2020 Draft: Pytlik setting sights on reaching NHL

Every Thursday, NHL.com will look ahead to the 2020 NHL Draft with an in-depth profile on one of its top prospects.

Jaromir Pytlik was hoping to find a team that would give him the kind of ice time he needed to showcase his skills.

The 18-year-old forward had to go a long way from his home in Dacice, Czech Republic, but found it with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League.

Pytlik began the 2018-19 season playing with Vitkovice in the Czech Extraliga, the top professional league in the Czech Republic. He had one assist in 24 games but felt he needed to play more in order to develop his game.

"I played in the pro league and I got like five minutes a game or something, so I would just practice," Pytlik said. "So Kyle Raftis, the [Sault Ste. Marie] general manager, called me and asked if I would want to go to the OHL. I want to play a lot and I said 'sure,' because the OHL is probably the best junior league in the world."

Sault Ste. Marie had selected Pytlik in the second round (No. 118) of the 2018 Canadian Hockey League import draft with the expectation he would make his OHL debut this season to make the biggest possible impact on NHL scouts.

Instead, Pytlik arrived in Sault Ste. Marie just after Christmas in 2018, and made his OHL debut Jan. 11, 2019. He scored 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in 26 games, playing mostly right wing.

"The sell factor for him was he wanted to play a North American game," Raftis said. "He wanted to play against the best players in his age group in the world and that was a big selling factor."

Pytlik said it took some time to adjust to the smaller rinks and faster style of play in North America, but those watching him thought he figured it out quickly.

"He's a big (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) right-hand shot, skates really well," Raftis said. "He can create a lot of offensive opportunities for himself and his teammates getting off the wall, getting into those high-danger scoring chance areas. He loves to shoot the puck.

"There's a lot of players with a lot of skill that like to play on the perimeter, but with Jaromir, he likes to play that north/south [style], middle of the ice, go to those hard areas."

This season, playing center and wing, he scored 50 points (22 goals, 28 assists) in 56 games and is No. 46 in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters.

"He's a polished player," Joey Tenute of Central Scouting said. "In a lot of ways he's already pro-ready. He's a big guy, skates well, he's got offensive ability but he's also got strong defensive instincts. ... He's one of the best two-way guys in the draft."

Raftis said the biggest area of growth he has seen in Pytlik's game is his offensive versatility.

"When he first came over, offensively, getting off the wall, creating his own shot, that was always there," he said. "I think in the last little bit he's evolved his offense into playmaking, coming off the cycle, being tough to handle. I think a lot of times there was a lot of one-and-dones off the rush; he'd come down, create a shot and then they'd break out the other way. Now he's been able to extend the O-zone time.

"I think part of it has come with strength, part of it has come with extra confidence that he can hold onto the puck for that extra second and hopefully open up a lane for a good pass, maybe a different shot opportunity. But it's not just that shot off a rush. That evolution offensively is his biggest jump."

Off the ice, Pytlik credits his teammates for helping him learn English and North American customs.

"My English when I come, I can just ... really say like, 'Nice to meet you,' and, 'Hi,'" Pytlik said. "That's it. It was pretty hard. But the boys in the locker room really helped."

Enough so that Pytlik has become part of the team's leadership group this season.

"He's definitely quiet," defenseman and Sault Ste. Marie captain Ryan O'Rourke said. "He's getting better at English. But he's pretty hard-working, a pretty good player, no about that. I think we jell pretty well in the room, on the ice. It's good."

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