Gudas sees familiar faces in Flyers' locker room

LESS THAN a minute into Radko Gudas' first in-person media session, Jake Voracek interrupted Gudas in the middle of a sentence and placed the defenseman's new No. 3 Flyers jersey across Gudas' chest.

"It's good to have another 'Czecho' here," Voracek said as he walked away, after yesterday's practice.

And the consensus among the players in the Flyers' locker room is that it's good to have Gudas on your team, and not the other way around.

The bruising, 6-foot, 204-pound blue-liner was shipped to the Flyers from Tampa Bay, along with a conditional first-round pick and a third-round pick, in exchange for Braydon Coburn at Monday's trade deadline.

Gudas, 24, is known around the league for being a powerful open-ice hitter, an aspect to the Flyers' backline that has been missing at times this season.

But that's not all he brings to the table. There is a level of familiarity among two specific Flyers when it comes to Gudas.

Vinny Lecavalier spent the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons with him in Tampa Bay.

"Obviously, he'll bring a physical game, but he can play with the puck, he's got a lot of good skills, he's a defenseman that has the full package," Lecavalier said.

Voracek, a fellow native of the Czech Republic, played 3 years with Gudas back home - 2 years at the AAA level and 1 year of juniors in Kladno.

Gudas, who arrived in Philadelphia before Tuesday's game against Calgary, is staying with Voracek for the time being. He'll head back down to Tampa soon to be with his girlfriend, who is due in 2 weeks with the birth of the couple's first child, a daughter.

"He's a great guy and a good player," Voracek said. "He hits really hard, works really hard and is really hard to play against. It was a good pickup, I'm excited for him to get on the ice."

That, unfortunately, won't happen anytime soon. Gudas is still recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. He was on crutches for 6 weeks following the Jan. 6 surgery and hasn't yet begun skating.

There is no timetable for his return to the ice.

"Personally, I wanted to try to skate before the end of the regular season," Gudas said. "That's just my personal goal, but I'm not sure how it's going to go."

Gudas was introduced to the game by his father, Leo Gudas, who played professionally in Europe in the Czech Republic, Germany, Finland and Sweden - all languages that the younger Gudas speaks in addition to English. Leo was drafted by the Calgary Flames 251st overall in the 1990 draft, but never played in the league.

Radko drew inspiration from his father but also watched the NHL.

"Growing up, I watched my dad play every home game when he was playing in Europe," Gudas said. "And then watching the NHL, I liked Scott Stevens. Those were my two biggest players."

He'll soon learn that Stevens isn't a popular name in this town, but Gudas will look to become a popular name among the Flyers' future core of young defensemen.

General manager Ron Hextall has made it clear that getting younger is on the agenda. Gudas joins the likes of Shayne Gostisbehere, Sam Morin, Travis Sanheim and Robert Hagg as defensive players under 25 who could be difference makers at the NHL level.

"It's always exciting to start to build something new and [be] one of the first pieces," Gudas said. "It's always fun, a new start, and I'm really happy with what [Hextall] is doing with the team."

With only 18 games remaining, every one holds strong importance. Tuesday night's overtime loss to the Flames cost the Flyers a much-needed point. They're five points back of the Bruins for the last playoff spot and three points behind the Florida Panthers, who are the first team on the outside looking in. Boston has two games in hand over both teams.

Tonight, the St. Louis Blues are in town to start a stretch of seven games in 11 days for the Flyers. Craig Berube knows his club can't afford a letdown before Saturday's crucial game at Boston.

"It'll be a tough game," Berube said of tonight. "I go back to last year and the two games we played them we rose to the challenge, we matched them physically. They were tight-checking games, I don't expect anything different."

With the anticipation of a physical battle against the Western Conference's third-best team, Zac Rinaldo might get back in the lineup on the fourth line, replacing Vinny Lecavalier. Rinaldo skated some with the fourth line in yesterday's practice.

Lecavalier has played in the Flyers' last two games, but got only one, 16-second shift in the third period Tuesday night.

"I'm not sure on the lineup yet," Berube said. "I'm leaning towards that kind of [physical] game, obviously. Zac can add that element and bang bodies and we'll need that for sure."