Calgary Flames' Sam Honzek to play for Slovakia at world championship
It has been a challenging 2025 for Sam Honzek.
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This spring, though, he's going to have the chance to make it memorable for the right reasons.
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Miroslav Satan, the longtime NHLer who now serves as the president of the Slovak national team, announced that the 20-year-old winger will be joining his country's national team for the coming IIHF world hockey championship.
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Honzek spent the majority of the 2024-25 season with the Calgary Wranglers in the AHL, recording eight goals and adding 13 assists in his first season as a pro.
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He started the season with an eye-catching training camp that earned him a spot on the Calgary Flames roster, although he played only five NHL games.
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Injuries disrupted his season, though, first when he suffered a head injury while trying to make his mark in the NHL and then again when he fractured his ankle in February. He did return in March, though, but still only managed four goals in 2025.
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The Flames first-round pick at 16th overall in the 2023 NHL draft is still viewed as one of the higher-ceiling prospects in the organization's system and surely will want to be pushing for more NHL minutes at training camp this fall.
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Some time with the national team can't hurt. The injuries meant he didn't play as much hockey as he otherwise might have this season.
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The Flames will be well-represented at the world championship this year with MacKenzie Weegar suiting up for Canada, Rasmus Andersson and Mikael Backlund playing for Sweden, Dan Vladar joining the Czechia team and Matt Coronato on the American roster.
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