Czech Junior Profiles: Lev Hradec Kralove

HC Lev Hradec Kralove Juniors

Stepan Spudil (2006), D

Scouting: smallish by NHL prospect standards .. a decent skater who uses a short choppy stride and shows a solid speed both straightaway and backwards .. could upgrade on his agility and lateral movement .. decent balance and lower-body strength .. usually stays back in a more defensive-minded role .. is willing to punish the opposing players .. shows his mean streak and throws solid hits .. isn't afraid of clearing the crease and takes his man out of the play .. should play a more safe game positionally .. creativity and offensive upside is a weak point of him .. doesn't have an overly good vision and overlooks the possible passing lanes .. an average puckhandler .. needs to work on the accuracy and timing of his passes .. tends to use his snap shot over his slap shot and his shots have to be more harder and accurate .. ranks above the rest of the team in pro potential, but isn't NHL material.

Patrik Cernak (2006), D

Scouting: a big sized defenseman .. an adequate skater for a big man but his skating isn't sufficient for the pro game .. stride is too short .. possesses an average acceleration .. okay balance and lower-body strength .. slower on his turns .. adequate lateral movement .. agility needs further upgrading .. limited top-end speed .. more of a defensive-minded rearguard ...above-average strength .. possesses only average aggressiveness so that he doesn't make the most of his strength .. more of a friendly giant along the boards .. isn't looking for opponents to hammer and tends to only push the opponents out of the scoring chances .. solid in his own end, but still suffers from an odd positional gaffe .. sub-par puckhandling skills .. shows problems with corralling of difficult passes .. unleashes a rocket from the point, but needs to develop a better accuracy .. lacks vision and hockey sense so that he can't support the offense effectively .. too many downsides to match the promising size tools.

Michael Hanousek (2006), D

Scouting: a decent skater, but a player of his mediocre size still could use better wheels .. uses a short stride which limits his acceleration .. top-end speed doesn't stand out .. okay agility and lateral movement .. solid turns .. sub-par balance .. gets knocked off his feet too often by more balanced opponents .. average puckhandling ability .. doesn't move the puck out of his own end very often .. solid passer on a short distance, but misses long passing lanes in order to make the safe play .. shot from the point needs to be harder .. prone to fuzzy positional play in his own end .. should stay with his man and not try to be 'everywhere' .. gets outpowered because of his lack of size and shows trouble when battling sized opponents .. plays more of a finesse style .. an average factor on the powerplay units thanks to a lack of offensive vision .. doesn't have the tools to be considered for selecting in the draft.

Ales Jelinek (2006), D

Scouting: a decent skater who still needs to improve on particular assets .. stride lacks crispness, but it gets him from point A to point B .. could use more explosiveness .. average speed backwards and turns .. solid agility .. thin-looking lower-body .. doesn't impress with balance and gets knocked off his feet too often .. tries to support offense with his offensive flair .. plays with his head up, but overlooks passing lanes and isn't very creative .. solid stickhandling skills .. should make harder passes .. unleashes solid accurate shot from the point, but not very hard .. sub-par positional play, tends to fall back behind plays .. lacks mean streak .. uses his stick instead of his body .. gets outmuscled in the physical battles along the boards and when clearing the crease .. a right-shooting defenseman .. doesn't have the talent to be worth selecting in the draft.

Jiri Simonicek (2006), C

Scouting: a smallish player .. an adequate skater .. possesses only average lower-body strength and balance .. isn't slow on his skates but a bigger top-end speed and better acceleration would be useful for him .. shows reserves in his agility .. a decent stickhandler .. isn't a dipsy-doodler, but corrals difficult passes adequately well .. a diligent player who works hard in all three zones .. is willing to dig for the pucks in the corners and play in traffic, but isn't effective in the trenches because of his lack of size .. emerges as a decent hitter when willing to show his mean streak, but doesn't finish every of his checks .. tends to loose position .. shows a solid defensive awareness as he returns to his own end in time to help out the defense .. doesn't read the plays well and isn't a smart passer .. doesn't shoot the pucks often .. average variety of shots .. should fire the pucks more accurately .. solid on the penalty killing units .. won't get drafted.

Martin Petruzalek (2006), LW

Scouting: an average skater .. the main knock against him is his severe lack of first-step quickness .. accelerates slowly and only rarely outskates the opposition .. possesses okay agility on his skates .. balance and lower-body strength could use upgrading .. possesses above-average stickhandling skills .. can beat the defensemen in one-on-one situation but is inconsistent in this asset .. an adequate passer .. shows a solid wrist and snap shot with a quick release .. slap shot needs to be more accurate .. possesses only an average defensive awareness .. doesn't return back to help out the defense often .. marks his man slowly .. average at blocking the opposing passing lanes .. is blessed with an adequate frame, but refuses to use it fully to his advantage .. a limited force along the boards .. tends to take off-shifts in his traffic awareness .. a right-shooting forward.

Miloslav Cermak (2006), C

Scouting: an above-average skater with good bursts of speed and footspeed .. possesses a solid agility, but is still light on his feet and needs to upgrade on balance .. a diminutive player who can be outpowered by bigger opponents .. a tight forechecker .. is blessed with smooth puckhandling skills .. possesses a decent hand-eye coordination .. on the downside he shows some trouble with his positioning as he tries to be "everywhere" on the ice on occasions especially when performing in the offensive zone .. a solid passer with a decent awareness of his linemates .. fires a quick wrist shot .. his slap shot needs to be improved in terms of accuracy .. is willing to battle for the pucks along the boards, but gets outmuscled and needs to upgrade on his average defensive play .. hampered by inconsistency .. doesn't show noticeable NHL upside.