Penguins A to Z: Radim Zohorna is a big project, literally
While the NHL is on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 53 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker.
Player: Radim Zohorna
Position: Left winger
Shoots: Left
Age: 24
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 233 pounds
2019-20 ELH statistics: 46 games, 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists)
Contract: One-year entry level contract that does not begin until 2020-21 with a salary cap hit of $$792,500. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2021
Acquired: Unrestricted free-agent signing, April 29, 2020
This season: Under the stewardship of general managers Ray Shero and Jim Rutherford, the Penguins have been quick to deal away high-end draft picks and prospects in the name of improving the NHL roster in the immediate sense. The Penguins’ most recent first-round draft picks to play NHL games for the franchise were defensemen Olli Maatta and Derrick Pouliot, each selected in 2012.
Throw in all the second- or third-round picks that have been dealt away for the likes of defensemen Jordan Leopold, Ron Hainsey or forward Riley Sheahan over the past 14 years, and the pool of prospects is bound to be on the shallow side.
That has prompted the Penguins to be aggressive in pursuing NCAA free agents such as forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Conor Sheary.
They also have tapped various pipelines in Europe, as well, most notably Finland’s Liiga, from which they’ve signed goaltender Emil Larmi, forward Oula Palve and defenseman Juuso Riikola.
This spring, they went to a country where the franchise has quite a history with — the Czech Republic — and emerged with a big project, literally.
At 6-foot-6 and 233 pounds, Radim Zohorna certainly doesn’t seem to have the dimensions the ultra-fleet Penguins tend to value.
Whatever motivated the Penguins to pursue Zohorna, they weren’t alone. According to Zohorna’s agent, Robert Spalenka, upwards of nine NHL teams contracted him about joining their organization.
When the Penguins scouted Zohorna, what they saw was a massive human who finished 84th in the Extraliga ledniho hokeje (ELH) with 22 points for BK Mlada Boleslav before that league came to a halt in early March.
Beyond his modest base statistics, Zohorna’s usage was rather ordinary. Primarily skating as a third-liner, his average ice time of 15 minutes, 11 seconds was ninth-most on his team.
What makes the fierce interest in Zohorna even more peculiar is he has not played substantially for the Czech Republic in a top-tier international tournament. His most recent international experience came in the 2019-20 Euro Hockey Tour, a mid-level showcase event in which he put up three assists in nine games.
The future: Zohorna is bound to play with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and get used to North American hockey in the American Hockey League in 2020-21, whenever that league is allowed to resume play.
Capable of playing all three forward positions, Zohorna is said to be an intelligent player and projects as a bottom-six forward should he advance to the NHL. Additionally, there are some underlying advanced metrics that complement his game, particularly with zone entries.
The biggest and most obviously obstacle for Zohorna will be getting used to a smaller North American rink (200 feet in length by 85 feet in width) compared to what he typically played on in Europe (generally 200 feet in length by 100 feet in width).
He is an intriguing prospect, albeit one who will take a fair amount of develoment.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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