Slovak prospects - Top 10 rankings (updated July 3rd)

[puckfan]

Wrote my personal Top10. Ciernik is at 11th place

 

[Antiillafire]

Knazko and Slafkovsky both healthy scratches for TPS in their season opener.

 

[hellwar9]

As i said. Michal Svrcek could be really interesting name.

 

[hellwar9]

The U18 project roster was officially published:

Goalkeepers:
Patrik Jurcak (2004)
Samuel Urban (2005)
Adrian Scherhaufer (2005)

Defencemans:
Filip Culik (2004)
Richard Patzelt (2004)
Lukas Panik (2004)
Ivan Thomka (2004)
Matej Tomas (2004)
Leo Eperjesi (2005)
Jakub Chromiak (2005)
Oliver Jurco (2005)
Adam Belusko (2006)
Samuel Kupec (2006)
Tomas Slank (2006)

Forwards:
Filip Fedak (2004)
Jakub Krizan (2004)
Patrik Melicher (2004)
Tomas Belic (2005)
Milan Tadeas Jobek (2005)
Roman Kukumberg (2005)
Viliam Kurila (2005)
Kamil Rohal (2005)
Lubos Stahon (2005)
Sebastian Zurek (2005)
Dario Lass (2006)
Ondrej Maruna (2006)
Tobias Pitka (2006)
Tomas Pobezal (2006)

Interesting names to watch: Jurcak, Urban, Eperjesi, Chromiak, Belusko, Jobek, Kukumberg, Kurila, Stahon, Lass, Pitka, Pobezal. Players like Jobek, Stahon, Kukumberg and Kurila can be risers this season. It will be interesting to watch Jakub Chromiak and others 2006's. The roster is likely to change during the season and players such as Alex Sotek (2004), Zigmund Zold (2004), Samuel Honzek (2004), Frantisek Ridzon (2005) will probably join, or if someone from abroad returns.

 

[Antiillafire]

The U18 project roster was officially published:

Goalkeepers:
Patrik Jurcak (2004)
Samuel Urban (2005)
Adrian Scherhaufer (2005)

Defencemans:
Filip Culik (2004)
Richard Patzelt (2004)
Lukas Panik (2004)
Ivan Thomka (2004)
Matej Tomas (2004)
Leo Eperjesi (2005)
Jakub Chromiak (2005)
Oliver Jurco (2005)
Adam Belusko (2006)
Samuel Kupec (2006)
Tomas Slank (2006)

Forwards:
Filip Fedak (2004)
Jakub Krizan (2004)
Patrik Melicher (2004)
Tomas Belic (2005)
Milan Tadeas Jobek (2005)
Roman Kukumberg (2005)
Viliam Kurila (2005)
Kamil Rohal (2005)
Lubos Stahon (2005)
Sebastian Zurek (2005)
Dario Lass (2006)
Ondrej Maruna (2006)
Tobias Pitka (2006)
Tomas Pobezal (2006)

Interesting names to watch: Jurcak, Urban, Eperjesi, Chromiak, Belusko, Jobek, Kukumberg, Kurila, Stahon, Lass, Pitka, Pobezal. Players like Jobek, Stahon, Kukumberg and Kurila can be risers this season. It will be interesting to watch Jakub Chromiak and others 2006's. The roster is likely to change during the season and players such as Alex Sotek (2004), Zigmund Zold (2004), Samuel Honzek (2004), Frantisek Ridzon (2005) will probably join, or if someone from abroad returns.

It will be weaker than last years team. But I am interested to see how the federation can develop these players. Can they show that results of 2004 group can be repeated with 05 depth players and 06 borns?

 

[Antiillafire]

Couple of players doing well in CHL training camps and pre season games. Jakub Demek was 13/25 on face offs in Edmonton’s win against Red Deer. Repcik has played at a PPG pace in Lethbridge exhibition matches. Kmec has 2 goals in 3 exhibition games and an unknown number of assists (Prince George doesn’t post the full stats). I think Myklukha and Suchy will play for Armada today.

