Jiri Sekac is a name that's been generating a lot of buzz of late.
The 22-year-old Czech native has his eyes set on coming across the pond and playing in the NHL next season. Allegedly, there's been a ton of interest in the 6'0" 175lb winger as he's rumoured to have 8-12 firm offers on the table.
Sekac is a former OHL player who headed over to Europe when things didn't pan out, but he looks to have righted the ship coming off an 11-goal campaign where he posted 28 points in 47 games for Kladno.
OHL play-by-play man Vishal Hussain tweeted out that the Devils, Senators and Flyers are all interested in his services, and those three appear to be the front runners.
I don't know how accurate that is, but it seems to be in line with what others have speculated, and given the Devils' love for Czech players, I could certainly see it holding true.
I admittedly have never seen Sekac play, so I'll defer to colleague Bill Meltzer, who watches a fair amount of European hockey on a regular basis.
At the World Championships, Sekac scored goals against Slovakia and Italy to post two points in 10 games. He came close to scoring at least two other goals; hitting the post in games against Norway and Canada. The latter came on an otherwise perfect play where he deked James Reimer on the backhand and had the goalie beaten cleanly but ticked the elevated shot off the inside of the post......
One of main knocks on Sekac is that he is an unorthodox-looking skater. Although he is not a physical player and could stand to be a little harder on the puck, he has shown a greatly improved "compete level" from the time when he a bust in Peterborough. Sekac is a stronger and more confident player than he was then. He has also developed his two-way game.
Sekac is still young enough to be in an upward development cycle. He does not project as a top-six forward in the NHL but could find a role if he continues to develop and is willing to spend time in the AHL and work his way up from there.
Though there's a chance Sekac could still develop into a top-6 forward, the reality is he'll be a third liner in all likelihood. That said, he's Czech, he battles, and plays a two-way game that Lou Lamoriello and co. love so I could see the Devils taking a stab at him.
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It's been a tough week for the Albany Devils, as three players have left the team to sign overseas.
Alex Urbom kicked it all off when he signed a two-year deal with a KHL club. Harri Pesonen followed suit signing a two-year deal in Switzerland, and Mattias Tedenby looks to have signed a contract with the KHL team Sekac played for last season.
With Jon Merrill, Eric Gelinas and Adam Larsson expected to be full time NHLers next season and the potential of Reid Boucher and Keith Kinkaid joining that group as well, there will be tons of roster turnover in Albany.
The good news is they're getting some help, though, as prospects Ben Thomson, Graham Black and Myles Bell are expected to play in Albany next season.
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