Sign up for the paNOW newsletter

Despite Twitter reports, Budik hasn’t officially signed with Raiders yet

Jul 29, 2015 | 8:20 AM

Prince Albert Raiders import draft pick Vojtech Budik may have jumped the gun on Twitter Monday afternoon.

“Next season I will play for @PARaidersHockey,” Budik tweeted, which was then retweeted by the Raiders’ official twitter account.

But despite the buzz already out there in the social media, Raiders general manager Curtis Hunt said that as of Tuesday afternoon, the deal is not 100 per cent finalized yet.

“I’ll put it this way, we’re still dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s,” said Hunt. “That’s what we’re doing from management.

“But we’re excited that that’s the way he feels.”

It looks like the partnership shall officially form soon. Budik is excited enough to tweet about playing for the Raiders, who have been actively recruiting Budik since they drafted him in the first round, 17th overall in the 2015 CHL Import Draft on June 30. 

From what the team has seen, they love Budik and want him to put on some Raiders green.

“We thought he was a top (pick) in our opinion, he comes in as a possible game breaker in terms of how he can play the game and how he can skate,” said Hunt. “When it comes to the draft, the mentality going in (between) Dale and myself was ‘we’re going to get the best player we can and we’re going to do what we need to do to recruit him.’

“If you’re not going to take that mentality, you might as well stay out of it. I wouldn’t want to bring a player across that I could find a North American player to do.”

Then, Raiders director of player personnel Dale Derkatch said that he was confident Budik would eventually sign, even though there were some evident obstacles. Derkatch noted the 17-year-old Czech defenceman didn’t have a full-time agent at the time and figured the team would need to have some discussions with him before he’d sign.

If or when the Raiders lock in Budik for next season, he’ll be the third straight Czech player drafted and signed from the CHL Import Draft. In 2014, the Raiders selected and signed Simon Stransky, who had 42 points in 70 games last year. In 2013, the Raiders drafted Tomas Andrlik, who played 109 games with the Raiders in the past two seasons before a deadline trade sent him to the Prince George Cougars.

The Raiders haven’t sent out a Raiders training camp schedule yet, but Hunt confirmed it would start on the 27.

Considering that Budik is a defenceman, having him in Raiders green would be advantageous for the club as they could possibly turn over four defencemen from last year’s roster. Sawyer Lange and Colton Heffley have both graduated from the WHL program, while Mackenze Stewart and Hunter Warner have both signed NHL contracts and will enter their overage season.

“(Signing Budik) just gives us some more options as we move forward and it really solidifies that backend, we feel,” said Hunt. “Where’s Warner going to be? Is he going to be a guy that comes back as an over ager or not?

“There are lots of questions to be answered moving forward, but certainly we feel we’re in a good position.”

jdandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea