Jakub Vanecek

June 2026 – Vanecek came over from Czechia and turned his first WHL season into a top-four role with Tri-City, finishing with 14 goals and 35 points in 59 games and earning a draft combine invite. He’s a left-shot, 6-2 defender who skates well and carries the puck with confidence, the kind of mobile two-way blue-liner NHL teams target: he handles his own end, breaks the puck out cleanly, and can skate the team out of trouble. The shot is above average and the hands are good enough to beat a man one-on-one, which showed up as power-play production with the Americans and again at the U18 Worlds, where he led Czechia with five points in seven games on the way to bronze. He sat as a depth option at the World Juniors without playing but came home with silver. Central Scouting ranked him 31st among North American skaters, and some boards have him pushing the back of the first round. For fantasy the draw is power-play points and a transition game that generates shots and assists; the open question is how far the defensive side comes. A realistic ceiling is a puck-moving second-pair defender with real power-play value, the kind of profile that pays off in points leagues if the projection holds. Andrew Epps