Tag: Igor Smal

Mens Prospects

2022 Top 80 Men’s U23 Players. #15-11

We now hit the top 15 with many players that were counted on to contribute to their PHL team. While they were mainly on the lower lines, their clubs could not live without them. We also have the last of our defensemen with the top two highest ranked. That means after this article, only forwards are left in the rankings. These are the players that I feel are going to be top six forwards and top two defensemen in Poland. They have a shot at representing the national team, but should never be considered roster locks for it potentially. 

Players had to be under the age of 23 and at least 16-years-old on June 1st, 2022. We are only judging play that occurred before that date as well. Players are evaluated based on a combination of career history, current play, and potential. Skaters must have played at least five games to be considered. While most of the ranking is my opinion, numerous Polish hockey people contributed their thoughts on players. 169 players were considered for the list and reviewed. Eighty players received a ranking.

Players 80-51Players 30-21
Players 50-41Players 20-16
Players 40-31

Rank – Player Name (Position), Age During Next Hockey Season, Team (Ranking in 2021, change in rankings) 

15 – Konrad Filipek (F), 22, STS Sanok (29, +14) 

In Sanok this year, many young players took significant strides. While much of the attention was on Jakub Bukowski, I was impressed with Konrad Filipek as well. The 22-year-old forward posted eight goals and two assists in 43 games. His ten points were a new career high after posting six the previous season. His eight goals were tied for the fifth most by a U23 skater and were third among Polish U23 players. His ten points were the second most by a player in their age 21 season. 

Filipek Goal vs GKS Katowice PHL

Filipek is in the final year of a 2-year-deal he signed with Sanok, giving him at least one more year with his hometown club. The departures of Bukowski and Sawicki, means there is room for the 6’1 forward to build upon his role in 2023. After Miika Elomo took over, Filipek played up the down the lineup with a few chances on the second line and some powerplay time. 

14 – Igor Smal (F), 22, GKS Katowice (14, 0)

Smal went from the big fish in a small pond to the small fish in the big championship-winning pond. When you move from the bottom of the PHL to the top, you will see a role reduction. Smal played on the fourth line all season but saw some time on the second line during the playoffs. The development opportunities in Katowice are very strong with their lineup and being under the watch of Jacek Plachta. 

Smal Goal vs. Zagłębie Sosnowiec PHL

Smal posted seven points (2G-5A-7PTS) in 50 games this past season. This was the lowest point total of his PHL career. The role change played a big part in that production drop. Stil in a fourth-line role, posting comparable production to last year is nothing to sneeze at. His seven points were tied for 12th among U23 skaters, and it was tied for third among aged 21 skaters. The speedy young center has re-signed with GKS Katowice for the 2023 season. With quite a few key forwards departing Katowice in the offseason, there may be a chance for Smal to jump into a higher spot in the lineup. 

13 – Jakub Prokurat (F), 21, GKS Katowice (8, -7) 

From one small fish that went to a big pond to the next, the story of Jakub Prokurat is similar to Smal. My expectations were a bit higher for Prokurat, as he was coming off a .50 point per game average season in the Oberliga. When you look at the history of players between the two leagues, that .50 usually translates into solid production in Poland. But like Smal, he mainly was stuck on the PHL champion’s fourth line while also spending some time in the MHL on loan to KS Naprzod Janow.

Prokurat Goal vs. Cracovia Krakow PHL

He spent most of his season with Katowice, where in 47 games, he posted five points (2G-3A-5PTS). This was tied for fifth in points among players in their aged 20 season. He had much more success in the MHL, recording 17 points (10G-7A-17PTS) in just ten games. His 1.70 point per game average was fifth among U21 skaters in the league. Prokurat could potentially be a Patryk Wronka-esque player but lacked the two-way game and explosiveness to move up a PHL lineup in 2022. 

12 – Karol Biłas (D), 20, STS Sanok (20, +8) 

We have reached our second-highest ranked defensemen, the highest-ranked defensemen to play in Poland during the 2023 season. Biłas made his mark both in Poland and on the international stage. He played in a career-high 42 PHL games this year while recording five assists. This led all U20 defensemen in points and saw him tied for second among all U20 skaters in points. He also appeared in the MHL, almost exclusively during the playoffs, where he scored twice and picked up three assists in eight games. To top it off the defenseman also appeared in three CJL games and averaged a point per game. 

