PRAGUE — Always smiling, always as friendly as can be, the sense you get with Tomáš Hertl is he never has a bad day. “He’s always happy,” former San Jose Sharks teammate William Eklund said. But Hertl wasn’t happy after last season came to an end.
It took him a while to get over it. Not just the resting the body part. The resting the mind part.
Advertisement Hertl is a proud hockey player who had performed at a high level for 11 years in San Jose. But after debuting late last season for the Vegas Golden Knights and registering four points in six regular-season games, Hertl just couldn’t rediscover that powerful, down-low game during a one-goal, 14-shot playoffs that ended with the Golden Knights suffering a first-round exit to the Dallas Stars . “I wasn’t good at all,” Hertl said at last month’s NHL media tour in his home country of Czechia.
Hertl understands why, as hard as it is for him to accept. He was coming off knee surgery, then suddenly had to get acclimated to a new team for the first time in his career: many, many new linemates, including nine different line combinations with 11 different players, and new systems. These guys may be pros, but they’re not robots, and change is hard.
As Eklund said, Hertl “ was San Jose.” “I know I can be better, and I will,” said Hertl, who was outscored 5-0 in 111 minutes at even strength while on the ice in the playoffs. GO DEEPER Golden Knights optimistic for future with Tomáš Hertl after disap.