Future Considerations’ Czech Republic scout Radoslav Vavrina gives his thoughts on who from the 2014 NHL Draft class left him impressed, who disappointed and who his sleeper is on draft day.

To go even deeper into the draft class, pick up Future Considerations’ 2014 NHL Draft Guide, containing our ranking of the top-210 prospects, full profiles on 210 draft eligibles, a two-round mock draft, a glimpse at the 2015 NHL Draft and much, much more! Click HERE to find out more!

Who Impressed?

Well, I’ve got to say most of the top Czech prospects for the upcoming draft were impressive in the last season, but the one that did that even more than the others was mobile defenseman Filip Pyrochta.

Even though I almost always go with a player that is bigger, stronger and more intimidating, I just had to choose this tiny blueliner because this is what he deserves. I’ve watched Pyrochta for a couple of years now and I’ve seen him develop into the offensive threat that he’s become. He’s grown into a character player that works hard off the ice, is awesome to be around in the dressing room and never quits on a play.

Offensively, he draws comparisons to veteran NHLer Marek Židlický. The young native of Třebíč — the hometown of Vladimír Sobotka — is a grade-A power play quarterback and that is the position where he shows off his hard shot, top-notch vision and leadership abilities. He is also skilled with the stick and as fast as they come.

Sure, there are weaknesses and while many don’t like his defensive play, I’m okay with him in that department. What he truly lacks is size. He looks a little too small out there, but he really makes up for it with his speed and skill. Defensively, he’s not doing neither too bad nor too good, but if he bulks up in the next couple of years he could become an even more of a steal. The scouts don’t have him ranked as high as he deserves so any team that drafts him might end up stealing one big-time.

Who Disappointed?

I hate to say it, but there was one big disappointment in the Czech Republic this year and what’s even worse is that the player himself can’t be at fault for it.

Pavel Jenyš started the season as a great character forward for the Under-18 National Team at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial and after that he became an Extraliga player on the fourth line of his hometown team in Brno.

Pretty good, eh?

Lack of ice-time, however, did no good to the big forward and he soon started playing worse and worse. Midway through the season, he got demoted to the junior team and he wasn’t even the best player down there. After all, he failed to make Czech entry for the World Under-18 Championship.

But he can still get drafted.

Jenyš has a laser of a shot and if he used his size even more, he would be almost unstoppable among juniors. There are a lot of questions about his character as he seems even a little too cocky at times, but he becomes a clutch player in the heat of the battle and you can see he’s like a lion out there, fighting hard with pride and doing what’s needed of him. With good coaching, he could be a great character forward in any league, blocking shots and killing penalties and stuff like that.

The problem is, there hasn’t been much of that since the Hlinka and come winter, he just stopped being as good as he had been before. Despite that, this big man is getting drafted, a little lower than expected, but he is. There’s still a lot of potential in him and having a big guy up front who has a rocket of a shot always helps you. Now it’s up to him to become that kind of a player at the highest level.

Who Surprised?

There was a kid I just didn’t know much about and his name was Dominik Mašín.

The first time I saw him was the Hlinka, where he captained the team and he was just okay. I saw him for a second time mid-season and all I saw was a big defenseman who had troubles doing stuff. I just didn’t like at all what he was doing out there, but I figured it might have been just a bad day or something.

By the camp right before the U18’s, I went to see a couple of their games and I started thinking that he was actually quite good. I watched a couple games on TV and that’s where he did really okay.

So this is a big kid in the defense and he looks kind of tough in today’s junior hockey.

Defensively, he’s very good. He’s got what it takes to stop the opposition and prevent them from scoring. He’s good with his body, even though he doesn’t hit hard almost at all. He has good positioning, too, and now you have a player that is sort of like one of those unsung heroes like Matt Greene or Mike Weaver, whether it be blocking shots or clearing the tough areas and so on.

He’s developed from a player to keep in the back pocket to a player that will hear his name called on draft day.

To go even deeper into the draft class, pick up Future Considerations’ 2014 NHL Draft Guide, containing our ranking of the top-210 prospects, full profiles on 210 draft eligibles, a two-round mock draft, a glimpse at the 2015 NHL Draft and much, much more! Click HERE to find out more!