“When you play on the farm, you’re one phone call away from making your dream come true,” says Montreal coach Martin St. Louis in a documentary series about the rebuilding of Montreal.
Everyone wants to play in the NHL, nobody in the AHL. It can get to the point where the player jumps every time the phone rings to see if it’s “the phone call”.
Each player has a different set limit on how many disappointments they can endure and how long they will wait on the farm for the NHL. So far, 98 Slovaks have played in the best league in the world, but only 51 of them lasted at least one hundred matches in the competition.
Many others returned to Europe, some after years of hard work on the farm, others after only one season.
25-year-old Regenda belongs to the persistent ones. He was called up to the NHL for the fourth time, but after a few games he always returned to the farm.
He waited 625 days for the phone call this time. That’s how much time has passed since he played five games for Anaheim in March 2024. He had previously waited 458 days for these five matches.
He was surprisingly called up to San Jose’s first team on Monday night and played his first game against Utah that night. Even more surprising was that coach Ryan Warsofsky included him in the second power formation.
Regenda himself thought that if he was lucky enough to get into a special formation, it would be more of a weakening.
Regenda took advantage of the chance and scored a goal already in the third shift – his second in the NHL. He has a record of 2+2 in 20 career matches.
Pavol Regenda gets on the board in his @SanJoseSharks debut and first NHL game since March 2024! 🦈 pic.twitter.com/3Iw5itGViR
— NHL (@NHL) December 2, 2025
“I really didn’t have Pavel Regenda’s power play goal on the bingo card before today’s game,” said surprised commentator Randy Hahn on NBC Sports California.
We watched the match and in the text we will try to explain why Regenda was called to the first team.
Morning with the NHL is an article in which we regularly address one topic from the best hockey league in the world and provide a short summary of the night’s events.
What’s important is what you didn’t see in the highlights
It’s a shame that the entire substitution is not visible in the match clips for Regenda’s goal. His skating goal wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the events a few seconds earlier.
Regenda then showed the determination of a player who realizes that he is playing for his living. What is a common overkill for his teammates with one-way contracts, may well be his last chance in the NHL.
San Jose had a bullpen in the offensive zone, 37 seconds remained until the end of the power play and the second formation came on the ice. The key was to win the points, which Philipp Kurashev failed to do.
Utah defenseman John Marino cleared the puck and was about to throw it away, but Regenda stopped
