First Round Favourite: Eduard Šalé, RW, Kometa Brno (Czechia)
Having dominated the Czech juniors league with 89 points in 39 games last year, Šalé has spent the entire 2022-23 season in the country´s top tier men´s league. After an impressive first month, he has cooled down a bit, but is still playing on the third line. Due to playing with men in a challenging European league, Šalé doesn´t get the puck as often as he would´ve in juniors, but he is in a good place to work on his skills and weaknesses.
I was very high on Šalé at the beginning of the season; he started the year in a great fashion and certainly looked like a Top 5 candidate in a packed draft class. The #6 of our first ranking has since slowed down, which is not shocking and not uncommon when it comes to young prospects. Šalé has many offensive traits on a high level; he has great puckhandling skills, hockey IQ and has the ability to create a lot of scoring chances, either for himself or his teammates. He has a good size at 6´1” and doesn't shy away from physical battles, even though he is not a power forward. His lack of defensive efficiency seems to hold him back a bit, but he appears to be more engaged defensively of late, which is promising. I also expect him to shoot more, overall and especially from more dangerous areas, but he is limited with his time on ice. When he gains more confidence in Extraliga, I assume he´ll be more unpredictable and dangerous.
In this clip, Šalé displays his great hands even against men´s competition. He quickly gets the loose puck and turns on his engine while turning around to drive for the net. Then he makes a quick fake, loses the defensemen and appears in front of the goalie. His shot is anticipated and blocked, therefore he doesn´t score. However, Šalé proves two key attributes of his game – advanced puckhandling skills, even in tight spaces, and a nose for the net.
This is a typical Eduard Šalé goal, especially from his junior times. He plays a straight-forward style on the right wing and likes to drive to the net when he is given the opportunity. He retrieves a puck from his teammate and quickly heads towards the goal. Šalé has a smooth skating style, he doesn't take too many steps, but uses his feet efficiently. He makes good use of the space the opposition defense allows him to have, prepares for a backhand shot and scores on the goalie. He scored a very similar goal in the Czech Extraliga last month. The Czech forward can create his own chances and displays great puck protection.
Šalé also has the ability to appear out of nowhere and get himself in a promising scoring position, which speaks volumes about his hockey IQ. In this clip, Šalé quickly reads the play and realizes his team is going for a quick breakaway. He loses his guarding defenseman with a few quick first steps and heads for an open spot where he´ll be available for a pass. His teammate finds him with a pass in front of the net, Šalé outsprints the tired defense and scores.
The main weakness of Šalé is his defensive game, which is not unusual for young, offensively-minded forwards. His defensive awareness needs some work. As in this clip, Šalé makes a couple of positioning mistakes and looks a bit lost. He allows the Swedish forward to have too much space, which his opponent quickly utilizes and tips the puck in front of the goalie to score. Šalé´s defense is insufficient. He realises his mistake and tries to lift the opponent´s stick up, but it's already too late.
Pushing for the Top 50: Ondrej Molnár, W, HK Nitra (Slovakia)
Molnár has been talked about a lot in Slovakia since 14-15 years of age. He used to be the prime candidate to break Marián Gáborík´s record for the top tier league's youngest goalscorer (Dalibor Dvorský did it) and one of the best Slovak prospects in recent years. This season, Molnár decided to stay with HK Nitra in the Extraliga instead of going overseas to the OHL. His usage in Slovakia is somewhat questionable, he averages approximately 7:30 min per game. If it doesn't change soon, the OHL should be a better place for Molnár to develop in.
Molnár is a lightning-fast, smooth winger with great hands who plays a passing-first game. He has a great hockey sense and creativity as a playmaker. Due to his quick feet and puckhandling abilities, he is often used to drive the puck deep from his defensive zone to the offensive zone. Similar to other offensive winger prospects, Molnár´s weakness is in his defensive game. He also seems to struggle a bit in board battles, which seems to be understandable due to his size and playing against fully-grown men. Nonetheless, Molnár needs to work on his physical play and overall compete level to be more engaged in the game even without the puck on his stick.