 

[wings5]

It will be weaker than last years team. But I am interested to see how the federation can develop these players. Can they show that results of 2004 group can be repeated with 05 depth players and 06 borns?

If this is supposed to be the 05/06 group , I see several 04s though?..

 

[Antiillafire]

If this is supposed to be the 05/06 group , I see several 04s though?..

Yes 04s are still in, I’m talking about the best 04s who have moved on from project (Zlnka, Repcik, Kmec, Petrovsky, etc)

 

[hellwar9]

It will be weaker than last years team. But I am interested to see how the federation can develop these players. Can they show that results of 2004 group can be repeated with 05 depth players and 06 borns?

Yes, the team is really weaker compared to last season. But I also think that a few players can improve quite significantly during the season. Next week, the season starts with two matches in the 1.SHL, which is the lower tier men's Slovak league. I think some boys could improve from match to match. For example Kurila, he is talented for me, but he has never played such tough matches like the ones he will play now, and when he adapts and starts to improve, he can be a completely different player at the end of the season than he is today. And there are more boys like that. Ofc this is weaker team, but it will definitely be interesting to watch.

 

[wings5]

Yes 04s are still in, I’m talking about the best 04s who have moved on from project (Zlnka, Repcik, Kmec, Petrovsky, etc)

So if I understand this team is a mixture of age groups unlike the US -18 team which is one age group. I also noticed that the HK orange project stopped a couple seasons ago , was this due to a lack of results ?

 

[Antiillafire]

Kaslik at Avalanche camp, bottom right photo

 

[hellwar9]

If this is supposed to be the 05/06 group , I see several 04s though?..

So if I understand this team is a mixture of age groups unlike the US -18 team which is one age group. I also noticed that the HK orange project stopped a couple seasons ago , was this due to a lack of results ?

Orange U20 ended mainly because you can't work so much with 19-year-old boys, towards the draft and the NHL... it was too late. Orange project did not bring up a single player at a higher level in 10 years, the boys only learned to defend and received debacle after debacle in the top tier men's slovak league. So, Orange project didn't make sense and the Slovak Hockey Association understood it. The U18 project is better in that the boys aged 15-17 can improve from day to day. They are at an age when they can improve in every way. The lower tier men's league is ideal for them, it's not very strong, but it's not very weak either (i don't want to compare junior leagues with men's leagues, but certainly the league is in terms of quality at a similar if not higher level than the best junior leagues in world), the guys there can play and play and improving. They are at an age when they can improve in every way. And it was created mainly because the Slovak U20, U18 and U16 leagues are not of sufficient quality, so the best players in Slovakia go to the project U18 to have a chance to move forward at home and they don't have to go abroad.

We saw the first result of the project last season, Jakub Demek (2003), and it was a really weak birthyear. I think, and it is certainly a goal, that with better birthyears, the U18 project would be able to bring up more players for the draft in future. Of course, we are not talking about top prospects, they will play among men in their home clubs (like Nemec, Mesar, Molnar for now), or they will play well abroad (like Slafkovsky, Dvorsky...). The project has the goal of improve the second performance group of players (mid to late rounds of draft).

Last season, boys like Petrovsky, Zlnka, Sykora and Repcik were definitely risers in the project and they improved mainly due to the project. Excellent training conditions, skillful coaches, skating coaches, individual care for each individual and quality matches in the men's league etc. This season, the riser may be Kurila (2005), as I mentioned above. But also Kukumberg, Jobek, or Stahon (2005's). The 2004 birthyear is supposed to be the main year this season, but all the quality from this birthyear will play outside the project, because they are just good (really great year for slovakia), so this season project will focus mainly on younger boys and especially 2005 year of birth.