Biłas primary assist vs. France IIHF U20 D1B

On the international stage, Biłas made two big appearances. The first was playing for Poland at the IIHF Division 1 Group B U20 World Championships. The 6’0 defenseman was named captain of the event for Poland. The Sanok native also made his senior debut representing Poland at the Baltic Challenge Cup, where he scored against Ukraine. Still mostly playing on the bottom pairings of Sanok, he has re-signed for the 2023 season. I expect this to be when he starts to make significant climbs up the lineup. 

11 – Szymon Bieniek (D), 21, New Jersey Rockets (8, -3) 

We have now hit our highest-ranked defensemen on the list, meaning all of the top 10 are forwards. Bieniek was a player I was excited to see what the offseason could have in store. While much of his season was canceled due to the pandemic, in 2022 he made his Chance Liga debut and had shown strong production in his six Czechia U20 games. In the end, Bieniek landed back in the US with the New Jersey Rockets. 

The Rockets have teams in the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) and the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL). The NCDC is in the second tier of US Junior leagues and is considered the third-best junior league overall. The USPHL is in the third tier and a decent step below the NCDC. Most USPHL players go on to make low-level college commitments. 

Bieniek assist vs. Metro Jets USPHL

With that said, Bieniek played in the USPHL most of the season. He was only in five NCDC games and got on the scoresheet once with an assist. In the USPHL, he played in 50 games scoring 15 goals and assisting on 30. His 45 points were tied for 13th among all defensemen. During the season, Bieniek earned defensemen of the month honors in January. Most of his production matches went to play in NCAA D3, but one made an NCAA commitment and has gone on to play in the ECHL. Bieniek will have better pro opportunities in Europe. But for a defenseman past his junior days, I would have liked to see him start to take baby steps into professional hockey, or at least a stronger junior league. Still a great season and I’m excited to see where he plays next year.

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Mens Prospects

2021 Top 50 Men’s U23 Players. #15-11

We now enter the final article before entering the top 10. We’re starting to get some of the most prominent stand-out players from the 2021 season. These players earned a lot of playing time and were critical to their team. All but one player in the next five moved up in the rankings—only one with a significant rise. When the list gets to as high as we are large player movement is pretty uncommon. 

Players had to be under the age of 23 and at least 16-years-old on June 30th, 2021. We are only judging play that occurred before that date as well. Players are evaluated based on a combination of career history, current play, and potential. Players must have played at least five hockey games to be considered. While most of the ranking is my opinion, numerous Polish hockey people contributed their thoughts on players. One hundred forty-five players were considered for the list and reviewed. Eighty players received a ranking. Players 80-51 will be revealed at the end of the series in the breakdown article. Only the top 50 players receive a report.

Players 50-41
Players 40-31
Players 30-21
Players 20-16

Rank – Player Name (Position), Age During Next Hockey Season, Team (Ranking in 2020, change in rankings)

15 – Karol Sterbenz (F), 19, Okanagan HC Europe U20 (33, +18)

Sterbenz is a rare Polish player in the Austrian junior system as he suited up for Okanagan HC. Okanagan HC Europe is a team made of players from across Europe and the rest of the world that plays in the Austrian league. In his first year, the Katowice native showed well at the U18 and U20 levels. In 2021, he balled out while primarily playing in the U20 league. He finished second on his team in points with 30 in just 25 games. His 13 goals and 17 assists were also both second on the team. He would add another goal and assist in two playoff games as well. 

His 30 points were part of a three-way tie for fourth in the ICE Young Stars League and tied for first among draft-eligible players. It stands up while too historically. While the Young Stars league is newer, 55% of Sterbenz production comparables have competed in the ICE Hockey League, the top level of hockey in Austria. Another 36% went on to become a pro in a league around the PHL level. His performance in Austria indeed suggests that Sterbenz has a lot of professional potential. 

We also did see a small glimpse of him in the MHL, and it was not as strong of numbers. In four games for Janow, the 5’9 forward only managed a single assist. In one exhibition game in the PHL when Janow took on Katowice, and Sterbenz was able to score. Sterbenz tried to turn professional with GKS Katowice this year, but his tryout was unsuccessful. The talented 20-year-old forward is now going to the Slovak junior system. It will be interesting to see if his production can carry over or catch up with the Austrian numbers. 

