Position: Centre
Height: 6'1
Weight: 195lbs
Birthdate: May.23, 1981
Hometown: Olamavc, Czech
Last year's team: Calgary Hitmen
NHL Status: New York Rangers, 1999. 1st Round, Fourth Overall
WHL Achievments: WHL East Second All-Star Team (2000)
Canadian Major Junior Rookie of the Year (1999)
WHL East First All-Star Team (1999)
Canadian Major Junior First All-Star Team (1999)
Memorial Cup All-Star Team (1999)
Great finisher, has an accurate shot, excellent anticipation and instincts, good passing, and great stickhandling. He is a pure goal scorer so by that nature, defence is not his main concern. His acceleration could do with a little work and he could improve his intensity, his defensive play is not that bad and should not affect his NHL play.
If the Lightning had kept the No. 1 pick in last summer's draft, it would have taken Pavel Brendl. Be thankful, at least for now, that GM Rick Dudley traded the pick to the New York Rangers.
In a word, Brendl was a dog during the Rangers' training camp. The Rangers were convinced Brendl, a 73-goal scorer in junior, would make the team this season. Wrong. Not even close.
* * *
Brendl started training camp ill, and his conditioning was abysmal. Reports out of New York said teammates actually pushed him around the ice during sprints because Brendl could not keep up otherwise. He appeared in four preseason games and did not score.
Perhaps the best thing that can be said about Brendl's camp is that he learned a lesson.
"(Next) summer, I (will) probably work much harder, and I wouldn't like to be sick again before the training camp next year," he said before being shipped back to his junior team in Calgary. "For the first week, week-and-a-half, I couldn't catch up. ... Probably, I'm not good enough, or I don't have experience yet to make the team. So I'm going to work on it, and maybe make the team next year."'
He also had a healthy hunk of humble pie.
"I was thinking I can make it, almost with no problems," Brendl said. "But it was a good lesson for me. I'm going to have to work much harder to stay next year."
Brandon Segal