The novelty this season is that this project will work with the NCAA and after the season in April, a group of players who will be interested in it are going to try a try-out in overseas in order to get to some university from the NCAA. In addition to be drafted, the goal will be to educate players.

 

[wings5]

Orange U20 ended mainly because you can't work so much with 19-year-old boys, towards the draft and the NHL... it was too late. Orange project did not bring up a single player at a higher level in 10 years, the boys only learned to defend and received debacle after debacle in the top tier men's slovak league. So, Orange project didn't make sense and the Slovak Hockey Association understood it. The U18 project is better in that the boys aged 15-17 can improve from day to day. They are at an age when they can improve in every way. The lower tier men's league is ideal for them, it's not very strong, but it's not very weak either (i don't want to compare junior leagues with men's leagues, but certainly the league is in terms of quality at a similar if not higher level than the best junior leagues in world), the guys there can play and play and improving. They are at an age when they can improve in every way. And it was created mainly because the Slovak U20, U18 and U16 leagues are not of sufficient quality, so the best players in Slovakia go to the project U18 to have a chance to move forward at home and they don't have to go abroad.

We saw the first result of the project last season, Jakub Demek (2003), and it was a really weak birthyear. I think, and it is certainly a goal, that with better birthyears, the U18 project would be able to bring up more players for the draft in future. Of course, we are not talking about top prospects, they will play among men in their home clubs (like Nemec, Mesar, Molnar for now), or they will play well abroad (like Slafkovsky, Dvorsky...). The project has the goal of improve the second performance group of players (mid to late rounds of draft).

Last season, boys like Petrovsky, Zlnka, Sykora and Repcik were definitely risers in the project and they improved mainly due to the project. Excellent training conditions, skillful coaches, skating coaches, individual care for each individual and quality matches in the men's league etc. This season, the riser may be Kurila (2005), as I mentioned above. But also Kukumberg, Jobek, or Stahon (2005's). The 2004 birthyear is supposed to be the main year this season, but all the quality from this birthyear will play outside the project, because they are just good (really great year for slovakia), so this season project will focus mainly on younger boys and especially 2005 year of birth.

The novelty this season is that this project will work with the NCAA and after the season in April, a group of players who will be interested in it are going to try a try-out in overseas in order to get to some university from the NCAA. In addition to be drafted, the goal will be to educate players.

Very informative and interesting , appreciate it! Hopefully many players from the U-18 team will get recruited to the NCAA where they can develop even further

 

[alko]

The novelty this season is that this project will work with the NCAA and after the season in April, a group of players who will be interested in it are going to try a try-out in overseas in order to get to some university from the NCAA. In addition to be drafted, the goal will be to educate players.

This is excellent news. How did they come to it?

 

[JotAlan]

Andrej Tomasec (2006) in Finland during the weekend played the first 2 matches in the U18 league. I expected him to start at U16. I wonder how he will do during the season, it would be great if he stayed in the U18 for as long as possible and started to get points.

In addition, the U18 league also started in Slovakia during the weekend, and Peter Kovac, Michal Liscinsky, Tobias Pitka, Andrej Fabian Licko, Tomas Pobezal and Dario Lass (all 2006's) performed really well. I think some of them will also play for the U18 project (U20 slovak junior league and lower tier men's slovak league). Michal Svrcek (2007) also was performed well enough. He may be an interesting name.

Do you know about Adam Salon? Garoto scored 11 points in the first match of the U16 league as a minor. I know it's a weaker league and it was just one game, but 11 points in a game as a minor is because there must be some talent there. To imagine that if he scores 1 point in the next 5 games he will still be at 2ppg is insane kk

 

[ddlennon]

Jan Chovan started hes U16 career with 4+2 in 2 games after playing last season for tappara u15 program I think he signed/came over the same time as adam jecho should be someone to keep eye on

 

[hellwar9]

