Tomáš Chrenko

Time for another series at McKeen’s from our scouting staff. The 2026 NHL Draft season is well under way and our scouts have been busy soaking in the action around the globe. Analyzing early season play can be difficult; perhaps even a bit of a ruse. Hot starts aren’t always sustainable and cold starts are not always indicative. However, players can still catch our attention in positive ways and that’s what this series intends to highlight.

This is CENTRAL EUROPE

Matej Deraj – Regional Central European Scout
Tomáš Chrenko
Center/Right Wing – HK Nitra (Slovakia)
5-foot-11, 170 pounds, Shoots: R

Chrenko is probably the highest-touted Slovak prospect for the upcoming draft, having been noted as a potential first round talent. He´s playing in the highest Slovak division with solid production, even playing some minutes on the powerplay. The even strength deployment is not amazing, since he’s been playing on the fourth line for essentially the whole season (usually 11 to 14 minutes a game), but the powerplay usage is encouraging.

Chrenko is mostly known for his hockey IQ. He´s smart and creative with the puck, creates a lot of chances for his teammates and controls the pace of the play. He´s able to use his smarts against men in a professional league. Although the production isn´t amazing (approximately a 0.5 point per game), it´s still decent. He´s a confident playmaker with soft hands.

Skating is one of his biggest strengths, he´s quick and agile, smooth on the edges, uses his speed to escape the pressure and create chances. It obviously comes with the bigger ice advantage in Europe – he may not be able to use his feet to gain speed in the neutral zone so much when playing in North America, but he´s agile and elusive, so he has no problem with his movement.

As an offensive forward, Chrenko should work on his defensive effort, and the main concern with him is the lack of size. Even though he does have some bite to his game, he´s an undersized center who ideally profiles as a top-six player, which is not a very popular archetype. He does have the potential to become an important player in the NHL one day, but he´s fighting an uphill battle. Nevertheless, the potential is immense and should be an early round pick.

#29 in blue

Chrenko slips past defenders and finds an open space for him, receives a pass and goes to the net. At the last moment, he passes the puck to an open teammate who has no problem scoring. Great selfless play, this is what happens when you give Chrenko so much time and space.

#29 in white

Chrenko competes hard for the puck, but his smaller frame is not giving him any favors. When his team gains possession, he loses the puck and Nitra faces a 3-on-2 breakaway, but Chrenko is able to match the F3 to even the situation. The clip ends with him getting in the face of an opposing player who boarded one of his teammates, so a very welcoming display of feistiness.

#29 in blue

Chrenko can do so much when given open space, but he´s also able to overcome more difficult situations. He quickly gains speed in this clip, makes a nice move to lose the first opponent and enters the zone, then shoots the puck from distance trying to surprise the goalie and even tracks the rebound at the boards.

#29 in blue

He stands out due to his hockey IQ and quick thinking. In this clip, he supports the puck-carrying forward, gets the puck and makes a quick turn. He immediately identifies a potential scoring chance and sends the puck to a teammate, who doesn´t bury it.

Adam Nemec
Left Wing – HK Nitra (Slovakia)
6-foot-1, 176 pounds, Shoots: L

Adam Nemec is the younger brother of Devils´ defenseman Šimon Nemec and just like his sibling, he´s also a talented player for Slovakia. Unlike his brother, Adam is a forward, and most likely won´t be the second overall pick. Nevertheless, he´s still an intriguing player. He’s playing on HK Nitra´s fourth line along other 2026 prospect Tomáš Chrenko and gets some shorthanded minutes.

Nemec is a smart winger who won´t amaze you on the first sight with his hockey IQ, but he plays a detail-oriented game and does a lot of small things right. He has great space awareness in the offensive zone and gets himself in dangerous areas to score from. He´s more of a shooter than a playmaker and scores even from the net front area, although he’s not the biggest player at 6-foot-1 he´s still a bit lanky and will add more muscle in the future.

Nemec has had issues with his skating in the past but continues to improve his movement and now he´s able to play in a faster system, although I still wouldn´t consider his skating as a main asset. His effort level is great, he´s dangerous on the forecheck, finishes his checks and works well in the defensive zone. He plays with enough physicality and intensity, and it will be even better when he adds more muscle to his frame.

