‘Trying not to get discouraged’: Oilers’ Tomasek navigating limited opportunity

BOSTON — What’s further away?

David Tomasek’s homeland in the Czech Republic? Farjestads BK, with whom he led the Swedish Hockey League in scoring last year as their first-line centreman?

Or, for Tomasek, success in the National Hockey League?

There, as fellow Czech Petr Klima once famously told an Edmonton reporter, Tomasek has found himself needing an awfully long stick to score from the press box.

“I’m trying to control what I can. These are the clichés, but they’re the only ones that work,” the winger said between periods of Tuesday’s win at Pittsburgh, leaning up against a press box wall and trying to put into words a journey that has somewhat stalled of late. “I’m trying to do what the coaches want … trying not to get discouraged.

“But it is hard, for sure. Nobody wants (this).”

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Tomasek and his wife trekked over to North America after proving his worth in European hockey. He has led the SHL in goals, in points, and for a 29-year-old, all that was left in his craft was to conquer the National Hockey League.

“I can probably always get a job in Europe. I will always have a league to come (back) to, teams to come to,” he said. “I didn’t want to regret not giving (the NHL) a try, because I know that even if somebody told me how these things are going, I would still take that over the feeling that I never tried.”

Tomasek found some opportunity in the Oilers lineup at the start of the season, but as an older player making the transition to the North American game — and rink size — that time was spent figuring everything out. Finding his legs over here.

Then GM Stan Bowman signed Jack Roslovic, “and he did hit the ground running. Right away,” said Bowman, who didn’t know he’d be signing Roslovic when he brought Tomasek aboard over the summer. “Once Jack was able to succeed quickly, it kind of took (Tomasek’s) opportunity away. And then Zach (Hyman) came back… It’s hard.”

Today, Bowman has a top-nine player who can only find work plugging away on the fourth line. A creative, offensive producer with a coach who isn’t playing him in a creative, offensive role.

So, where is this opportunity going to come from?

“It’s tough to thread that needle, right?” agreed Bowman. “Sometimes what happens with players like this is you get an injury or two, and then the coaches have no choice but to just throw him out there for a while. But we don’t have a game plan, per se, on how we’re going to make it work.”

Bowman doesn’t feel great about this. You can tell when talking to him.

He signed a thoroughbred, and now he’s hooked Tomasek up to a plow. Nobody planned for it to work out this way, but here we are.

To his credit, Tomasek had every opportunity to complain about his lot, and he did not. For now, at least, he’s hanging in there and waiting for his break.

“I’ve played a lot of games. Ten-plus years pro. So I learned that things change quickly,” he said. “It’s really hard to plan and have goals. You’re just trying to be — and it is, again, a cliché — the best version of yourself each day.

“Honestly, you never know. You never know what can happen. That’s what I learned over the career.”

He has spent time on Czechia’s national team, and it is unknown if this so-far-wasted season will cost him a spot on their Olympic roster.

“One good thing is, they know me quite well, so that’s helping,” he said, hopefully. “What’s not helping is being in and out (of the lineup). But I made the NHL, and I have 20-some games against the best players on the small ice. That’s something guys in Europe can’t say.”

Tomasek has been healthy scratched in five of the past nine games, while players like Andrew Mangiapane (a team worst minus-16) and Trent Frederic (two goals and three points compared to Tomasek’s 2-3-5) are cemented in the lineup — because they have NHL resumes while Tomasek does not.

When he does play, Tomasek averages 10:46 on the fourth line. That was a good period in Sweden for him.

“When you’re used to playing those big minutes (in Europe), you can get your game going easier. But when you’re getting a couple shifts a period, it’s hard,” admits Bowman. “Obviously we don’t have the answer on how that’s going to shake out right now, other than we’ll just kind of wait and see.”

What is Tomasek thinking at this point?

“I don’t have a plan.”

For starters, maybe a longer stick…