Longtime friends having fun together as Blue Jackets prospects

Martin Rysavy was on vacation this July when the NHL draft began in Montreal, but he still had a vested interest in how it was going.
One of the Blue Jackets prospect's friends, fellow Czech standout David Jiricek, was in his draft year and figured to be an early pick, so Rysavy wanted to see how it would go for him.

"We were watching TV and I was like, 'Yeah, I'll check the draft because it's starting right now,'" Rysavy said. "It was like 10 minutes later and yeah, David is drafted already. I texted him, 'Congratulations, buddy! We'll see each other in Columbus.' It was crazy."
The draft pick of Jiricek this summer at No. 6 overall by the Blue Jackets continued a bit of a trend by Columbus in past seasons. One year after taking Rysavy and fellow Czech prospect Stanislav Svozil in the 2021 draft, the Blue Jackets added Jiricek this summer then invited goaltender Pavel Cajan to the team's summer development camp.
Now that Cajan has signed with the AHL's Cleveland Monsters, all four Czech prospects -- friends who all played with the Czechia team at the IIHF World Junior Championship this summer -- are together in Traverse City for the annual NHL Prospect Tournament. Each will then report back to Columbus for the start of the team's training camp, sharing the experience with one another thousands of miles from home.
"It's fun, you know, being from this small country in the middle of Europe and four guys are here," Jiricek said. "That's kind of fun. I like that. We just hang out and get some dinners and lunches on High Street, so that's a lot of fun. Stan, all of these guys were here last year, so that's great for me. If I have any questions about anything, I can ask them. That's great for me."
The four players have traded the red and blue of their national team jerseys for the same colors in Columbus, and it's fair to say they're having a good time with one another, from pregame soccer to friendly dinners on a nightly basis.
All know one another from their time on the Czech junior national teams, but Svozil and Rysavy go back even further. The two each hail from Prerov, a city of about 41,000 people in the Olomouc region in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, and have played hockey and gone to school with one another since they were kids. Both grew up playing for HC Zubr Prerov before going their separate ways as they moved up the ranks in their native country.
Still, they remained friends, and Svozil had two years under his belt with HC Kometa Brno in the top Czech league when the Blue Jackets made the defenseman a third-round pick in the 2021 draft. Rysavy, who played for HC Vitkovice, remained on the board until the seventh round when he got a phone call from his longtime friend.
"I opened up the phone and Stan was like, 'Hey, Martin, we are teammates,'" Rysavy said. "I was like, 'What are you talking about?' He said, 'Yeah, the Blue Jackets drafted you.' Rick Nash called me like five seconds after that and was like, 'Martin, welcome to the Blue Jackets.'
"We've known each other since we were 4. When you get drafted to play with the same team, to play with the Blue Jackets, it's amazing."
The two first met Jiricek, from Klatovy in the western part of the country, as teammates at the famed Quebec international peewee tournament in 2016, then became closer over the years during their time with the junior national teams, so they were curious to see where the big defenseman who was billed as one of the top players in the draft would fall this summer.
Jiricek was projected as a top-five pick by many, but when Philadelphia chose center Cutter Gauthier at No. 5, Columbus wasted little time taking him with the sixth overall pick.
"If he were drafted to Philadelphia or Chicago or anywhere else, I would be proud of him, but I'm happy because he is on my team," Svozil said. "That's funny because here we have Pavel Cajan, Martin Rysavy, David Jiricek and me, so we have four Czech players, so that's fun."
One day they all may make it to the NHL together, as well. In the meantime, they're able to make memories as friends that will last for many years to come.
"Now we are just enjoying the stage here and trying to do our best and be better players," Rysavy said. "I think it's great to have close friends here because you're not alone at any time."