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

Antiillafire

Registered User
May 1, 2021
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Trnava, Slovakia
Some thoughts after the end of the HGC group stage, with a basically meaningless game against Germany on deck in a handful of hours. For the tournament itself, the powerplay really let this team down. Although the overall strength of the squad was lesser than in previous years, there was chances to win games if they could covert.

2024 Class:

Theo Kiss: I don’t think his draft chances are very high. He kind of reminds me of Samuel Sisik, but a better skater. He’s good with the puck on his stick in the o-zone when he has time and space. The problem being that in the NHL or any top league you won’t have that time and space. I see his draft chances as about the same as guys like Cisar and Cedzo last year.

Ondrej Maruna: Already noted how I view his game in the other thread. To be honest I’m not sure he lasts in the QMJHL, I think he ends up playing half the season before he is back here playing junior and in the second league.

Tobias Pitka: Probably the best overall 2024 eligible forward. I liked his 2 way game and he works hard. Draft chances still slim. He kind of reminds me of a less gritty Paul Gaustad, but that type of NHL player is pretty much extinct.

Samuel Kupec: For the matchups he was getting, the best defenseman besides Radivojevic. But he’s not better than guys like Natny, Kmec, Eperjesi were at the same age. All 3 were not drafted.

Martin Haronik: I really liked his sole game (so far) against Finland. Moves very well for his size, and tracks the puck good. Shame he will play his draft season at a low level, hopefully he moves to J20 or a better junior league. Could be #1 goalie at U18’s in several months.

2025 Class:

Luka Radivojevic: I don’t think he was at his best in the first 2 games but then played really well against Finland. Really dynamic skater and great passer, shot accuracy needs work. It’s a shame the majority of Slovak forwards outside of a handful can’t handle his passes at all. In the d-zone he has good poisoning and stick checking but gets pushed around, strength needs to be improved.

Jan Chovan: Probably my most surprising player. He really stood out in a positive way. His numbers in the Finnish U18 league are very unimpressive, but looked better than Finnish players at HGC who put up much better numbers than him. Could be a riser.

Tomas Pobezal: I have been a big fan of Pobezal for quite some time, and by a significant margin I saw him as the best Slovak at this tournament. He hasn’t played a large role in serious matches for months, but looked good playing a large role on both the penalty kill and powerplay. He’s not a high end offensive talent but I think he could end up in the same range as Mesar for the draft, probably higher given he’s a C who plays a strong 2 way game.

2026 Class:

Tobias Tomik: Had some really good scoring chances but couldn’t bury any of them. He has a strong base to build on (passing, shooting, vision) and hopefully all this will improve as he gets stronger.

Again I think anywhere from 1-3 Slovaks could be taken in 2024. Chromiak, but who else? I look back at past drafts and a forward like Oliver Okuliar. He was a level better than each of these 2024 forwards and was not drafted. I don’t see the same kind of flashes I saw with a guy like Pekarcik who at the Hlinka despite the points showed elite skating and good potential in shooting and passing.
 

Pazucha

Registered User
Apr 3, 2023
592
1,080
Some thoughts after the end of the HGC group stage, with a basically meaningless game against Germany on deck in a handful of hours. For the tournament itself, the powerplay really let this team down. Although the overall strength of the squad was lesser than in previous years, there was chances to win games if they could covert.

2024 Class:

Theo Kiss: I don’t think his draft chances are very high. He kind of reminds me of Samuel Sisik, but a better skater. He’s good with the puck on his stick in the o-zone when he has time and space. The problem being that in the NHL or any top league you won’t have that time and space. I see his draft chances as about the same as guys like Cisar and Cedzo last year.

Ondrej Maruna: Already noted how I view his game in the other thread. To be honest I’m not sure he lasts in the QMJHL, I think he ends up playing half the season before he is back here playing junior and in the second league.

Tobias Pitka: Probably the best overall 2024 eligible forward. I liked his 2 way game and he works hard. Draft chances still slim. He kind of reminds me of a less gritty Paul Gaustad, but that type of NHL player is pretty much extinct.

Samuel Kupec: For the matchups he was getting, the best defenseman besides Radivojevic. But he’s not better than guys like Natny, Kmec, Eperjesi were at the same age. All 3 were not drafted.

Martin Haronik: I really liked his sole game (so far) against Finland. Moves very well for his size, and tracks the puck good. Shame he will play his draft season at a low level, hopefully he moves to J20 or a better junior league. Could be #1 goalie at U18’s in several months.

2025 Class:

Luka Radivojevic: I don’t think he was at his best in the first 2 games but then played really well against Finland. Really dynamic skater and great passer, shot accuracy needs work. It’s a shame the majority of Slovak forwards outside of a handful can’t handle his passes at all. In the d-zone he has good poisoning and stick checking but gets pushed around, strength needs to be improved.

Jan Chovan: Probably my most surprising player. He really stood out in a positive way. His numbers in the Finnish U18 league are very unimpressive, but looked better than Finnish players at HGC who put up much better numbers than him. Could be a riser.

