Jakub Stancl

Every draft class has a few kids you in the past were definitely off the radar and then show up unsuspectedly as dominant late bloomers. A year ago, this big framed winger who knew hockey, but lumbered to get back and forth down the sheet, having difficult in being involved in each end, unless he sacrificed getting down the other way at the end of the shift. No miracles were involved in the loss of his heavy boots and lazy feet, but hard work and adjusting to his growing into his body, adding serious leg strength, and improved stop/starts exponentially has transformed him to a force who plays heavy, scores and plays on both the power play and penalty kill. The stagger leap was witnessed in the Five Nations tourney where he captained Czechia's team. His skating power has transformed into hard driving tank who bulls his way to the net. He is aggressive and forceful all over the ice and has a heavy shot to go along with his heavy game. His on ice shifts cause problems with his physical forecheck. On the penalty kill, he pressures point men into giveaways and at equal strength he can hammer attackers in possession of pucks into turnovers. Some team may fall in love with the new improved version and take him in the top 60.

                                                                  --Bill Placzek--