Michael Hrabal was considered to be the consensus top goaltender available in the 2023 NHL Draft, and for many, that status was cemented by two performances that bookended his season against the powerhouse United States U18 national team.
The first came with the Omaha Lancers in Pittsburgh in September when he stopped 44-of-47 shots in a 3-2 loss in overtime, and the second came at the U18 world championships with the Czech national team when Hrabal stopped 44-of-48 shots in a 4-1 loss.
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But in between, there was a lot of learning. There were difficult times in Omaha, living on his own for the first time at age 17, far from home and his mother’s cooking, and learning to adjust to the North American game playing for a coach, David Wilkie, who can be hard on his goaltenders. And while it can be tempting to look at the highlights of Hrabal’s season to identify his value as an NHL prospect, sometimes it is more revealing to look at the lowlights.
On Thursday, the Arizona Coyotes made Hrabal the 38th pick in the draft and the second goalie off the board.
This is the story of a goalie a quarter inch shy of 6-foot-7, agile, athletic, with potential through the roof and the ability to perform on the big stage. But it is also the story of a midseason game on New Year’s Eve in Sioux City, Iowa, where that goalie was not at his best and found a way to persevere, make the saves he had to make, and gave his team a chance to win.
When you first meet Hrabal (pronounced h-rah-bahl), he does not come off as a typical hockey player, which is common for goalies, but he doesn’t even come off as a typical goalie. He is mild-mannered, polite, he wears glasses, and he towers over you. His impeccable command of the English language comes from an upbringing where education was prioritized, so he attended English school in Prague from first grade. He is heading to UMass in the fall and hopes to complete his degree because of that background.
“I think it’s really important,” Hrabal said. “You never know when you get injured. So that’s how I see college, why college is very good for me, playing a great level of hockey and also getting an education. So I’m excited to go there. I would definitely love to finish and graduate there. But we will see what happens.”
This was a plan he hatched with his parents, going to college in the United States and using hockey to make it happen. This is why he left Czechia at 17 to live on his own in Omaha and play for the Lancers, because in order to attend college he would have to maintain his amateur status, and the junior league back home was not good enough for him. In order to play at a high enough level of competition in Czechia, Hrabal would have had to turn pro. But the college dream was too important.
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“I think the biggest difference was that I had to be more independent,” Hrabal said. “I didn’t see my family for a whole seven months that I was in the U.S., so that was kind of the hardest thing. But I called them every day, so I don’t think I was homesick. About the culture, I think there’s not that huge difference between Czech Republic and the U.S. So I don’t think I had a problem just fitting into the new culture or finding friends.”
There was one problem, however.
“I learned that I’m a horrible cooker, so that’s something I really need to work on,” Hrabal said with a laugh. “I was very dependent on my mom, she was taking care of me a lot. So I think that’s something I really found that needs to change a little bit.”
Is there something you learned how to cook?
“No, nothing,” he said. “Microwave maybe.”
But his level of intelligence allowed him to navigate what was going to be a difficult season under Wilkie, who readily admits he was tough on Hrabal. But he did that because he knew Hrabal could handle it and felt it was necessary to get the most out of him.
“I think his intelligence level, his grasp of the English language, being able to coach him, you know, and it wasn’t all roses, there were times where we had to have some hard conversations,” Wilkie said. “But he took them well, he worked to get better, and I saw instant change. So he’s definitely an intelligent human being.”
This game in Sioux City on New Year’s Eve came under particular circumstances. The Lancers’ backup goalie was Kevin Pasche, who was at the World Junior Championships with Switzerland, so Hrabal did not have a safety net. There was an emergency goalie available in Sioux City that night, but the emergency goalie could only come into the game in the event of, well, an emergency.
Wilkie might have wanted to argue this was indeed an emergency, but it wasn’t. His goalie simply wasn’t feeling it that night.
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Hrabal allowed the first three shots he faced to get past him, digging a 3-0 hole for the Lancers less than two minutes into the game. Two of the three goals were not a good look for Hrabal. Under normal circumstances, Wilkie would have pulled him. But he couldn’t. So he did the next best thing.
He called a timeout and laced into his star goaltender.
“I challenged him hard,” Wilkie said. “He didn’t like it.”
Immediately following that timeout there was a long stretch without a whistle. Hrabal was coming off that experience at the bench, his confidence wasn’t exactly peaking, but he was very much aware of how important not allowing the next goal would be.
Because his coach made that crystal clear to him.
Under those circumstances, this is one hell of a save.
“Everyone knows this is not the easiest coach to play for,” Hrabal said. “Very tough coach, but I think he helped me a lot. I realized a lot of things about myself and overall about the game. So I think it just made me stronger and ready for the future.”