Tomas Pobezal: I have been a big fan of Pobezal for quite some time, and by a significant margin I saw him as the best Slovak at this tournament. He hasn’t played a large role in serious matches for months, but looked good playing a large role on both the penalty kill and powerplay. He’s not a high end offensive talent but I think he could end up in the same range as Mesar for the draft, probably higher given he’s a C who plays a strong 2 way game.

2026 Class:

Tobias Tomik: Had some really good scoring chances but couldn’t bury any of them. He has a strong base to build on (passing, shooting, vision) and hopefully all this will improve as he gets stronger.

Again I think anywhere from 1-3 Slovaks could be taken in 2024. Chromiak, but who else? I look back at past drafts and a forward like Oliver Okuliar. He was a level better than each of these 2024 forwards and was not drafted. I don’t see the same kind of flashes I saw with a guy like Pekarcik who at the Hlinka despite the points showed elite skating and good potential in shooting and passing.

2024

Pitka: According to stats from HGC he was the most active shooter with 14 attempts. He was also good on the faceoffs. But to me he wasn't very noticeable. Also with 14 shots you have to score at least once...

Maruna: Honestly I don't remember a single play from him in 4 matches. Very underwhelming so far.


2025

Pobezal: Better hockey IQ and defense play than Mesar but unlike Mesar he is not that fast on skates and cant make any 1on1 play and needs to make a pass. He is very dependent on his teammates.

Chovan: He looks to be average in everything and somehow he became my favorite player on the team.

Radivojevic: With so much confidence he plays he does not look like a Slovak prospect. Even after being 2 minutes on the ice he still wants the puck.

2026

Tomik: I see a big potential in him its not an coincidence he had so many chances to score a goal.
 
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Antiillafire

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May 1, 2021
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Trnava, Slovakia
IMG_1674.jpeg


Not ideal :help:
 

Martinez89

Registered User
May 20, 2019
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We all know from Slovak point of the view the 2024 draft is going to be weaker, but after that things are getting interesting again. Heading into the next season I would rank most promising Slovak prospects starting with the 2025 draft and younger, as I already did before. This ranking is based on what I´ve seen in year 2023 so far and I´ve to say finally I´ve seen all of them to play at least several times, some of them even in person which always can be useful.

Top 10 ranking :

1. Max MELICHERIK (2029)
2. Vladimir DRAVECKY jr. (2026)
3. Timothy KAZDA (2027)
4. Luka RADIVOJEVIC (2025)
5. Tomas CHRENKO (2026)
6. Oliver OZOGANY (2027)
7. Tomas POBEZAL (2025)
8. Tobias TOMIK (2026)
9. Juraj RAUSA (2027)
10. Jan CHOVAN (2025)

HM in alphabetical order:

Adam GOLJER (2026), Matus LISY (2025), Ivan MATTA (2026), Adam NEMEC (2026), Samuel PISARCIK (2027), Michal PLANCAR (2026), Andreas STRAKA (2025), Michal SVRCEK (2025).
 

samuu

Registered User
Aug 15, 2022
7
8
Germany
We all know from Slovak point of the view the 2024 draft is going to be weaker, but after that things are getting interesting again. Heading into the next season I would rank most promising Slovak prospects starting with the 2025 draft and younger, as I already did before. This ranking is based on what I´ve seen in year 2023 so far and I´ve to say finally I´ve seen all of them to play at least several times, some of them even in person which always can be useful.

Top 10 ranking :

1. Max MELICHERIK (2029)
2. Vladimir DRAVECKY jr. (2026)
3. Timothy KAZDA (2027)
4. Luka RADIVOJEVIC (2025)
5. Tomas CHRENKO (2026)
6. Oliver OZOGANY (2027)
7. Tomas POBEZAL (2025)
8. Tobias TOMIK (2026)
9. Juraj RAUSA (2027)
10. Jan CHOVAN (2025)

HM in alphabetical order:

Adam GOLJER (2026), Matus LISY (2025), Ivan MATTA (2026), Adam NEMEC (2026), Samuel PISARCIK (2027), Michal PLANCAR (2026), Andreas STRAKA (2025), Michal SVRCEK (2025).

I‘d love to see your detailed opinion on each player and why you have them currently ranked in that order. Wasn’t nemec ranked higher on your last list? Is it mostly about his skating?
Keep up the lists! :)
 
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Martinez89

Registered User
May 20, 2019
254
672
I‘d love to see your detailed opinion on each player and why you have them currently ranked in that order. Wasn’t nemec ranked higher on your last list? Is it mostly about his skating?
Keep up the lists! :)
Thanks for liking! Don´t worry I´ll keep up this tradition and sometimes in the mid-season will do an update maybe with short write-ups. Because you know how quickly in time these types of rankings are changing. Remember year 2019 - when I created my account here - at that time Sisik was seen as potential top-3 pick in 2023 and Dvorsky was just an average prospect :)

You´re right about Adam Nemec, last year definitely I jumped on his bandwagon. But right now I had probably the hardest time how to rank him. The question marks in his game to me are a combination of his mediocre skating and a bit of cheating offensively in Slovak junior league what I didn´t like. But I still like him as a prospect and I believe he has a potential to be drafted in round 1 or 2, because he has a nice scoring touch, skill and size.
 

