Vaclav Nestrasil is quickly becoming one of the best prospects in the Blackhawks’ system, based on the praise he’s earning at every turn.
That trend started during exit interviews in April, when general manager Kyle Davidson brought up Nestrasil unprompted.
“He had a really good year at UMass and probably exceeded my expectations,” Davidson said. “I love the style of play. [There’s] a little bit of a little bit of grit to his game, a little bit of nastiness. He’s a big kid with a lot of room to fill out, but [he has] nice hands.
“I would mention him as someone that I was really excited about his progress. Because you just don’t know, [in] that transition into the college game, if it’s going to take him a little time to acclimate to playing against older players. He jumped in and was really productive from Day One.”
That trend continued during Hawks development camp this week as assistant GM Mark Eaton raved about Nestrasil’s progress.
“Europeans get a bad rap of shying away from physical contact, but he never had any problem getting into the corners, battling to get open in front of the net,” Eaton said. “I love that power forward game from him. As he develops physically, that’ll shore up his stride and just make him an even better skater.”
The 6-6 winger ranked second on UMass with 31 points in 34 games as a freshman last season. The Hawks considered him relatively raw when they drafted him 25th overall in last year’s draft, but he’s ripening quickly. He also tied for fourth on Czechia’s world juniors team with eight points in seven games, and he’ll likely star on that team again this coming December.
This summer, he’s working on his shooting from distance, hoping to expand his offensive threats after scoring most goals around the net last season, and using his body to protect and hold onto pucks along the boards.
As the Hawks transition from solely accumulating prospects to building up their NHL roster, more and more prospects could be used as trade chips, and Nestrasil would be a valuable chip indeed.
But at his size, if the Hawks believe he possesses top-six NHL potential, he’s probably not a guy they should trade. Nestrasil, for his part, admitted to monitoring the Hawks’ prospect pool closely.
“I watch almost everybody and see how they go in their season, how they’re doing,” Nestrasil said. “Everybody has some aspect of their game that they’re really good at. I’m…trying to implement some of their stuff into my game. Obviously, there’s probably going to be a time where we’re going to battle for one spot on the team. But [for] now, we’re just prospects.”
Bulky Boisvert
Forward prospect Sacha Boisvert has already added 15 pounds this summer, up from 190 to 205, and he looks more filled out. Photos comparing his upper-body muscularity now vs. April circulated widely on social media.
“I think I’m at a pretty good spot if the season started tomorrow,” Boisvert said. “We’re halfway [through the summer], so it’s going to be a big push at the end.”
He was the grizzled veteran of development camp with his seven games of NHL experience from April, which taught him a lot. He’ll fight for a job in training camp this season, although he’ll likely start in Rockford.
“It definitely clarifies the conversation,” Eaton said. “A lot of times, [with] guys [who] didn’t get the experience of a handful of games at the end, you have to try to convince them, ‘This is what to expect.’ Sacha experienced it, and now he knows exactly what to expect, what the next level feels like.”
West goes east
Forward prospect Mason West’s stats after switching from football to hockey for the second half of the season didn’t exactly pop. The 6-6 winger tallied 31 points in 47 games (regular and postseason combined) for the USHL’s Fargo Force, a lower point-per-game rate than during his 10-game cameo the year before.
“Jumping in [to Fargo] right away was difficult, but once I got comfortable and once I started to gain my confidence and work harder and do extra stuff in practice, it helped me out a lot,” West said.
Eaton said he liked seeing West identify his “B-game” as Fargo’s season progressed, finding ways to be hard to play against even when he wasn’t clicking offensively.
The Hawks considered West extremely raw when drafting him six picks after Nestrasil, so they’ll certainly be patient. The role he earns — and how he performs — as a freshman on a loaded Michigan State team next season, having now committed full-time to hockey, should be illuminating.
“[In] football, there’s a lot of power lifts,” West said. “When I started focusing on hockey, it’s a lot of leg work and agility. Something I really tried to focus on is my strength and core work so [when] I get on the ice, I can be really coordinated. It can help me in my skating, too.”
Gajan turns pro
Goalie prospect Adam Gajan enjoyed a major bounceback season at Minnesota-Duluth, going 19-13-1 with a 2.25 GAA and .908 save percentage — a stark contrast to his 7-12-1 record, 3.33 GAA and .885 save percentage the season before as a freshman.
“Being more calm was a big thing for me,” Gajan said. “I was [moving] way too fast. [By] playing deeper, staying more in the net, [I’m] in a better position to make the save look easy. I like to go to splits and make those highlight-reel saves, but I don’t need to make them so often.”
He was also the only NCAA hockey player to participate in the Olympics, although he didn’t make any game appearances as Slovakia’s backup goalie in Milan.
This spring, he decided to sign his entry-level contract and play pro next year. He arguably sits fifth in the Hawks’ goalie depth chart right now — behind Spencer Knight, Arvid Soderblom, Drew Commesso and Stan Berezhnoy — but he’s convinced he’s going to earn a spot in Rockford.
“In Rockford, there’s a goalie coach, Matt Smith, who I’m really excited to work with,” Gajan said. “A lot of guys stay longer in college for development, and I feel like I’ll get a lot better development in AHL because of him.”
Ben Pope
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