Denis Svoboda

Neutral Zone’s Ian Moran, January 23, 2023: Svoboda is a bull of a defensive minded defenseman who at this point in the season is winning 70% of his puck battles while playing just under 20 minutes per-game. I feel he needs to move his feet more to set his gap. There are times when he seems content to sit back letting the play come to him, but when he is aggressive he is fearlessly moving on passes to limit time and space. Offensively he makes the simple and keeps himself out of trouble. So lets look at him, he’s thick as a bull playing on an Olympic sheet in Europe. How does that translate to North America? Well if he continues to work on and develop his first step I feel playing on the small sheet will come easy to him because he will always be in his opponent’s face looking for contact. He definitely needs to improve his overall fitness and footspeed, but I like his physicality and willingness to engage in battles.

U18: 5 Nation Tournament, November 8-14, 2022: Denis packs a lot of pounds on a 6 foot body at 225 pounds, but he is built like a bull. Powerful legs and lower body make him a very good explosive backwards mobility skater, and he can close a gap and seal off a wide lane very quickly with just a couple powerful crossover strides. His skating allows him to play a tight gap vs an attack and he likes to play in the face of the attack, whether standing up at the far blueline to battle and keep pucks in or pinching, or by defending close and challenging. In those moments Denis showed some physical presence but we would like to see much more of it. With his size he should be able to own his defensive corners but he was caught a few times standing and looking and needs to react quicker. Not a big offensive contributor, more of a first pass, follow the play and defend positionally type of player. (Scout: Marlin Muylaert)