Blackhawks select Vaclav Nestrašil No. 25 overall in 2025 NHL Draft
The Chicago Blackhawks took a chance on one of the more intriguing forwards available at the 2025 NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles by selecting lanky centerman Vaclav Nestrasil with the 25th overall pick on Friday night.
The pick originally belonged to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but was traded to Chicago as part of the deal that saw Jake McCabe, among other assets, go to the Leafs for Joey Anderson, Pavel Gogolev and two picks.
Nestrasil’s USHL career didn’t exactly start with a bang; he was held off the scoresheet in an 11-game sample in 2023-24 before scuffling to eight points in his first 21 last season. There are two reasons his uninspiring first impression in the US didn’t tank his draft stock.
The first was his furious finish, when the Czech national adjusted to the North American game to reel off 34 points down the stretch and another 13 in 14 playoff games as his Muskegon Lumberjacks won the Clark Cup. Nestrasil’s rapid improvement actually convinced UMass to take him on a year early, and he’ll debut for the Minutemen next season.
The second is his undeniably intriguing makeup. Nestrasil stands 6-foot-5 and keeps the puck on a string, a combination that is enough to make scouts salivate in the size-obsessed NHL and shot him up into the 30s in Daily Faceoff’s final prospect rankings.
He’s still far from being a power forward, and didn’t seem prepared for the physicality of the USHL, let alone the NHL, at the start of the season. Still, he made adjustments as the year went on and will continue to improve as he grows into his body.
If he packs on the pounds during his UMass tenure, he’ll be able to use his big frame to buy time to make skill plays, a luxury smaller players don’t have.
“Just scratching the surface” is an overused cliche in prospect evaluation, but it applies here. Hawks’ fans might have to wait a while to see Nestrasil play professionally, but if he puts it all together, they could be getting excellent value on the rangy puckhandler.
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