Every player’s first professional season comes with many milestones: first professional game, first professional point, first professional goal. For Jakub Brabenec, several of those arrived in quick succession.

Brabenec notched his first point – an assist on the Silver Knights’ game-winning goal – in his professional debut against the Iowa Wild. He added his first professional goal in Henderson’s home opener against the San Jose Barracuda. 

With a year of AHL hockey under his belt, Brabenec looks to build off of those debut milestones and become a consistent force for the HSK every game.

“I would say I’m going to be more confident than last year,” he said after the first day of Silver Knights training camp. “I’m focused on my d-zone play and I know that if I’m going to be good in the d-zone, everything else will come. I would say I’m a good two-way forward, but I can be better. I need to be the best on faceoffs, so I’m trying to make every improvement I can.” 

The Silver Knights took the ice for the first time yesterday, but Head Coach Ryan Craig noted that for most of the team’s skaters, the 2024-25 season has already been underway for several weeks. Brabenec participated in the Golden Knights’ rookie tournament, recording three points (2G, 1A) in three games alongside the organization’s other NHL prospects. He then joined VGK’s main training camp, earning an assist in their preseason game against the San Jose Sharks.

“It’s huge to be with all the players,” Brabenec said. “Seeing all the guys and seeing how they’re getting ready for everything, for practices or for games. You want to be like them. You want to play in the NHL, so you try to do everything that they do, because they do.” 

Learning from Vegas’s elite talent has been a constant for Brabenec this offseason. Throughout the summer, he’s worked closely with Golden Knights forward Tomáš Hertl in their home country, the Czech Republic. 

“It was a good summer for me, especially because I’ve been working with Hertl,” he added. “I’ve been back in the Czech Republic, but I haven’t been in my hometown. I’ve been in Prague. It was going to be better to be there with the NHL guys than stay in my hometown and not have that opportunity. Every day you just go in the gym and see all the guys you watched growing up, and now you’re training with them. I’m really grateful for it, but now I’m just excited for next season.”

“He gave me advice, for sure, but he doesn’t even have to say anything. He would do a drill first and then I would follow him, and I’m just always trying to do what he did. So sometimes he didn’t even have to tell me anything.” 

Another perk of working alongside Hertl in Prague? Getting to be a part of the nation-wide celebrations when Czechia lifted the IIHF’s World Championship trophy. Little motivates hockey players like winning, and Brabenec is no exception.

“It was amazing. The whole Czech Republic was just living with hockey after they won Worlds,” he said. “Everybody was celebrating for like fourteen days straight, I’ve never seen that in my life. It was something amazing and something special for our country, for sure. I would say that we’ve been getting better and better internationally for the past three years, so it was good to get the trophy. For our country, it was really, really special. And for me, getting to see them win was really crazy. It makes you want to be even stronger, even better.” 

‘Better’ is a broad term. There’s always a multitude of things that go into improving on a new season. But for Brabenec, it starts with the mental approach to the year, advice he also wants to emphasize for players stepping into their first pro seasons. 

“I would say just be positive and work hard,” he said. “If you’re going to work hard, then you’ll have a smile on your face every day and you’re going to feel really good about your year. That’s always what I want to do. Keep smiling and keep working hard.”

If the milestones of last season are any indication, that hard work will continue paying off.