14 – Igor Smal, C, 21, Zaglebie Sosnowiec, (15, +1)

Smal escaped a toxic situation in Gdansk and moved on to Sosnowiec. While he was avoiding a train wreck, Sosnowiec was a team with many holes in their roster. Smal was going to be tasked with being one of the top centers on the team. He was slotted in the second-line center role between Andrei Dubinin and Ivan Rybchik, Rybchik a late addition to the team playing 17 games. Sosnowiec only scored 88 goals as a team, with 47% of them involving first liner Ruslan Bashirov. 

Igor Smal Goal vs Gdansk

An increased role defensively and offensively was the challenge for Igor Smal. The 6’0 center had the physical tools to be ready for the position. The experience was there, as 2021 would be his third full PHL season. Still, he was only 20 and played a more sheltered role with PKH Gdansk. In the end, he would match his point total from the previous year in four fewer games. His four goals and six assists ranked 15th in the PHL for points, and it was 4th among players 20 years old. 

Smal is an intelligent player that processes the game well to avoid mistakes. From everyone we have talked to, he works very hard and sets his sights high, gaining consistently, and more experience will do wonders for him. I would love to see him abroad potentially again, but his PHL production will need to increase for that. For the following year, he is transferring to GKS Katowice. He will be on a much stronger team, going from poor teams where he was trusted with a more prominent role to a spot on a contender where his role will be vastly diminished. 

13 – Jakub Michalowski, D, 23, JKH GKS Jastrzebie, (9, -4)

After a year filled with team achievements, Jakub Michalowski drops a few spots on the list. Unfortunately, Jastrzebie had to make a few additions for his team to become champions. Jiří Klimíček, Mateusz Bryk, and Marcin Horzelski joined Jastrzebie in the offseason, while Eriks Sevcenko would join towards the end. Those four joined national team defenders Arkadiusz Kostek, Kamil Gorny, and Jakub Giminski. Add in Jakub Michalowski, and you have a pretty full defense. We saw this when Michalowski was the odd man and received a few conditioning games in the MHL. That is not something you want to see from a 23-year-old player, but understandable given the team. 

In total, the shutdown defenseman managed two assists in 39 games. The first time Michalowski failed to hit 40 games since 2017. In his 5 MHL appearances, he managed two goals and four assists. A rare outburst of offense from the usual one-way defenseman. He does so much well at the PHL level, including good size, strong skating, and puck-moving abilities. He more than makes up for what he lacks in his offensive skill in defensive talent and potential. After a solid and quick start to his career, his development pace has slowed down. His floor is still a bottom four defensemen. Michalowski still has a ways to go a top-line player. 

For the 2022 season, the long-time player and pupil of JKH GKS Jastrzebie is moving to the GKS Tychy. It will be interesting to see how the player performs in a different environment. There he seems poised to have the potential to move the lineup more than he would in JKH GKS Jastrzebie, who retained their core while adding Sergei Bogoleisha and Yevgeni Kamenev. 

12 – Olaf Bizacki, D, 23, GKS Tychy, (16, +4) 

Bizacki receives his last ranking on the list as he turns 23. It’s fun to see players develop over time, and Bizacki has been on junior national teams since I started covering prospects. He made his first U18 team during the 2016 season and his first national team appearance during the 2021 season. He crushed it at every level he played, with the PHL and national team included in that. 

Bizacki goal vs. Lithuania

While he may be considered an undersized defender at 5’7 he never plays like it. Bizacki is a solid two-way player, and I’m impressed with his production numbers, given he primarily used on the 4th line in Tychy. While he didn’t set a new high in regular-season points this year, he improved his point per game to a .26. In total, he recorded ten points (1G-9A-10PTS) in 45 games. He is a fixture on the team for sure, with Tychy having involved the young defender in a leadership role at times. 

He competed for team Poland at the Baltic Seas Cup on the national team. There Bizacki picked up a goal and three assists in three games. This included a goal and two assist performances against Lithuania. His three-point night earned him player of the game honors as awarded by the team captain’s Grzegorz Pasiut. As he gets older, it will be interesting to see how much he can move up the GKS Tychy lineup, as right now, that may be the only thing keeping him from higher production seasons. 

11 – Krzysztof Bukowski, F, 19, Kloten U20, (21, +10) 

The Swiss junior system is unknown territory for Polish players. There has only ever been one Pole to reach the top level of junior hockey in the country, Krzysztof Bukowski. The Pole, with a Swiss player license, made it to the top level for Kloten U20. Making it to a league of this magnitude is an outstanding achievement for any young Pole. 