I believe he has the potential, but he needs to play way more minutes and use his opportunities. The OHL seems like a better option for him right now – he´d get a top six spot, play regular minutes including the PP and get used to the North American ice and more physical style of hockey. As for now, Molnár seems to be falling down, despite his potential.
Molnár is able to reach a high speed with a few first steps. In this clip, he gets the puck in his own zone, quickly drives to the offensive zone and time/space. Then, still in high speed, finds an open teammate behind him, who finishes the play with a shot, but doesn´t score. Molnár is a smart player with the ability to find unconventional or surprising solutions.
Molnár is skilled with the puck, he has great hands and can drive through multiple opponents. He scored a beautiful solo goal a couple of weeks ago at the Continental Cup, unfortunately, the clip is not available. Nonetheless, this goal is similar to a certain level. Molnár shows a great first touch when receiving the pass and immediately starts the attack. He keeps the puck far away from the opposing defenseman and tries to do a risky move to surprise the goalie with one hand. It works out as Molnár scores in the open net. He is creative and confident with the puck and able to beat defensemen in 1-on-1 situations.
As mentioned before, Molnár´s weakness is his defensive game. In this clip, he tries to be too aggressive with his defending and finds himself in a wrong spot. His attempt to lock the opposing forward behind the net and force him to make a bad pass is not sufficient and the opponent finds a defenseman on the blue line easily. Molnár is too far from him and Nitra allows another goal.
Notable Mid Round Candidate: Juraj Pekarčík, W/C, HK Nitra (Slovakia)
Pekarčík has been flying under the radar the whole year, but he has spent the majority of it on Nitra´s first team as well. He is a big (6´2”, 183 lbs) forward who plays a physical, power-forward style and is a usable bottom-six option in the top tier league. Pekarčík is doing quite well in spite of his limited (under 7 min/game) time on ice.
Out of the less-known Slovaks in the 2023 NHL Draft class, I believe Pekarčík has actually the highest chance to get drafted. He could have a similar story to Adam Sýkora, who played on the same team last season. Sýkora started the year as a later-to-middle rounds candidate, but had a fantastic second half of the season, even earning a spot in Men´s National Team´s roster and scoring two goals at the IIHF World Championship. He ended up being drafted in the 2nd round by the New York Rangers. I don't expect Pekarčík to play for the Men's National Team, not even the U20 NT, but he could follow a similar path to Sýkora. They´re both hard-working, physical forwards with the potential to be useful bottom-six forwards. Obviously, Pekarčík is nowhere near Sýkora´s level yet, but I see the potential. He needs to work on his offensive game at a higher level and get a decent time on ice to truly get better, but after a successful second part of the season, he might sneak to the middle rounds of the next draft.
Pekarčík is very strong on the puck and it's quite difficult to knock him off of it. He protects the puck well, not only due to his size, but because he has surprisingly soft hands. In this clip, Pekarčík scores a beautiful goal against the Czech U17 National Team. The Slovak forward takes the puck from his own zone. He avoids losing it to a first opponent with a nice move and with his long reach. Then he quickly heads for the Czech net to a confused defence and surprises the goalie with a nice shot.
Pekarčík scores from a very close distance in this clip. He has a lot of time due to the poor play of the US defence, but he still has to show decent hand-eye coordination skill when retrieving a quick pass from the blue line and turning around to score on the goalie. Pekarčík usually works well in front of the net, uses his big body and fights for the puck. He also makes a solid powerplay option, either in front of the net to screen the goalie, or at the wing to benefit from his puck handling abilities.
Pekarčík projects as a power forward due to his size and speed. He doesn't shy away from physical play, however, he needs to find the line. In this clip, Pekarčík oversteps with the intensity and lays a bad hit on a Poprad´s player. It resulted in him getting a major penalty and a one-game suspension. Pekarčík is not a dirty player, but he needs to find the right balance when it comes to his hits to prevent him from dirty plays.