There might be some questions about his projection. He´s a versatile player who doesn´t necessarily excel in any area, but competes high, has a decent hockey IQ and can provide a team with enough scoring. I see a middle-six winger able to play on both special teams in Adam Nemec.

#18 in blue

Nemec helps his team to gain the puck with a couple of stick checks and then sprints towards the goal. Suddenly it´s a 2-on-1 breakaway when he absolutely loses the backchecking forward. He receives the pass and is able to put the puck behind the goalie even with his skate. It´s mostly the things he has done before the goal that I appreciate.

#21 in blue

I like this goal from Nemec. Nothing overly complicated – he waits for the puck in the right spot and gets it. Quick turn, quick shot and it´s a goal.

#18 in blue

Good stint in the offensive zone. Nemec goes to the net, is able to retrieve the puck and then waits in line to tip the shot from the blue line. Later, he´s again able to retrieve it along the boards and goes to position himself in front of the net. Good movement in the offensive zone.

#18 in blue

Nemec has the potential to be a physical forward but needs to gain a lot of muscle. In this clip, he competes and takes the puck on the forecheck, but even a slight contact along the boards can throw him off.

Adam Goljer
Defenseman – Dukla Trenčín (Slovakia)
6-foot-3, 194 pounds, Shoots: R

Goljer is a prospect who doesn’t get the same attention as other top 2026 names from Slovakia – Tomáš Chrenko, Adam Nemec or Tobias Tomík – but he´s an intriguing player with great tools. As a 6-foot-3 right-handed defenseman who plays well with the puck and displays some leadership qualities, he should get a lot of interest from NHL teams. He’s playing in Slovak top tier league with Dukla Trenčín, usually skating about 15 minutes a night.

Goljer displays a lot of confidence in his game, especially with the puck on his stick. He´s calm, doesn´t throw pucks away, but tries to create plays and support the offense. A strong player on the breakouts and retrievals. He likes to jump to the rush or create plays while skating from his own zone. Defensively, he works well with his stick and uses his reach. He plays as a typical two-way defenseman.

His size (6-foot-3, 194 pounds) is definitely an advantage, but he´s not an overly physical player – that´s an aspect of his game he can work on, because he definitely has the potential. Goljer competes hard enough, has some bite to his game and wins battles, but adding more physical edge to his game would make him even tougher to play against.

Goljer is not a flashy prospect as aforementioned Chrenko or Nemec, but his profile might be even more intriguing. There have been some defensemen in Slovakia with his size and handiness, but Goljer has far more superior puck skills, skating and smarts to his game. He is a very projectable defenseman and has a lot of tools NHL teams like. He could grow into a reliable bottom-four blueliner with solid two-way skills.

#8 in maroon

Goljer gets to the puck behind his net first, retrieves it and withstands all attempts from the forechecking forward to strip him of the puck. He gains some space and passes to a teammate, then continues to the offensive zone while being supported from the back.

#8 in yellow

Goljer displays good awareness and solid puck skills in this clip, he gets the puck, makes a quick turn and sends it to his teammate, and it´s suddenly a 2-on-1 chance. Good thinking on Goljer´s side, simple play which helps to create a potentially dangerous chance.

#22 in white

Goljer uses his reach and long stick well. In this clip, he has the advantage since the opposing forward had no chance to gain speed directly after the draw. Goljer uses his stick and then the size advantage to pin the smaller opponent against the boards.

#22 in white

While I admire Goljer´s confidence and effort to try hold the puck and create something, sometimes, he overcomplicates situations and that can lead to preventable puck losses, just like in this case. Combine it with poor defensive effort and you basically stripped yourself of the puck.

Chapin Landvogt – Central European Regional Scout
Simas Ignatavicius
Center/Wing – Genève-Servette HC (NL)
6-foot-3, 180 pounds

As the season unfolds this fall on the Central European front, there’s no one player we’re more enamored with than Geneva’s recently turned 17-year-old forward Simas Ignatavicius. Yes, as international a place as Switzerland is, even that name is one foreign to the natives, as Ignatavicius hails from Lithuania, granted this is his sixth season playing in Switzerland. In fact, he was actually born in Memphis, Tennessee, but that’s a story for another day.

