Avalanche's Versatile Addition of Lukas Sedlak

Just six years ago, Czech forward Lukas Sedlak and current Head Coach of the Colorado Avalanche Jared Bednar became 2016 Calder Cup Champions with the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets the Lake Erie Monsters. Now as the upcoming 2022-23 regular season rapidly approaches, Sedlak and Bednar have reunited, this time in Denver for the Avalanche's training camp.

"It was amazing," Sedlak recalled of winning the Calder Cup. "I always remember him as a great coach and a great person, he was always talking to us and is a really nice guy."
Following that Calder-Cup winning season - where Sedlak, Bednar and the Lake Erie Monsters swept the series 4-0 - Sedlak made the jump to the NHL where he joined the Blue Jackets playing in a gritty, forechecking role. During his rookie season, the 6-foot, 205-pound left shot centerman produced 13 points (7G, 6A) and a 52.37 FOW% in 62 games rookie season, which remained his career best. Sedlak remained with Columbus from 2016-19 where he totaled 27 points (15G, 12A) in 162 NHL games and averaged a FOW% of 51.7% and exhibited a defensively reliable role.

In 2019, Sedlak returned to Europe where played in the KHL with Traktor Chelyabinsk and flexed the offensive side of his game and his versatility. He occupied a top-six role, honed a knack for being a net-front presence - where he noted he picked up a lot of "greasy goals" - and registered a total of 121 points (57G, 64A) from 2019-22.
He also represented Team Czechia internationally and at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, placing ninth.
"It was completely different hockey [in the KHL]," Sedlak said. "For me, I was fourth line in Columbus for three years. I was playing defense a lot, taking a lot of d-zone faceoffs. Then, I came to Russia and all of a sudden I had to be the point guy. It was different hockey. I played the power play there. It was a good experience and I think I gained some confidence there that I can put up some points too. Hopefully, I will use that [here]."
Sedlak's radiating confidence and uptick in offense took others by notice, including Bednar, who following winning the Calder Cup in 2016 received his first NHL job that late summer - which he still occupies - with Colorado.
"I watched a lot of his KHL tape before we signed him, as did our management," Bednar said. "We had scouts watching him live too, a lot of our European guys. I was looking just for what's changed. He's a really trusted, reliable, strong defender. At the American League level, he had a scoring touch. At the NHL level, he had less opportunity and was really relied on as a penalty killer and a checker. In the KHL, he was a top-line center, [played on the] power play, was a netfront guy, had a real nice scoring touch and was still a trusted reliable guy."
Thirteen days prior to the Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup, - and following a conference call that Bednar, Colorado's management and Sedlak all joined prior to finalizing the eventual contract - the organization inked Sedlak to a one-year deal for the upcoming 2022-23 campaign.
And with the offseasons departures of steady forwards - who implemented relentless forechecking, were reliable penalty killers and had a knack for collecting gritty goals - like Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Nico Sturm and even heading into the training camp with veteran forwards Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin and Darren Helm tending to their respective lower-body injuries, there's ample opportunity for Sedlak to make a convincing case for himself within Colorado's lineup.

"He's going to fall someplace in between [a top-six and bottom-six forward role] there for us," Bednar said. "I think he's a guy that will play in our bottom six and will be able to add a little bit of offense with the group that we have."
Through the first two weeks of training camp, Sedlak has impressed the likes of his teammates, including veteran forward Andrew Coglaino, who spent some time skating on a line with him. Cogliano pointed out the physical similarities between Sedlak and former Avalanche winger Aube-Kubel in everything from their appearance, stature and on-ice play.
"He certainly looks like him," Cogliano said with a laugh. "He's heavier, he skates well, he's a similar-type player. He's a really good guy and we need that depth. We need guys that know how to play in that bottom-six and know how to play that role well.
"He's going to be good for us," Cogliano continued. "He's a guy who will fit into our bottom-six. He's a player that will know his role, like a lot of the guys in the bottom six do. He's a guy that will skate well, he brings skill, he has experience playing in the NHL before, he played in Columbus. He'll be a guy that will give us some good depth and we need that."
For Sedlak, there's been an adjustment period full of complexities more than just joining a new team. After spending the last three years becoming accustomed to skating on an Olympic-size sheet, he's had to adjust to the smaller ice of North-American hockey and the turbo speed of the NHL. On top of that, the 29-year-old has still been getting acclimated to the altitude, where Denver sits at an elevation of 5,280 feet, or a mile above sea level.
"I'm still coughing my lungs up," Sedlak said with a smile. "It's terrible. I've been here for what now over two weeks and my lungs are still on fire. It feels like I can't breathe. I'm not getting any oxygen, it's insane.
"For the guys who weren't here [last season], it's a little different adjusting to a new team," Sedlak said. "For me, I'm also coming from the big ice. It's different hockey. We would always take the puck and we would go back and circle again if you had nothing [open]. Here, you just go forward all of the time. There's no time or space. So, you have to always be watching and ready to go."

And while Sedlak - who is from the Ceské Budejovice - is still getting to know some new faces among the Avalanche, he's benefitted from having fellow countrymen in goaltender Pavel Francouz, who hails from Plzen, and Martin Kaut, who is from Brno around him to speak in his native tongue with. In addition to Czech and English, Sedlak picked up some Russian having spent three years there, also learned a bit of French from when he played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey (QMJHL) with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens from 2011-13 and some German as the eastern neighboring country to the Czech Republic and the language that his mom teaches in schools (though Sedlak noted his German is not nearly as complete as his knowledge in the other languages).
"Always when you have your countryman somewhere it's nice," Sedlak said. "My first eight years in North America I didn't have any Czech guys on my team. I had one Slovak guy for a little bit, but he was with me only for a couple of months. So it's a nice change to have your Czech guys. You can speak your language, it's different culturally. We have a different sense of humor too. It's nice to have a familiar face in the locker room."
After surviving the first two rounds of training camp roster cuts and with two preseason games remaining - a home-and-home set with Dallas next week - Sedlak is looking to make the most of the opportunity to try and certify a spot among Colorado's Opening Night roster as the team embarks on the upcoming season and chance to defend its Stanley Cup.
"It's obviously good to be with the top guys," Sedlak said. "I'm trying to learn stuff even at my age, just watching guys like [Nathan MacKinnon] and [Cale Makar], they're incredible. I try to watch them and hopefully, I will learn something new and try and fit in with a spot here."