Do you know about Adam Salon? Garoto scored 11 points in the first match of the U16 league as a minor. I know it's a weaker league and it was just one game, but 11 points in a game as a minor is because there must be some talent there. To imagine that if he scores 1 point in the next 5 games he will still be at 2ppg is insane kk

I have no idea. I've never seen him play. Last season, the leagues were not played because of the corona, so there is a worse overview of 06 and 07 birthyears. But yes, 11 points is a great performance, during the season I can watch him. But if he is really talented, he will play sooner or later in the U18 league. The biggest talents in this age already play in the U18 league. Mesar, Molnar, Ridzon, Jencko, Kurila, etc. All of them played in the U18 at the same age, similar to Svrcek this season. Slafkovsky and Nemec even played it a year younger.

Jan Chovan started hes U16 career with 4+2 in 2 games after playing last season for tappara u15 program I think he signed/came over the same time as adam jecho should be someone to keep eye on

Today, together with Svrcek, probably the best slovak 07s. But it's just the beginning of the season, but Chovan was fascinated me from the highlights also last season.

 

[alko]

Do you know about Adam Salon? Garoto scored 11 points in the first match

Hey, its like Jagr, when he was in second Germany league.

 

[hockey2015]

 

[Antiillafire]

Prince George Cougars coach and GM says Jozef Viliam Kmec was the best defenseman at the Cougars training camp.
“Villi might be the best defenseman we’ve had in this little camp, he’s really impressed.”

I still have a feeling he could climb my list of top 2004 borns. Right hand shot defenseman with great size who can skate, can break the puck out, likes to engage physically and has shown flashes of offensive ability are not easy to come by. The article on him says that at the camp he showed just how much he likes jumping into the rush and show his offensive abilities.

 

[hellwar9]

Prince George Cougars coach and GM says Jozef Viliam Kmec was the best defenseman at the Cougars training camp.
“Villi might be the best defenseman we’ve had in this little camp, he’s really impressed.”

I still have a feeling he could climb my list of top 2004 borns. Right hand shot defenseman with great size who can skate, can break the puck out, likes to engage physically and has shown flashes of offensive ability are not easy to come by. The article on him says that at the camp he showed just how much he likes jumping into the rush and show his offensive abilities.

He reminds me typologically Erik Cernak, but his upside is a question. At the moment I don't consider him as a prospect, for a draft, but that can change quickly. I'm curious about him.

 

[hellwar9]

Tomas Pobezal (late 2006 - draft 2025) yesterday shot the first goal among men at the age of 14. As one of the few players from the project U18 he has a successful start to the season. Pretty good work with a stick and you can see aspects of a modern two-way center in him. Center, a post where Slovakia has had a problem for many years, looks great towards the future. Although, as far as Pobezal is concerned, it is still very early, but definitely another interesting player to watch.

 

[mirec04]

Has anyone seen playing Jan Chovan (2007) ? Is he really so talented?

 

[Antiillafire]

Has anyone seen playing Jan Chovan (2007) ? Is he really so talented?

He seems to be doing quite good. Scored another 2 goals in Tappara latest game. 8 pts in 3 games now. Maybe he gets moved up to u18 team at some point in the near future.

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

Gradually new players appear.

I read that there was a weakening of Team Slovakia Junior.

Probably not. The oldest and best will leave each year. But they will be replaced each year by younger players whose level we do not know.

For players born in 2007, Chovan and Svrcek already look like very good prospects ahead of Filip Mesar.

It is now indisputable that Dvorsky is indeed the best forward born in 2005 playing in Sweden (Hi Victor Lustig).

Chovan already leads the statistical points table in U16 Finland among players born in 2007.

Svrek already has a very high production in U18 Slovakia. And we can think that the level of this league has risen compared to previous years.

This start of the season seems to confirm what I was confirming. Slovakian hockey is back and the hockey planet once again counts 7 major nations.

In the next drafts, we will enter an era where European players will approach the 50% mark of selected players.

For 2022, I hardly see less than 100 selected European players.