. You can play a game, right? You don’t worry about everybody else.
LR: Yeah, just play the game. I tried to do my best, and it didn’t work.
Players like me, you have to be in the right time, in the right place. It wasn’t like that this season.
SP: You were with the Sharks until Peter DeBoer got fired. From your perspective, what was wrong with the team in the pre-season, then the first three months of the year?
LR: I don’t know. In my opinion, there was a lot of change when Pavelski left. Maybe I’m wrong. He scored when it was important. When the game was tied, or we were losing by one. He was a game-changer.
A couple of key players did not have good seasons. Other stuff snowballed.
But I think it started when Pavelski left, how the Sharks played changed too.
SP: When Pavelski left, did it change things in the locker room too? Did it feel like there was a big void in the locker room without him?
LR: Yeah. He was the nicest guy who I met in the San Jose locker room. I was really surprised. When I got to San Jose two years ago, I only knew him from the highlights.
But he was a really normal guy. You can talk with him about everything, and he’d help you.
But like I said, in hockey, in a game, he was a game-changer. He always scored the goal that would [energize] the players on the team.
SP: You mentioned that you wanted more of a chance. But you didn’t get it under Bob Boughner, why not? I don’t think you played an NHL game with him as head coach.
LR: I didn’t. It’s a tough question.
I think America is a little bit different than Europe in this. In America, you get one chance. And if you make it, you make it, and everybody likes you. And if you don’t make it, you’re done.
Maybe it’s fair. In Europe, it’s more, it’s not the right word, but it’s friendlier. Your system [in America], it’s not about sport, everything is about the competition. If you are the best, you are the best. It’s a good system because people are a little bit under pressure.
I don’t understand why I didn’t get a chance. But I can explain it like this, and a couple of people told me, especially in the NHL, you get one chance, and you have to make it.
SP: There’s probably even more pressure as an older player?
LR: Yeah, I think so. I definitely was on the bubble of the team. I think San Jose wanted to give a chance to the younger people.
SP: Yeah, they brought up Roy Sommer, the AHL coach, and Mike Ricci, the development coach, to be assistant coaches. That makes sense.
LR: Definitely. When Peter DeBoer left, my game wasn’t good enough for them.
SP: After Pete left, your style wasn’t their style?
LR: Yeah, yeah.
SP: Because your game is a lot of cycling down low. There was less of a priority on doing that and getting the puck back to the point to Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns.
LR: Definitely, definitely. But yeah, when you look at my statistics, I had zero points. I have no excuse for this.
SP: Well, let’s talk about the good things. What was your favorite moment in San Jose?
LR: The end of 2019 was a really good time for me. I played on the second line with Logan Couture and Timo Meier. I scored a couple goals. Everything was really simple.
I really enjoyed not [this] season, but the season before. I can’t say any bad things about that season, except maybe for the end of the season. I stopped playing a little bit.
But then Game Seven in Vegas, that was awesome. I’ll never play a game like it again.
It was the biggest game for me, though I played only like three minutes. (laughs)
But like I tell people, my friends, I had the best seat in the arena. I’m really happy that I could be on the bench and see everything.
SP: What was it like on the bench?
LR: It was like 10 minutes left in the game. (laughs) I’m thinking about what’s gonna happen after the game, when I fly home, what I’m gonna do over the summer, how I have to prepare for next year…then everything changed. It was amazing how many goals we scored on the power play.
There was some energy that probably no one can describe. But there was.
I thought after we scored [the fourth goal], we definitely were going to the next round. But when Vegas scored to tie it, that was like a cold shower for us. We thought that we were going to win, this would be the biggest win in San Jose playoff history.
Then in overtime, there were a lot of chances. Vegas could’ve won.
It was definitely the best game that I played in, if I could say I played, because I played only three minutes. (laughs)
SP: Who was your favorite teammate besides your Czech teammates? No cheating!
LR: You’ll probably smile at this. Because we had a fight at the end of the season. But I really like Aaron Dell.
We had a lot of good times in the locker room. He’s a really nice guy.
The way he described our fight, it was like brothers, 99 percent of the time, we like each other. But there’s that one percent. (laughs)
But I really liked him. He’s a really good time, he’s so funny. I liked Aaron Dell.
SP: Since you mentioned it, what happened in St. Louis in the morning of Game Six?
LR: We made a lot of fun of it. Just a couple minutes after that, we were laughing.
We forgot there were camera crews there. (laughs)
We were just playing shootout. I probably made some move that he didn’t like and he cross-checked me in revenge.
SP: Thank you so much for your time, Lukas. Any more thoughts about your time in San Jose?
LR: I have bad memories and good memories. But those were two years for me where a lot of dreams came true. It was one of the best times of my hockey career, in my life.