Hrabal’s favorite goalie growing up was Henrik Lundqvist, a Swede. But there was a local connection to his admiration.
“When I played NHL ’07, when I was like 10 years old, he played for the Rangers, and on that team, there was like five Czech players,” Hrabal said. “So, since then he was the goalie that I always liked and enjoyed watching.”
In fact, the 06-07 Rangers had six Czech players in their top nine scorers, led by Jaromír Jágr but also including Martin Straka, Petr Průcha, Michal Rozsíval, Karel Rachůnek and Marek Malik.
It is appropriate that Lundqvist was Hrabal’s idol because Lundqvist was a goalie who relied on his athleticism, playing deep in his crease and using his instincts and fast-twitch reactions to shooters to keep pucks out of the net. With his height, it could be tempting for Hrabal to simply rely on that to block pucks, as opposed to actively stopping them. But that is not something he wants to be known for. He can move around his crease, he can go post-to-post, and he wants to bank on that mobility and explosiveness more than his size.
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“It’s kind of old, like 10 years ago something that was popular. Now goalies, they need to have active hands,” he said. “The shooters are getting better, so the goalies also have to change. So I think even me, I am a goalie that goes sometimes into block, and that’s something I’m really trying to stop doing. And I think having more active hands, having them more looser and being able to grab pucks that go to the pads or just to the top of the net will just help my game…I think it is one of my strengths, that for my size, I’m a quick, athletic goalie, so I don’t think I have a problem with these lateral plays. There’s obviously space to work on it, to just get faster and more explosive, be always right on the puck.”
Less than a minute after Hrabal made that save on the one-timer following Wilkie’s timeout, the Lancers scored to make it a 3-1 game. A little over two minutes later, they made it 3-2 before the first period was halfway done. And with 5:34 left in the first, Omaha tied the game.
About 30 seconds later, Hrabal was faced with this situation at a crucial time in the game. He kept the game tied.
And with less than two minutes left in the first period, the Lancers committed this awful turnover. They still entered the first intermission tied.
The Lancers took the lead 19 seconds into the second period. Hrabal didn’t give up another goal until the Lancers had made it 5-3, and they wound up winning the game 7-5.
To Wilkie, this game was a turning point for Hrabal, because when he arrived in Omaha he had not experienced situations like this where his own ability could come into doubt. But here he was, finding his game just in time to give his teammates an opportunity to find theirs.
“I just think he took a step in terms of understanding that he could rebound in-game and recover his game and take steps to give the team a chance to win. And he did that,” Wilkie said. “He didn’t have his best stuff that night, but he found a way to keep enough pucks out of the net to give us a chance to win. I just think it was all part of the process. Maybe it’s not just that aha moment, but I think that was definitely a big leap in the right direction for him, because he started to play much better after that.”
One game on New Year’s Eve does not make a goaltender a star. But it is a revealing window into Hrabal’s competitiveness, his resolve, and his ability to respond to a challenge.
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And really, his entire season was a challenge much like this one. He had moved away from home at 17. He had a mob of NHL scouts and goaltending consultants attending every practice, every game, talking to him every day, and he managed that as well. He continued getting better as the season went along, despite some dips in his play and constant challenges from his coach.
“It was just to make him better and to make him mentally tougher and help him learn to become a pro and be an everyday guy that’s relied upon,” Wilkie said. “And that learning curve had to be quicker. It had to be much quicker for him. Sometimes you get a year or two or three with a guy. Mike obviously got one year to cram a lot in.
“We had to cram high school in, which should be four years, into one year, basically.”
And Hrabal appreciates it now, even if he might not have appreciated the tough love in the moment.
“I learned a lot during the season,” he said. “I went through some ups and downs, so I think I really grew mentally, just being more ready into games, having that positive dialogue. So I think that’s something that is really important, just knowing I’m a great goalie and just be focused on the next shot that I will save.”
Wilkie coached New Jersey Devils goalie Akira Schmid in 2018-19. He’s had other high-end goalies with NHL potential. He considers himself to have a keen eye for goalies.
When asked what the ceiling is for Hrabal, he does not hesitate to say he sees NHL No. 1 goaltender potential.
“I think he is very comparable to Akira Schmid, and we all saw what he did for the Devils in the playoffs, but (Hrabal is) bigger and probably better with his hands,” Wilkie said. “And that’s taking nothing away from Akira because he’s playing in the NHL now and he’s a great goaltender. But I think his projection and upside is as an NHL number one.
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“And you don’t see that every day.”
(Photo: Arpon Basu/The Athletic)
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