Radim Vrbata bought into a team that plays in the top Czech Republic league to give back to the community. Photograph by: Graig Abel , NHLI via Getty Images

RALEIGH, N.C. — Radim Vrbata is worried about his team and no, he’s not talking about the Vancouver Canucks.

This is the team he owns — or at least partly owns.

For the past four years, Vrbata has had a one-third ownership stake in Mlada Boleslav BK, which plays in the Czech Extraliga, the top league in the Czech Republic.

There are 14 teams in the Extraliga and Mlada Boleslav is currently 13th. The team has lost three straight games and has just two wins in its last 14 games. It could be heading for relegation to the second division if things don’t get turned around quickly.

“It wouldn’t be fun, especially for us because we just moved up,” Vrbata says. “Hopefully, we can avoid it.”

Vrbata jokes that he didn’t quite know what he was getting into when he bought a chunk of the team. He knew he wasn’t in it to make any money. Rather, he saw it as a way of giving back to his community.

Mlada Boleslav is a community of about 50,000 people 60 kilometres north of Prague. It is where Vrbata grew up and played his minor hockey before leaving for Canada to play junior hockey in Quebec. It is still his home in the off-season.

“It was more about me being the only one from the town who made it to the NHL,” he says. “Actually, Jiri Hrdina was from there, but then he moved to Prague and is not active in the city. So I saw it as a way to give back to my city. There is no way you can make money. You hope to break even.

“You actually could make money, but because you are always afraid to get relegated, you always put everything back because you want to get players to be safe. It was not an investment about making money. It was more about giving back to the team and the city I grew up in. I am a good friend with the co-owner and wanted to help out. He is a business guy, not really a hockey guy. I thought I could help.”

Vrbata tries to help with frequent phone calls back home to the general manager, coach and co-owner. When his schedule allows, he watches the team’s games on his computer.

Former NHLer David Vborny is Mlada Boleslav’s captain and Vborny’s dad, Frantisek, is the coach. Vrbata’s younger brother, David, is also on the roster.

As an owner, Vrbata has learned to see the game from a different perspective.

“It is different,” he says. “It takes time and you have to deal with people, it is something different. When you are a hockey player, you just play.”

There is no salary cap in the Extraliga. Vrbata says on his team the top players may earn the equivalent of about $120,000 a year.

“But there are some teams that pay a lot more.”

Mlada Boleslav plays in the smallest rink in the Extraliga, with a capacity of just under 5,000.

“The city only has like 50,000 people, so I think it is better to have a smaller rink and have it packed rather than what happens with some teams in Prague that play in bigger rinks and if you have 5,000 people, it feels empty.”

Most of the club’s revenue is raised through corporate sponsorship, rather than ticket sales. Mlada Boleslav is fortunate to have Czech car manufacturer Skoda on board as its major sponsor.

“Without them, I don’t think it would be possible,” Vrbata says.

Vrbata says the team’s struggles have meant he has been more involved this season than in the past.

“Last year, we were in the second league and we were winning everything, so you basically don’t have to do anything because everything is going fine,” he says. “But this year is tougher. There are still people who get paid, a GM and coaches who are responsible to run the team, but I have been on the phone a few times this year already.”

Right now, the focus is to try to avoid relegation.

“It is pretty tight down there, so we need to play well. There are about 15 games left, so we need to get a good stretch. Six teams make the playoffs right away, then you have seven, eight, nine and 10 that have a pre-playoff round and then you have 11, 12, 13 and 14, they play six games, they play each other twice and whoever finishes 13 and 14, they play the two best teams from the second division. So there are ways to avoid it, and hopefully we will be able to do it.”

bziemer@vancouversun.com

Twitter.com/bradziemer