The most important thing you need to know is that he’s already 6-foot-3 and 198 pounds and has surprisingly made his way onto an NL roster at the age of 16, doing so in a matter that has surely put a smirk on the face of plenty of scouts.

Why is that you might ask?

Put simply, Ignatavicius (#80) has been running around out there throwing his weight all over the place, often with reckless abandon. Case in point, this recent shift in which he charged (yes, that might be grounds for charging in many a league) his way across a great distance at the end of his shift in order to nail an opponent, only to give it to the guy again seconds later.

Heck, in this scenario, he’s given a breakout pass in transition and moves up the ice looking like a prime take-me-out target only to dump the puck in the opposition zone in the nick of time and then toss his would-be checker. Dandy!

We’ve also loved that he’s quickly shown himself to be ready to do anything to stick in the line-up. With shot-blocks like these, it’s no wonder he’s been seeing his minutes go from fourth to third line TOIs in recent games.

Curiously though, he caught our eyes already last season while playing for the club’s U21 team and at the DIIA U20 Worlds, where, as a 16-year-old, he collected a gaudy six goals and 14 points in five games, wiping out the competition. That tournament alone is a highlight reel of his abilities, but a key is to know that he’s just recently started putting them on display at the NL level, having collected three points in his last four games. They certainly haven’t all been beauties, but this assist came at a vital juncture in the game and was indicative of the plays we’re becoming accustomed to.

Already at the junior level last season (#17), he started making a name for himself as a clutch player in overtime. This tally wasn’t his best but we feel it’s a bit indicative of why he’s not only been given the Ovechkin spot on the power play in recent years but also carries the moniker of being more a sniper than anything else, even if he usually has as many assists as goals when all is said and done.

Maxim Eliseev
Wing – RB Hockey Juniors (AlpsHL)
5-foot-10, 180 pounds

Now, it wasn’t all that many years ago that we were gushing about German forward Julian Lutz as an underager at the Red Bull Academy in Salzburg, playing – and scoring – against men in the AlpsHL. He has since become an early draft pick of the, well, Utah Mammoths organization and is currently plying his trade in the AHL. Since then, we’ve watched a number of other talents there we’ve liked, with particularly Maks Szuber and Vitali Zelenov jumping out at us, both of whom become late round NHL picks (Utah and Buffalo respectively).

Alas, it hasn’t been since Lutz that we were so enamored with an RB Juniors forward than we are now with current overager Maxim Eliseev. Yes, he’s an overager and is a Finnish player of Russian descent. And yes, he’s turning 20 in just a couple of weeks, so he’s apparently been around. But what we’ve been seeing has really caught our attention as the 19-year-old is leading the league in goals (11) and points (20) while just one point behind the league leader in +/- (+11). And the way he’s gone about collecting those points has been more fantastic and authoritative than not. He’s been a highlight reel machine.

The beauty of it is that he played for Finland at the 2023 U18 Worlds in Germany and then proceeded to rack up two nice, but unspectacular U20-league seasons in Finland, coming into this season with just eight games of pro play experience (4 points) in the Mestis, Finland’s second tier pro circuit. We don’t know what he’s done this summer or if there’s just been some magic in that Austrian water, because he’s been playing absolutely electric for weeks now.

Here’s a bit of what we are seeing on a day-in, day-out basis.

Eliseev dangles. He doesn’t just give away the puck; he looks to go as far as he can. And he’s getting away with it more and more.

As could be seen, in the previous highlight, he doesn’t hesitate to shoot. And as can be seen in his statline, he often hits the net. This kind of thing just looked too doggone easy, and it came off a wicked wrist shot from just about the blueline no less.

Making opponents look silly this easily will rightfully have you questioning the quality of league play but this doesn’t detract from his shiftiness and the agility to viably change lanes before wickedly sniping the biscuit.

Moreover, this one-timer in the slot capped off a recent hattrick but also serves exemplary for a number of his goals this season (and in the preseason). He loves to let it rip as it arrives. It’s his go-to shot, to be honest.

Naturally, going on 20 and being of just average size, Eliseev will have to keep up this pace all season long to truly put himself into the draft discussion but even in the AlpsHL, it’s completely unusual to have a player this young showing this level of explosive effectiveness. We’re definitely going to be following this story.

