Penguins forward prospect Lukas Svejkovsky can be 'pretty special' with the puck

Lukas Svejkovsky finished as the leading scorer of the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers last season.

And he didn’t play a game for them beyond Dec. 27.

That’s when he was traded to the Seattle Thunderbirds.

In a testament to how prolific Svejkovsky was and how putrid the Tigers were, he finished the 2021-22 season as that team’s leading scorer with 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in only 24 games.

Suffice to say, Svejkovsky, a Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect, was grateful for the transaction.

“I was in Medicine Hat for 2½ years,” said Svejkovsky, a fourth-round pick by the Penguins in 2020. “I just loved it there. I got super close to some of the guys. The coaching staff was unbelievable towards me. They were in more of a rebuilding situation this year. (Tigers coach and general manager) Willie Desjardins, he was just great towards me and gave me a really good opportunity with Seattle to go to a contender. Seattle, I think, was a perfect fit for me.”

The Thunderbirds seemed to like the fit as well.

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.

In the postseason, Svejkovsky helped the Thunderbirds win the WHL’s Western Conference and advance to the league championship, falling to the Edmonton Oil Kings, 4-2. During that playoff run, Svejkovsky was second on the team with 28 points (11 goals, 17 assists) in 24 contests.

After not having any sort of postseason in the WHL for the previous two years due to the pandemic, Svejkovsky was just grateful to get any type of playoff, let alone embark on a run to a championship series.

“Yeah, it was obviously unbelievable to have playoffs again,” he said. “It’s just something that you play for. That’s why you’re a hockey player. It was really fun going out there and just being able to compete and work your hardest every night. It was unfortunate that we didn’t have it the prior two years. When it was back, it was super exciting for sure.”

Penguins management seems fairly exuberant in what they have with Svejkovsky (5-foot-10, 165 pounds). He signed a three-year entry-level contract April 5 and is expected to begin his professional career with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League next season. This past week, Svejkovsky participated in the franchise’s prospect development camp in Cranberry.

“He’s pretty dynamic,” Penguins director of player development Tom Kostopoulos said. “He’s shifty. He’s got hockey sense. He’s creative with the puck, and he can make things happen offensively. He’s done that at the junior level. (Turning professional) is almost always an adjustment for a guy coming from junior. But he’s got a good attitude and a good work ethic.”

A lot of Svejkovsky’s hockey gifts were handed down from his father, former NHL forward Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovsky.

A veteran of four NHL seasons in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Czech-born Jaroslav Svejkovsky serves as a skills coach with the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate in Abbottsford, B.C.

“He obviously knows the game so much,” Lukas Svejkovsky said of his father, who played for the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. “He has a lot of insight for me. He’s been great for me. It’s hard not to take it for granted. But it’s unbelievable, the stuff that he’s done. I owe the world to him.”

The Svejkovskys’ world is largely based in Washington state. Lukas Svejkovsky was born in Tampa but only spent a year there before his family moved to Point Roberts, Wash., one of the most unique places in the United States, geographically speaking.

With a population of only 1,191 as of the 2020 census, Point Roberts is a pene-exclave, meaning it is not connected to the rest of the United States by land but shares a border with Canada.

Situated at the southern tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula, the bulk of which is Canadian territory, Point Roberts is surrounded by Boundary Bay to the west, south and east. While water crossings are viable, any land travel to the rest of the state requires driving 25 miles through Canada in order to re-enter the United States.

The Oregon Treaty of 1846 between the United States and United Kingdom established the boundary of the United States and Canada in Western North America as the 49th parallel (with the exception of Vancouver Island to the west). Unbeknown to all parties involved, the land mass that eventually became Point Robert sat south of the 49th parallel.

In the nearly two centuries since the treaty was signed, there has been debate about Canada annexing Point Roberts but little, if any, action has been taken in that regard.

Jaroslav Svejkovsky, whose junior career unfolded with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, based in Kennewick, Wash., moved his family to Point Roberts and that led to Lukas Svejkovsky having a really unique childhood.

“I was the only boy in the school for one of the years,” Lukas Svejkovsky said. “That was when I was in grade two or something.”

Several grades later, Svejkovsky attended the Delta Hockey Academy just across the border in Delta, B.C.

“(Point Roberts is) a kind of unique, weird, little spot,” Svejkovsky said. “I just crossed the border every morning to go to school. The school is about 10, 15 minutes away from my house with the border. So it was pretty close. Same thing with the rink. It was about 20, 25 minutes from my house.

“That was a really cool experience.”

Svejkovsky’s next experience in hockey will be as a professional. Management is eager to see how he’ll adjust to that level.

“There will be some things to learn along the way,” Kostopoulos said. “But what he can do with the puck and what he can create is pretty special.”