SCoC Draft Profiles: Jakub Skarek is a great goalie with a weird quirk

Analysis:

There are actually two Jakub Skareks.

The first one is the Jakub Skarek in the Czech Republic. Czech Republic Jakub Skarek is a hard nut to crack, finding pucks with ease, tracks plays easily, makes crazy, flexible saves at the drop of a hat with that impressive 6’4 size that he can recover from shockingly well from a guy his size, has wonderful rebound control, and fantastic save-%’s over the course of any of the many places and teams he’s ended up going over the years. And all over the place he’s been, both playing in the Extraliga and the 2nd league.

And then there’s international Jakub Skarek, and honestly...that’s probably why he’s going to find himself dropping out of the 2nd round altogether. In international competition, he’s a career .872 in Save-%, of which the worst came this year with a .801 Save-% in 7 games in international competition, and a .848 Save-% in 5 games at the World Juniors. I honestly don’t know what the hell happens to him during these times since having the “best” of his kin around him should probably keep him up like his comparable Lukas Dostal, but for whatever reason he seems to just get his game knocked completely out of him during international tournaments.

The best I can say as for why is that if Skarek gets a goal-against, maybe his confidence seems to plummet. Low confidence leads to crappy goals, crappy goals leads to further bad play, etc. etc. Which is a real shame. Skarek was slated to be the #1 goalie among European skaters until the end of this year, where international Skarek ended up making him drop in comparison to his more cool-headed compatriot.

With time, Skarek could probably make for a fantastic player, but Skarek’s development will likely come with more building of confidence with the Lahti Pelicans in 2018-19 and with more pro-level experience. Being patient with him will likely be the biggest thing. But for the price of a third rounder? His sheer flexibility and his ability to recover from second chance opportunities definitely makes him worth a shot.

Player Rankings:

2nd by NHL Central Scouting among European Skaters

95th by FutureConsiderations