Photo courtesy of hokejkv.cz

Fantasy Summary

A big and mobile goalie who is calm in net and also owns good reflexes. Has potential to become an NHL starter but has a long way to go before that becomes a realistic target for him.


Observations

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May 2021- The 2020-21 season was a shaky one for the 2020 fourth-round selection. Transitioning from the Czech professional league to the QMJHL in early March, he recorded slightly better numbers with Acadie-Bathurst but still demonstrated inconsistencies in the net. Some nights, Bednar looked close to unstoppable, allowing just one or two goals. On other nights, however, he would surrender four or five, even allowing seven in game two of Acadie-Bathurst’s playoff series against Charlottetown. To be fair, the Titan typically allowed a lot of shots at Bednar as he faced north of 35 shots on seven occasions and he even faced 40-plus shots on goal in five games. Responding to a high volume of shots can certainly take its toll on a netminder and Bednar’s 2020-21 production in net should be taken with a grain of salt. Still just 18-years-old, the 6-4, 196 pound goalie still has plenty of time to work out the kinks before Detroit even considers bringing him to the professional ranks. John Gove

January 2021 – It has been a rough start to the season for Detroit’s fourth-round selection in the 2020 draft. Bednar has played five games at the Czech men’s level, sporting a .867 save percentage and 4.16 goals-against average. It is important to remember, however, that he is still just an 18-year-old goaltender playing in a professional men’s league and is still thought of highly enough in the Czech program to have been included as their third goaltender at the recent World Junior Championships. He will have a chance to compete for the starting job at next year’s tournament and a strong finish to the 2020-2021 season would go a long way. Nick Richard

October 2020 – Bednář was drafted 107th overall by the Red Wings. Like most 18-year-old goalies, Bednář will need multiple years before he’s even ready to play in the AHL.  Jokke Nevalainen

March 2020 – Bednář is a big, mobile goalie. He is calm in net, uses his size and stays square to the puck, but he can also make some stellar saves thanks to his good reflexes. On the other side, sometimes he looks too lazy in net. He has solid puck handling skills, he even scored a goal at the under-16 level. He likes to play with his stick but he needs to minimize mistakes with the puck. Last season, at age 16, Bednář made his Extraliga debut with Karlovy Vary. He was outstanding in almost all of the 15 games he played, and he helped his team avoid relegation from the top league in the country. He wasn’t as great this season recording a 4.39 goals against average and 0.844 save percentage in 13 games but he generally played against top opponents. His two superb performances came against regular season winner Liberec. He has always been great playing against guys the same age at international level. Bednář is expected to leave Karlovy Vary after this year’s NHL Draft, where he is projected to go somewhere in the third or fourth round.  Czech Prospects

Attributes
Fantasy Upside 7.5
NHL Certainty 2.5
Country CZE
Position G
Roster Type Junior
Shoot/Glove Left
Date of Birth August 26, 2002
Height 6‘4”
Weight 196 lbs
Drafted 2020 Round 4; Overall: 107

Stats

 Season Team League GP GAA SVS%      Playoffs GP GAA SVS%
 2014-2015 Karlovarsky kraj U15MMCR4 7.22 -|      
 2015-2016 Karlovarsky kraj U15ODM4 3.35 .899|      
 2016-2017 HC Karlovy Vary U16Czechia U1623 3.73 .881|      
  Karlovarsky kraj U15MMCR5 3.47 .902|      
 2017-2018 HC Karlovy Vary U16Czechia U1622 2.71 .904|      
  HC Karlovy Vary U18Czechia U1817 2.32 .917|Playoffs1 3.05 .850
  HC Energie Karlovy Vary U20Czechia U206 3.55 .925|      
  Czechia U16 (all)International-Jr8 3.09 .912|      
 2018-2019 HC Energie Karlovy Vary U20Czechia U1922 2.39 .917|      
  HC Energie Karlovy VaryCzechia10 2.73 .917|Relegation5 2.59 .915
  Czechia U17EYOF3 0.67 .977|      
  Czechia U17WHC-173 4.83 .848|      
  Czechia U17 (all)International-Jr16 2.13 .929|      
  Czechia U18WJC-182 3.09 .902|      
  Czechia U18 (all)International-Jr3 2.17 .928|      
 2019-2020 HC Energie Karlovy VaryCzechia13 4.39 .884|      
  Czechia U18 Hlinka Gretzky Cup4 4.47 .828|      
  HC Banik SokolovCzechia224 3.26 .873|      
  Czechia U18 (all)International-Jr12 3.21 .892|      
 2020-2021 HC Energie Karlovy VaryCzechia5 4.16 .867|      
  Acadie-Bathurst TitanQMJHL12 3.62 .894|Playoffs7 3.24 .908
  Czechia U20WJC-200 - -|      
  Czechia U20 (all)International-Jr1 1.00 .958|      
 2021-2022 Acadie-Bathurst TitanQMJHL47 2.72 .912|Playoffs8 2.93 .895
  Czechia U20 (all)WJC-20 Cancelled1 1.96 .938|      
  Czechia U20WJC-203 4.00 .851|      
  Czechia U20 (all)International-Jr10 3.61 .862|      
 2022-2023 Acadie-Bathurst TitanQMJHL10 4.46 .874|      
  Grand Rapids GriffinsAHL0 - -|      
  Toledo WalleyeECHL3 3.01 .901|      
 2023-2024 Grand Rapids GriffinsAHL0 - -|      
  Toledo WalleyeECHL36 2.66 .901|Playoffs5 2.37 .917
 2024-2025 Toledo WalleyeECHL4 2.25 .917|      

Highlights