It was not just making it there, as Bukowski proved he belongs with 19 points (7G-12A-19PTS) in 40 games. This was tied for 31st among all skaters in their draft plus one season. Given the prominent league, we have over 120 player comparables for him. The bad news is his current stat line does not suggest he will become a player in Switzerland’s National League or a comparable top league in Europe. Only 4.7% of his player matches went on to play at least 50 games in the National League. On the bright side, 24.2% of his matches played in a top or mid-level league around Europe (Swiss League, Extaliga). That is pretty good odds. Even if most of his comparables ended up below the top two leagues of Switzerland, his brother Jakub Bukowski seems to be translating well to the PHL from Switzerland’s fourth league. 

Bukowski appears to have a strong shot at making it outside of Poland. But even if he returns to Poland, he would easily slide into a top 6 role in the PHL. For the 2022 season, the 5’11 forward will be moving to Genève-Servette U20, another small move up the Swiss hockey ladder as Genève-Servette is a slightly more distinguished club. We will also get to see him at the U20 world championships, where he should be a key contributor on team Poland’s offense.

Players 10-8

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Dominik Paś, Bartłomiej Jeziorski (photo: PAP)
Mens Prospects

2020 Top 50 Men’s U23 Players. #15-13

This year was a pivotal year for Polish hockey. For many players that frequented the list last year or in the years past it was onto full-time professional hockey in Poland or testing their skills in another countries highest junior league, while plenty of players arose to challenge and cemented themselves as future pillars of the national team plenty of players couldn’t live up to their expectations causing drastic changes to the rankings.

This is not the time I wanted to start the list, as the World Championship and U18 World Championship are a great way for players to improve their stock, the U18 World Championship being the first significant exposure for a lot of players. Due to the coronavirus, there are no more tournaments, and hockey is done for the year. Polish hockey itself faces an uncertain future as the virus will leave a lasting effect for years to come.

The real world is a very dark and scary place right now, but I want to look forward to the future while stuck at home. The future of the Polish national team is something that fans should be excited about. I have maintained for years that Poland has more young talent right now then it did any other time this century. I still stand by that opinion today. Poland saw their ace prospect prove himself in professional North American hockey, another NHL draft prospect rise, and a vast increase in depth. Today we start our ranking of the top 50 Men’s U23 players in Poland.

Players had to be under the age of 23 and at least 16-years-old on March 27th, 2020. Players are judged based on a combination of career history, current play, and potential. While a majority of the ranking is my own opinion, numerous people in the Polish hockey world contributed their thoughts on players. 140 players were considered for the list and scouted. 80 players received a ranking, players 80-51 will be revealed at the end of the series in the breakdown article. Only the top 50 players receive a scouting report.

Players 50-41

Players 40-31

Players 30-21

Players 20-16

Rank – Player Name (Position), Age During Next Hockey Season, Team (Ranking in 2019, change in ranking

15 – Igor Smal (F), 20, Lotos PKH Gdansk, (22, +7) 

Smal continues the steady rise up the ranks of Polish players. Smal originally was playing junior hockey in Sweden but returned to Poland in 2017 to continue his career. This year the center set a new career-high in PHL points with 12 (6-6-12). 2019-20 was also a new career-high in games with 47. He possesses good size, keen offensive awareness, with great hands. The 6’0 Gdansk native has the makings of a promising player. He started off strong but fell off as the season went on. Consistency is the biggest thing about his game that will need to improve. Smal is in an excellent situation for this as well. As he was able to move up and down the Gdansk lineup last year, even getting a go on the top line at times. Gdansk is the exact kind of opportunity that will allow him to play a lot of valuable minutes. Smal was also a valuable part of team Poland at the U20 World Championships, where he recorded six points (3-3-6) in five games.

Igor Smal

14 – Jakub Prokurat (F), 19, Krefelder EV 1981, (40, +26)

A Polish player being one of Krefelder U20’s leading scorers is a very common trend, and that continued with Jakub Prokurat. This season the 18-year-old forward led Krefelder in points after posting 43 points (18-25-43) in 32 games. His production also never dropped off and continued to rise during the year. This was good for fifth in the entire DNL U20, the top U20 league in Germany. It was fourth in points per game, among players with 15 games played. The top-level DNL U20 has been in effect for three seasons, and Prokurat’s year ranks as the 12th best season by an 18-year-old skater for points per game. I like to see how players with similar production faired. There are two matches for Prokurat; German Sebastian Hon and Latvian Patriks Marcinkēvičs. This season, Hon was able to turn pro in the DEL2, while Marcinkēvičs was a top scorer in the American NCDC.

