The Scouting Report
Tomas Galvas is an 18-year-old defenseman from Zlin, Czechia, he was born on February 11, 2006 and is a left-handed shooter. He spent the 2023-24 season playing for quite a few teams, including the HC Olomouc U20, Bílí Tygrí Liberec U20, Bílí Tygrí Liberec and Czechia’s U18 World Junior Championship team. Throughout all of these teams he played a total of 53 games with only 21 points (six goals and 15 assists.) He is projected to be drafted around #71 in the 2024 draft.
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Draft Projections
#71 Inside The Rink
#50 Elite Prospects
#33 NHL Central Scouting (EU Skaters)
#41 DobberProspects
Conrad Jack of Inside The Rink has Tomas Galvas projected at 71st overall.
Diving Deeper
Galvas seems to start out as kind of an underdog and then show his skill later on, in each different league and team he played on in the 2023-24 season he started out as a depth role, as a healthy scratch and on the second defense pairing. As he moved up, he ended up with close to 30 minutes of ice time, ended as one of Czechia’s top-four defensemen, and as the U18 undisputed number one defenseman. He certainly has the ability to play well but seems to struggle getting there.
Skating Agility and Hockey IQ
Galvas is quick on his edges and compliments his skating abilities with his stick-handling abilities. He is capable of walking the blue line with ease and supporting his offense, scanning the play, and responding with well-thought-out and well-timed attacks in the offensive zone.
Galvas possesses an extra step that allows him to create separation from the opposition, making his overall skating ability a significant strength. He demonstrates intelligence in his positional game, fearlessly jumping into offensive opportunities when they arise. His excellent vision up the middle of the ice and ability to anticipate pressure result in accurate passes to his defensive partner.
Steven Pratas, Dobber Prospects
Effective Three-Zone Player
Galvas is an effective three-zone player with the ability to evade most fore-checking pressure while easily carrying the puck up the ice. He can activate play from the offensive blue line and into the play in place given the opportunity, his defensive range is also vast despite his size.
Tomas Galvas is a solid puck moving defenseman, who does an excellent job in keeping the puck secure with traffic at his side. He won’t force the puck into tight pressure deliberately, but has shown that if he is encountering multiple attackers that he can keep his feet and hands moving to secure the puck and position it away from the attackers before chipping it off the boards. Galvas does a good job of using an active stick to trap attackers and force them to dump the puck in the neutral zone and take away potential shooting / passing lanes in his own zone. He has an excellent power stride that he will use to get himself into position to defend should be a bit too far away from where he needs to be.
Josh Tessler, SMHAT Scouting
Areas for Improvement
The biggest concern with Galvas is his size. Although he has defensive strengths, he will need to bulk up a bit in order to succeed in the NHL. Some of his offensive abilities come in flashes, so he will need to learn how to be more reliable in an offensive position. He will also need to acclimate to the North American playing style, which many prospects will have to do.
Final Thoughts
Tomas Galvas has almost all of the skills that could put him at the NHL level if he is able to add some bulk to his frame and hone in some of his skills. He certainly has a place on an NHL roster with the way he can see up the middle and his three-way playing abilities. His North American career will likely start out in the AHL and once he matures a bit, it is more likely that we will see him at an NHL level.
ITR 43: It's Winning Time – Inside The Rink
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