Pazucha

Registered User
Apr 3, 2023
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I think his skating is just fine if anything I am much more worried about Chrenko skating to be honest.

Chrenko has very good hands and hockey sense probably the best in the 2007 group but his size, skating and speed holds him back. What I like about him is that he is not afraid to make individual high-risk plays. He is also pretty good in board battles for his size and knows how to steal a puck from his opponent stick (anywhere not just near boards). What I don't like about him is that his high-risk play or pass often fails which results into counter attacks and he puts zero effort into skating back to prevent the opponent from scoring a goal.. Instead of skating back he often shows frustration with his body movement which is not a good habit to have.

A. Nemec is the opposite he does not like to hold onto the puck and almost never makes individual plays, he prefers to make good quick and safe passes. He is also pretty good at board battles and knows how to attack opponents to get the puck back. He uses his size much better than Chrenko. If his team losses the puck he puts 100% percent into skating back.

These are my impressions after watching each player play at least 8 games.
 
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Pazucha

Registered User
Apr 3, 2023
592
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U18 Players that played in Slovakia Senior pre season games so far:

Nitra:
Pobezal (3 games)
Lisy (1 game)
Slank (1-2 games)
Chrenko (1 game)
Valent (3 games)

Trencin:
Tomik (1 game)
Feranec (1 game)

Poprad:
Straka (3 games)

Kosice:
Dravecky (1 game)

Zilina:
Dario Lass

Pobezal was moved from 2nd center to 4th line yesterday..
 
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Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
60,023
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New York
Where are the left shot defensemen for Slovakia?

Did none of them grow up emulating Chara? Not all of them will be as tall, but I suspect that there’d be a lot that tried to emulate him as much as possible.
 

Dirtyf1ghter

Registered User
Aug 7, 2019
2,592
1,694

And if it was him for 2029 draft ?

He and his brothers are the best producers in the Slovak U16 league. His brother is U15, he is U13.
 
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Dirtyf1ghter

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Aug 7, 2019
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Furthermore : The prospect cancelled by the North American company and about whom it is forbidden to speak (censored topic) here is in the process of crushing the Slovak championship.
 
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Dirtyf1ghter

Registered User
Aug 7, 2019
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2024 draft shaping up like 2021 draft? Also serious possibility that zero Slovaks are drafted this upcoming year. The U18’s will obviously be the major test for them.
Viliam Kmec as big RD with 1PPG is the only one, currently.

If he maintains the trend, he will be taken. A 20-year-old right-handed defenseman, AHL Ready, will interest a team.
 

Antiillafire

Registered User
May 1, 2021
4,546
5,372
Trnava, Slovakia
Almost December so most prospects have played close to 20 or so games. Thought I’d share my top 10 rankings of 2024 draft eligibles.

2024 draft:
1. F Ondrej Molnar (re-entry pending off ice stuff)
2. D Richard Baran
3. D Jakub Chromiak
4. G Samuel Urban (re-entry)
5. F Daniel Jencko (re-entry)
6. D Milan Pisoja
7. D Adam Belusko
8. F Ondrej Maruna
9. G Alan Lendak
10. F Tobias Pitka
 

Czechboy

Češi do toho!
Apr 15, 2018
27,498
24,746
Almost December so most prospects have played close to 20 or so games. Thought I’d share my top 10 rankings of 2024 draft eligibles.

2024 draft:
1. F Ondrej Molnar (re-entry pending off ice stuff)
2. D Richard Baran
3. D Jakub Chromiak
4. G Samuel Urban (re-entry)
5. F Daniel Jencko (re-entry)
6. D Milan Pisoja
7. D Adam Belusko
8. F Ondrej Maruna
9. G Alan Lendak
10. F Tobias Pitka
How many Slovaks get drafted in June do you think?
 

hellwar9

Registered User
Jul 17, 2017
566
883
Slovakia
To be honest. There is a realistic possibility that there will be 0 Slovaks in the 2024 draft. It's still more than half a year and a lot will depend on the U18 WC, but this year I don't see a single riser there at the moment, like the last two years in the form of Sykora and Pekarcik. As for overagers. Molnar is not having a dominant enough season to be of interest to NHL clubs because of his personality problems. Urban's numbers are also nothing special and he is small. Jencko can get on the radar if he produces in the USHL at a higher rate than ppg. We'll see.

Baran is my personal favourite, but it's hard to say. He could make it to the WJC and show himself there. I personally think his chances are better than Chromiak's even though he has lower upside. Chromiak is still stagnant in my eyes, we'll see what he does in his new club, so far it's a small sample , but I don't see much improvement in Kingston either.

We'll be smarter in the spring, but I'd keep my eyes on that next year, 2025. Pobezal, Radivojevic and Chovan have a pretty good track and besides them there are other interesting names.
 

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