His production in the DNL U20 bolds well for his development. Prokurat also made the Polish U20 squad this year but would go pointless in five games with two shots. I don’t believe he was given a significant role with the team, through the games I was able to stream, but I still would have hoped to see him produce against some lower competition. It will be interesting to see where Prokurat plays next year. I hope he would be able to get some reps in the Oberliga for Kredfleder’s U23 team. His patience with the puck at times is an attribute that should really benefit him at the pro level. His size may be a concern for some senior teams.

13 – Bartłomiej Jeziorski (F), 22, GKS Tychy, (10, -3) 

Jeziorski has long been one of Poland’s best forward prospects, but as he turns 22, his PHL career has not progressed like I thought it would. Jeziorski has played in the PHL since 2015-16 when he was 17. In the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the forward posted over 20 points. In 2019, he posted 17 points in 55 games. This season, Jeziorski posted 20 points (11-9-20) in 47 games. He really started the year off strong, looking good in the Champions Hockey League, and really an offensive force during the beginning of the PHL season, but fall off after the season went on, which was really a common trend among young Polish players this year. Jeziorski really needs to be able to consistently make an impact. He has a lot of great tools at his disposal, being 6’3, great hands, good skater, and an accurate shot. There are times like this goal here versus GKS Katowice, where you see his skill on display.

Jeziorski

There is just too often where his play like that is nowhere to be found. Often his goals come from his solid net-front presence and bounces going his way. He has the ability to drive plays, so I would like to see that more. Jeziorski definitely has impressed national team head coach Tomek Valtonen though, who included Jeziorksi on all three senior national team rosters this year, including the Olympic qualifiers.

Jeziorski 2

Player #12

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Mens Prospects

2019 Poland U20 World Championship Roster Prediction

Recently the U20 National team revealed their roster for the final grouping before the U20 World Championship in Ukraine from December 12th to the 18th. This year the U20 team has had an interesting journey to the World Championship. Poland U20 is going to be very young this year and has tried out a few combinations for lines and rosters. In the past few years, Poland has not been able to earn promotion despite talents like Alan Łyszczarczyk, Bartomiej Jeziorski, Dominik Pas, and others leading the team. This year Poland u20 may have their biggest star in a while as potential NHL draft pick Jakub Lewandowski could represent the team. Adam Kiedewicz is not listed on the roster, and this cast doubt on him ever representing Poland again in his career. Today we make our picks though on what players will be on the ice in red and white for the U20 World Championship.

Forwards

Kamil Walega- Jan Soltys – Jakub Lewandowski

Damian Tyczynski – Igor Smal  – Ernest Bochnak

Jakub Prokurat – Konrad Filipek – Maciej Witan

Jan Krzyzek – Kacper Gruzla – Mateusz Ubowski

Extra: Mateusz Bezwinski

This offense has a lot of talent. The top line could honestly rival the Alan Łyszczarczyk, Bartomiej Jeziorski, and Dominik Pas line that torn up the U20 World Championships a couple years ago. Walega and Lewandowski may be a bit one dimensional at times, but Soltys plays a complete game that will really benefit the line. It won’t be needed much, though, as this line will continuously be driving offense. The second line brings a lot of unique experiences and offensive potential. All three players have excelled in different places, Tyczynski tore up junior leagues in Slovakia, Igor Smal has been impressive at the senior level in Poland, while Bochnak has earned professional chances in the Czech Republic. The bottom lines still provide a lot of solid depth, size, and a chance at production. Bottom six production is something that Poland has been missing for a long time.

Defensemen

Szymon Bieniek – Klaudiusz Libik

Patryk Gosztyla – Armen Khoperia

Adrian Duszak- Michal Narog

Extra: Bartosz Florczak

There were not too many tough choices here, and there are four returners to the roster on defense. The defense lacked two big things experience and production last year. Everyone is now a year older and should have gained plenty of experience. While the production remains to be seen. Bieniek, Libik, and Narog can all make a significant impact on the offensive end. Florczak is included as my extra because of that. The 16-year-old is very talented and could provide offensively if needed. Libik and Bieniek have a chance to be two of the best defensemen ever for Poland, though the bar is pretty low. Poland has never had outstanding offensive defensemen, with Pawel Dronia being the highlight of this decade. Libik and Bieniek could change that.

