Jakub Kovář getting healthy again

Jakub Kovář hopes to have gotten over his injuries and is getting ready to prepare for a new season with České Budějovice, sharing goaltending duties with NHL veteran Roman Turek, 40.

"It's been five weeks since the [knee] surgery now and I'm finally getting into full practice soon", Kovář says.

This season Kovář tried to play through a ruptured joint and meniscus in his knee, but finally the team management put an end to his desperate battle.

"I hurt my knee at the end of last season. They took an MRI of it, but I started the season anyway. The doctors found something in my knee, but they decided not to operate it. I wanted to avoid the operation and go into the season and see how it would hold up. Then eventually, the team management decided that it would be better for me to undergo surgery."

"It was a simple surgery, but I still have to be careful. I shouldn't hurry my training because I don't want any setbacks."

"The doctor told me it's a birth defect. So I must be very careful."

"I had a similar surgery last year. But it looks like something in the knee reopened this season and they had to sew it together again. Maybe that was the last setback and now everything is sorted out."

"Right now I'm trying to put some weight on the knee and make straight moves, but nothing complicated. So I ride the bike and don't put too much weight on the knee. I'm also starting to run carefully, not fast. As I said, I have to go slowly and carefully, but by July 19 when we go on the ice I should be 100%."

"It's too bad I have to skip some team exercises and have to train by myself a lot. But I still work a lot with Ed [Roman Turek's nickname], we prepare together. Ed has his own training plan and I can't do everything the team does because of my knee, so sometimes we hold our own training together with him."

Kovář expects to get a fair shot at challenging Turek in goal next season.

"I don't know yet how much we're going to play. Neither do the coaches. Starting from July 19 we go on the ice and play a lot of preseason games and those games will show us. Then the coaches will decide by our performances."