NASHVILLE. Scott Wheeler, an expert from The Athletic website, described fifteen of the most talented youngsters who were not selected in an article after the 2023 NHL draft.
As many as four Slovaks found a place in his article – Ondrej Molnár, František Dej, Adam Cedzo and goalkeeper Samuel Urban.
He ranked the latter the highest among Slovaks. According to Wheeler, there were only seven better undrafted players overall.
He claims that while he didn’t catch many games in the USHL for Sioux Falls, he was solid in them. Of course, he mentioned the trip to the semi-finals of the Under-18 World Championship when his name was mentioned.
“Urban’s style lies in his movement, ability to anticipate opponents’ moves and read the game well, or in his competitiveness. It seems that he is always ready for cross passes and then fights to avoid possible stops,” the expert wrote about him.
He mentioned Adam Cedza in thirteenth place. According to him, the reason for the failure is the small number of matches that the attacker played in the senior category.
“He’s got good puck skills and isn’t afraid to use them in the zone. He’s quick. He’s a decently talented player who I expect to be at least a top-six player in Europe. With the right patience and development, he could be something more,” Wheeler describes Cedza’s future.
“However, I think it should probably start with a move to North America to play in the junior league, because right now he doesn’t look like a pro ready for Europe, and no NHL prospect should spend the post-draft season in the Czech junior league.”
Wheeler placed František Deja on the rung below him. The player belonging to Slovan Bratislava impressed the clubs with several qualities.
“Dej is a risky prospect because he played last year in the second-highest Slovak professional league at a level where draft-eligible prospects usually don’t play,” Wheeler said.
“He’s not a great skater, but he still produced at this level (almost a point per game against men, even if it’s a weak league) and worked hard on the ice to make up for his skating. Add to that decent physical parameters, good puck control and physical style and it’s easy to imagine him earning NHL attention.”
The last, fifteenth place in the ranking was occupied by Ondrej Molnár. The incident from the school floorball tournament that took place last year probably deprived him of the draft.
However, Wheeler also named hockey reasons. Even before the 2022/23 season, Molnár was considered a possible selection in the second or third round.
“It’s never good when you’re known as a scorer at the lower levels in Europe, you come to a competitive league in North America and your game doesn’t work the same way on a smaller ice surface. And that’s exactly what happened to Molnár, who has been doing quite well on the international stage. In Slovakia, he scored a lot of goals in his age category, and after this year’s transfer to the OHL, he scored only four goals in 34 games,” he noted about him.
Draft 2023 was successful despite the omission of several Slovaks. A total of eight young Slovaks passed through it, the most since 2004.
According to Wheeler, the best undrafted players included Jordan Tourigny, whose brother Miguel worked for Dukla Trenčín in the last season, or Czech Gabriel Szturc.
2023-06-30 09:48:48
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