Goalies

Sebastian Lipinski

Maciej Miarka

The same goaltending duo as last year and no need to change it. Lipinski is the best junior goalie that Poland has, and Miarka isn’t far behind. Lipinski had a great showing at the U20 World Championship last year, while Miarka put on a show at the U18 World Championships. I would expect Lipinski to play four of the games, but Miarka to get at least one.

Conclusion

This team has a lot of potential. They could be the team that earns Poland promotion after four straight silver medals. The group has a lot of speed and skill. They are going to be able to outsmart their opponent and dictate how the game is played. This is a very young squad, and if the defense falters, it could be disastrous for the team. Lipinski posted a .938% last year for Poland and that still wasn’t enough. Poland really needs the defense to stop opponents from getting high danger chances and providing some help on offense.

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PHL

“Stronger Every Year” 2019-20 PHL Team Previews: LOTOS PKH Gdansk

Leading up to the start of 2019-20 season, we will preview every team in the PHL

Every year since Gdansk made their PHL debut in 2016, they continue to build a better team than the year before. This year is no exception to that, in part due to their new sponsor of Lotos. The team lost a few key players in goaltender Evan Cowley and defensemen Matej Cunik and Robin Maly. Gdansk more than replaced them with a few new imports. The most significant additions though may have come late in the season last year after signing a couple of former Opole players after they left the team. Some new faces and a full-season of some top imports could push Gdansk up the standings again.

Forwards

Alexander Golovin – Vladislav Yelakov – Jan Steber

Josef Vítek – Petr Polodna – Mateusz Danieluk

Yegor Rozhkov – Igor Smal – Szymon Marzec

Filip Pesta – Jakub Stasiewicz – Krystian Mocarski

Other forwards: Bartosz Woloszyk, Pavel Popov

Alexander Golovin and Vladislav Yelakov both came over from Opole midseason. Golovin increased his production, but Yelakov saw his scoring drop from a 1.28 PPG to 1.09. Yelakov was originally on pace to be a top-five scorer in the PHL, and Gdansk will need him to score at that pace again. Jan Steber should fill in right beside the two very nicely, he is still an impact player in the PHL. Josef Vitek (38) and Petr Polodna (37) are both great veteran players that can provide secondary scoring. Igor Smal is a future star, and this year he should start to be relied on a fair amount. There are a lot of veteran players, seven out of the thirteen forwards are 33 or older, and possible declines will always happen eventually.

Defensemen

Ladislav Havlik – Yan Krasovsky

Vlastimil Bilcik – Konstantin Teslyukevich

Damian Szurowski – Tomasz Pastryk

Other defensemen: Gilbert Lesniak, Michal Narog,  Oskar Lehmann

The defense features all-around solid players being led by Ladislav Havlik and Yan Krasovsky. Havlik is a veteran of over 100 Tipsports Extraliga games at just 27-years-old, he previously played in the PHL with GKS Tychy recording 23 points (6-17-23) in 62 games. Krasovsky has played over 200 games in the VHL. He arrived late into last season for Gdansk recording 12 points (5-7-12) in 22 games. Its better than last year, but not a vast improvement.

Goalies

Tomas Fucik

Mateusz Studzinski

Wiktor Solinski

Tomas Fucik will be a nice replacement for Evan Cowley. While Cowley had quite the impact in his short time, Fucik showed before that he can be a starter in the PHL during his time with JKH GKS Jastrzebie. He didn’t have the greatest time in the Tipsports Liga last year posting a .907 SV%, but in the relegation play, he recorded a .946 SV%. It may be hard to beat Cowley’s play, but Fucik should be more than fine. Mateusz Studzinski is an excellent choice for a backup. He was quite the junior goalie, but his jump to the PHL has been a bit of a struggle.

Prediction: 8th

While Gdansk continues to improve as a team, their improvement this year wasn’t as good as other teams. The mid-tier of the PHL continues to get better and better, Gdansk is one of those teams improving it. This year though some teams made some significant moves to leapfrog Gdansk, while also considering the potential decline of veterans leaves Gdansk as my team finishing 8th this year.

