Jakub Kuklinski is a heavy winger who plays with power and a great downhill drive, motoring up ice with the puck. He is a good skater and looked fast in this game, sprinting after loose pucks on the forecheck and getting deep into the opposing end. He also flashed some good two way abilities using his stick and body to apply pressure. Alongside all of this he displayed really good hands and offensive creation, pushing play and helping to drive offence for the Senators.

Kuklinski played really well, playing that strong protect the puck and drive for scoring chances game that I have highlighted in past reports. He could shield the puck really well to the outside, create chances off the wing, and drive the net for good looks. While this was all great to see, it’s all elements I’ve seen from him in past viewings, his ability to work off the wall and drive for shots has been the tools that I’ve noticed from Kuklinski in plenty of views. In this game, I thought he showed a bit more passing creativity, slipping pucks through lanes and creating chances for those around him. The shooting threat has always been there, so it was nice to see a new element come a bit more into the foreground. He scored one net front and added an assist off a puck protection sequence chained into a slot pass, making for a well-rounded offensive performance from the Senators forward.

There was a lot to like in my views of Kuklinski and the Senators. On the surface, there is a really promising set of physical tools, he’s a strong skater, can shift direction seamlessly, and can handle pucks really well in motion. Add in a powerful shot with a quick release, and you have the workings of a really promising player. I thought he used all those tools well to drive positive results. Carrying pucks with confidence, shielding pucks to the outside, a desire to drive the middle of the ice, and all-around just looking to make plays. He racked up scoring chance after scoring chance, typically off the rush, attacking with speed and looking to unleash shots through screens. There was a solid forechecking element to his game, adding another element to the mix of an already promising set of offensive tools. All around just a really strong performance for a player that was previously well on my radar as a top player to watch in this group.

Kuklinski stood out in my initial view of his game at the WSI for his skating, and again stood out as he was zooming all over the ice. I found he was able to utilize his abilities more to his advantage, gaining steps on defenders' moves, taking pucks wide and attacking the net after creating separation with his feet. While it was nice to see the explosive skating in my preliminary evaluation, seeing him apply it to drive scoring chances over the Draft Day Showcase left a stronger impression.

Kuklinski didn't create much in this one, but I noticed his promising physical tools, which I wanted to mention. He proved to be an explosive skater who handled pucks well in motion, connecting on a few nice sequences, controlling play on the outside of the zone and protecting the puck, leveraging his physical advantages. Jakub was hard to knock off the puck and smartly used body position to extend plays and shield pucks from defenders who were applying pressure.

He was one of the forwards who was truly flashing higher end creativity as a longer-style puck carrier who liked to continue possession on his own and survey his options in how to attack. These included trying to snipe shots directly off faceoffs, terrific cuts to the interior to get better shot angles, and trying his best to get behind defenders early on to get separation spacing off the rush. He’s someone who really was looking for offense in all situations and would leave the zone a little early to find it. This allowed him to get multiple breakaway opportunities or really test defenders on 2on2 spots by trying to get the defenders to chase him wider. He thinks the game offensively at higher levels and that looks to be his calling card.

While it wasn’t his most dominant game, you still got to see flashes of all the elements which are going to benefit him moving forward like the long-style possession qualities to survey the ice while in motion and adapting. He was really dancing around the offensive zone his first shift and using that skill at high pace. He stayed out high for a breakaway goal too and established that earlier on. He can rotate back defensively and cover the point, push hard in small puck pursuit moments, and use quick changes in direction to make a pass.

It is tough to stop him or really slow him down. His confidence shines like a beacon when he’s on the ice as a long-style puck carrier who wants to use his agility to challenge players and force them to adapt to his pacing and skill. He included a consistent open posture, toe drags, hesitation moves, and really any little thing to try and get players off balance. While it didn’t work every time and players could try their best to stop the rollercoaster early, Jakub was the most consistently dangerous player off of both teams today. Even if ability to read pressure and pre-time his stick lifts on defenders hoping to be first to pucks shows a high level of hockey mind.

It’s probably going to take a while to get a full handle on the kind of player Jakub is and naturally he has a while before his draft season in Ontario. He spent most of the game trying to cheat the zone and get behind defenders from his own zone and he did so numerous times. He managed to get high skilled stickhandling goals to his backhand and then later on a fake backhand to forehand attempt too. He was converting when you needed him too and didn’t lack confidence at all. When on neutral ground, he would power to the outside and got forced to dump and try to chase on occasion. He has the smarts to bait defenders wide off the rush too and feed the middle under pressure. There’s a balance of confidence, stickhandling, awareness, but he was looking for spots to find space since his skating was about average with the entirety of the group from escape speed.