With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Lukas Svejkovsky
Position: Center
Shoots: Right
Age: 20
Height: 5-foot-10
Weight: 165 pounds
2021-22 WHL statistics: 57 games, 76 points (35 goals, 41 assists)
Contract: Entering the first year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $859,167. Pending restricted free agent in the 2025 offseason.
Acquired: Fourth-round draft pick (No. 108 overall), Oct. 7, 2020
Last season: Svejkovsky opened the 2020-21 campaign as a member of the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers and got off to a fast start with seven points (six goals, one assist) in his first three games.
But with the Tigers’ season going no where fast — they finished a league-worst 11-53-1 for 26 points — Svejkovsky was dealt to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Dec. 27.
(Svejkovsky was so productive and the Tigers were so bad that he was still the team’s leading scorer by the end of the regular season with 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in only 24 games with Medicine Hat.)
Once with Seattle, Svejkovsky, who grew up nearby in Point Roberts, Wash., really took off.
Often deployed on the right wing of the top line with fellow NHL draftees such as Jared Davidson (Montreal Canadiens), Reid Schaefer (Edmonton Oilers) or Henrik Rybinski (Washington Capitals), Svejkovsky posted 46 points (22 goals, 24 assists) in 33 games with the Thunderbirds. Svejkovsky was also utilized on the power play, recording 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) on the man advantage.
In the postseason, Svejkovsky helped the Thunderbirds win the WHL’s Western Conference. In the league’s championship series, Seattle fell to the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-2, in early June. As for Svejkovsky, he was second on the Thunderbirds with 28 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in 24 playoff games.
On April 5, Svejkovsky signed his entry-level contract with the Penguins. He is currently attending the team’s prospect development camp.
The future: The son of former Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovsky, Lukas Svejkovsky, who turns 21 in November, will take his first steps as a professional next season, presumably with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL).
While he was a prolific scorer in the WHL, one of the top junior leagues in the world, it’s a whole other type of challenge to collect points in the American Hockey League against grown men (most of whom are significantly larger than the very compact Svejkovsky).
He has plenty of speed as well as a sharp hockey IQ and those qualities will always give him a chance to be on the radar for an NHL opportunity. He just has to figure out the details of the professional game (i.e. get acclimated with the defensive demands required of virtually any would-be NHL forward).
So there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic — albeit cautiously — about Svejkovsky being a legit NHL prospect.