Tobias Krämer
Defense – Jungadler Mannheim U20 (DNL U20)
6-foot-6, 210 pounds

As much as we’re looking forward to a very fascinating and perhaps surprisingly strong WJC performance from Germany this winter, we’ve entered the season well aware of Germany serving as a somewhat barren landscape for the 2026 draft. Not only did we see top prospect Darian Rolsing as a bit of a long shot, but he’s over in North America with just about every non-drafted prospect of interest, a few overagers included.

But in situations like this, we’re always happy to find a few surprises and after early season showings, a Czech German with the very German name of Tobias Krämer is raising a few eyebrows. He does indeed play for Mannheim’s powerhouse DNL team, and the league is tough to scout as there’s plenty of sloppy and unimpressive ice hockey to be seen there. And although he’s got nine assists in 14 games, that’s rarely ever been anything worth denoting.

However, he’s an RHD and already 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds. And he hits. He’s one of the league’s most physical players and displays not only a very simple game, but a suffocating one at that. Despite throwing his weight around in a manner that has left several opponents lying around on the ice, he’s gotten one two-minute penalty all season. The checks are valid and well-timed.

His game is not perfect – especially gap control – but he (#33) has been showing how he turns even that to his advantage as he is brutally effective at edging out attacking opponents.

The force of hits is evident time and time again. Even if – as already mentioned – one could argue about gap control, we are seeing board work like this in each and every game.

And when things don’t go his way, he still applies his body to put things in perspective, as seen here where he perhaps tries one move too many but still makes someone pay for it.

Thankfully, his physical presence isn’t the only thing he brings to the table. We can’t wait to see what it’ll mean with some play at the pro level, but he does rush the puck and has made his way to the opposition net on his own accord plenty of times in recent years. This is one of many excursions we’ve seen him make.

Finally, his nine assists haven’t just been pure byproducts. He is being entrusted with minutes at important times and has shown a modicum of playmaking ability, as seen in this overtime assist.

There are issues to be dealt with and his shots from the point aren’t exactly a strength to date, but Krämer is proving to be an exciting possibility moving forward and we’re happy that he’s got plenty of time this season to keep grabbing our attention.

Simon Johansson – European Video Scout
Filip Novak
Left wing / Center – HC Sparta Praha U20
6-foot-1, 198 pounds

Last season was an injury riddled one for Filip Novak. Only played a total of 21 games between his international, U17 and U20 team. He really impressed in his D-2 in the U17 team but was not able to continue that success into his D-1. This year Filip is looking to dominate the juniors and have even gotten to suit up for a game with HC Sparta Praha men’s team in the highest Czechian league.

Filip is a big, skilled forward that likes to have the puck on his stick. He drives play by skating with the puck along the boards, using his big body to shield himself from incoming forecheckers, getting the puck to his defensemen who can then put shots towards the net. Filip often tries to stay out of the perimeter and likes to drive the middle for better looks. He is moving constantly in his own end to either help dig out pucks with his defensemen or being a passing option for breakouts. When the puck gets out of his own end, Filip will want to build up speed through the neutral zone to then create a lot of rush chances.

Watching some tape of the big winger you’ll notice that he has some finesse with the puck as well. He’ll lure in stick checks only to quickly pull back and get the defenders off balance or combine stickhandling with skating at high speeds, weaving in crossovers evading pressure.

While Filip has been point-per-game at the junior level, there’s also a lot of chances that go to waste. He drives play well as mentioned before but lacks a bit of finishing ability in his goalscoring and playmaking. It’ll be interesting to see if he can stick around in the pros and establish a role there, hopefully in a top 9 line as Filip is definitely more of a scorer than a two-way player. It’s still very early in the season and we have to remember that he missed a lot of time from last year. With more games played this year, there’s a good chance to see a different kind of player compared to where we are right now.

VIDEOS

#18 in the clip
Jumps on the puck in the neutral zone to then drive play in the offensive zone, eventually getting the puck to one of his defensemen. Also highlights some nice dangles in getting the puck up high.

#18 in the clip

Another clip of Filip driving play in the offensive zone. After he leaves the puck for a teammate, he immediately tries to find new space, getting the defense moving and opening up passing lanes.

#18 in the clip

Here he makes a good zone entry by combining stickhandling and weaving crossovers.