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Mens Prospects

2019 Top 50 Polish Men’s U23 Players. #26-21

Despite all that seems to go wrong in Polish hockey the light at the end of the tunnel has been the amount of great young talent that Poland has in their system right now. This is the deepest depth of young talent Poland has had this century. Regardless of what happens in regards to management and coaching with the talent that Poland has coming, they should be able to push forward. In this list, I wanted to rank Poland’s young talent to create a better picture of what the future look likes. This is part 2 of the series as we look at the players ranked 26 through 21.

Players 50-45

Players 44-39

Players 38-33

Players 32-27

Rank – Player Name (Position), Age During Next Hockey Season, Team

#26 – Marcin Plachetka (F), 18, JKH GKS Jastrzebie U20. I like to judge players more on their club season than IIHF and international events. Plachetka was the 6th leading scorer on SMS PZHL Katowice and 10th in point per game among players in Poland’s U20 league. Both of these are impressive feats, but he is ranked above many of the players who finished above him. This is because of just how impressive Plachetka was during his stint with Poland U18. In the four exhibition games before the U18 World Championship, Plachetka managed two goals and two assists. Then at the U18s, he had two goals and three assists in five games. He was consistently Poland’s best forward. Whether that was killing penalties or being trusted with top offensive roles. 

 

 

#25 – Jakub Michalowski (D), 21, JKH GKS Jastrzebie. One of Poland’s finest young defensive defensemen. Michalowski has already earned a full-time defensive role in the PHL. He played a lot with the national team this year, getting five games at non-IIHF events. Michalowski’s biggest battle will be beating out other defensemen for a spot on team Poland. He is a strong skater, and he can shut down any opposing top line. His lack of offensive skills will hurt him as Poland continues to move more and more towards two-way defensemen. Michalowski has shown some decent puck skills, but not a threat to rush the puck. The strongest credit to him and why I would like to see more of him at the top level is the ability to break the puck out.

#24 – Dominik Jarosz (LW), 21, JKH GKS Jastrzebie. Long regarded as one of the best young players in Poland Jarosz has been representing Poland at IIHF events since he was 16. He always played above his age and at high levels for his age. This made his transition to the top level of hockey in Poland during 2015-16 season expected. At 20-years-old he has already played 154 regular season and playoff games in the PHL. He has been a good player in the PHL, that always feels like a candidate to break out offensively. He continues to be outproduced though by other younger PHL forwards like teammates Dominik Pas or Jan Soltys. Jarosz has a lot of the key abilities that Poland is looking for in forwards; speed and size. He already is good enough to make team Poland with his game away from the puck and was given those chances by Valtonen this year. If Jarosz can begin to produce offensively at a higher level, he would easily be a top 6 forward for Poland for years to come.

#23 – Olaf Bizacki (D), 20, GKS Tychy. Bizacki is a special defenseman with a complete toolset. He just needs to keep maturing his game. He has been named the best player on team Poland at the U18s, and the best defensemen at the 2018-2019 Division 1B U20 Championship. He has been one of the top players for Poland at the junior levels. The next step in his game is just to improve his all-around skill set against men’s teams. He will continue to have a lot of competition when it comes to getting chances on GKS Tychy’s defense. It may be a few years before we see Bizacki appear at a World Championship, but expect him to slowly earn a spot on team Poland. I imagine he will get some senior games this season.

 

#22 – Igor Smal (C), 19, MH Automatyka Gdansk. Smal turned pro full time this year at just 18-years-old and proved that he may be one of the top centers of the future for Poland. He had the 7th most points by a U20 player in the PHL. In the second league, he really showed off with nine goals and twelve assists in eight games. His 2.63 points per game were the second highest by any U20 player behind Kamil Walega. He played for team Poland at the U20 World Championships. His excellent offensive play continued there. Smal has performed well beyond his age and could begin to start getting senior international games as early as next year. The true question about Smal is what his ceiling is? It may not be as high as other forwards, and that is why he ends up outside the top 20.

 

 

 

#21 – Patryk Krezolek (F), 21, GKS Katowice. Krezolek recently earned a three year deal with GKS Katowice. Krezolek has been able to produce strong numbers in the PHL, despite his age. His 27 points were tied for the most by a U23 player in the PHL. He was able to recover strongly after not playing a lot during the 2017-18 season.  A player of outstanding offensive ability, Krezolek is extremely smart and always seems to be in the perfect position to make something happen. I would expect him to start consistently being a part of team Poland at international events. 

Players 20-17

Players 16-13

Players 12-10

Players 9-8

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