Will the SCB get the man with the miracle shot?

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With 23 goals and 53 points, Chris DiDomenico (34) was by far SCB’s top scorer and goalscorer and the number 3 in the league. Because the Canadian enfant terrible was not comfortable in Bern and was getting on everyone’s nerves, his contract was terminated prematurely after one year at the end of the season.

SCB sports director Andrew Ebbett is now looking for new foreigners. He has already signed Finnish attacking defender Julius Honka (27), who has scored 12 goals this season with Lulea in Sweden.

And who should replace DiDomenico’s goals in the storm? According to information from Blick, it is a Czech who visited the SCB: Martin Frk.

The 29-year-old has spent most of the past few years filling the nets in the AHL. This season, he scored 30 goals and had 64 points in 62 games for the St. Louis Blues farm team, the Springfield Thunderbirds. In 2021/22, Ontario Reign even scored 40 goals and 73 points.

Violent shot at 175.7 km/h

The right-hand shooter, who began his career in North America at the age of 17, was never able to establish himself permanently in the NHL. He only played 124 games (20 goals, 24 assists) with the Detroit Red Wings, Carolina Hurricanes and Los Angeles Kings and never got a very big contract. In the AHL, he earned half a million dollars this season.

The greatest strength of the 1.83 m long and 95 kg heavy wing: its shot. At the AHL Allstar Classic 2020, he slammed the puck into the goal at 175.7 km/h. And even surpassed the NHL record for hardest shot by Slovak Zdeno Chara (169.5 km/h).

Harder shots were only measured in Russia: Denis Kulyasch reached 177.5 km/h in 2011 and Alexander Ryazantsev even reached 183.67 km/h a year later. In the KHL, however, shooting is much closer and the two former defenders are no longer active.

In an article for Daily Faceoff, former NHL and AHL goaltender Mike McKenna wrote, “I often get asked who has the hardest shot. Fun question. I played against Shea Weber. Zdeno Chara. Alexander Ovetsjkin. All the usual suspects. But since 2017 my answer is Martin Frk.”

Even taking into account McKenna’s self-confidence following the tiebreaker goal against Syracuse in the 2017 AHL Playoff Final against Frk and Grand Rapids, it’s unlikely there will be a shooter of the Czech’s quality in the National League right now.

When you see a player who has a prodigious shot and scores goals all the time in the AHL, you wonder why he hasn’t consistently made it into the NHL. It’s probably mostly due to the fact that he can’t keep up with the best in terms of running yet isn’t good enough to secure a top 6 place in the best league in the world and isn’t reliable enough defensively for a different role. .

Source : Blick