Tomas Poletin made his professional debut this past season as a 17-year-old. Is he an option for the Devils in this draft?
We continue our journey through the 2025 NHL draft today with a look at Tomas Poletin. Poletin could be a viable target for the New Jersey Devils in the middle rounds of this upcoming draft. Read on to find out why.
Who Is Tomas Poletin?
Tomas Poletin was born on April 30, 2007. A native of Praha, Czechia, Poletin is listed at a sizable 6’1”, 205lbs according to his profile on Elite Prospects. He is a lefty-shooting left winger according to his bio.
Poletin began his Junior hockey journey with HC Slavia Praha U17. In his first full season in 2022-23, Poletin impressed with 27 goals and 53 points in 36 games. This is even more impressive considering he was playing up a level, as he was still eligible for U16 play that season. In fact, he did skate in 20 games at the U16 International level in 2022-23, posting nine goals and 18 points across 20 total games.
2023-24 saw Poletin make the jump to playing in Finland, where he suited up for Liiga’s Pelicans U18 and U20 squads. In 10 games at the U18 level, Poletin posted four goals and 12 points, and in U20 play, he registered five goals and 14 points in 21 games. He also spent tons of time representing his country in 2023-24. At the U17 level, Poletin played 27 games across various tournaments, posting 13 goals and 29 total points. He also saw action in 18 U18 games at the International level, scoring three goals and eight points. This includes a goal and two points in five games at the prestigious World Junior Championships.
2024-25 saw Poletin take the biggest step of his young career. While in the Liiga U20 system, he posted 13 goals and 20 points in 25 games. This was enough to convince he parent club, Pelicans, to call him up to the big stage. At the ripe old age of 17, Poletin had made it to one of the top professional leagues in the world: Liiga. Unfortunately for Poletin, he was held without a point while skating in 15 total games for the Pelicans.
To make matters worse, 2024-25 also saw Liiga bring back their relegation system, with the bottom two teams (there are 16 teams in Liiga) playing a seven-game series against each other after the regular season. The winner remains in Liiga, but the loser then plays another seven-game series against the champion of Finland’s second-highest pro league, Mestis. And the winner of that series gets the final spot in Liiga for next season. Poletin’s Pelicans finished 15th in the 16-team league, and lost in five games to bottom-seeded Jukurit. With their spot in Liiga on the line, Poletin and Pelicans played Jokerit (confusing, I know) in the relegation series. Thankfully for Poletin and Pelicans, they handled Jokerit in five games to stay in Liiga.
Elsewhere in 2024-25, Poletin suited up for 24 games at the International U18 level, recording 13 goals and 20 points. This included five games at the WJC, at which Poletin was given the honor of being named captain of Czechia’s team. Poletin potted a couple of goals in the tournament.
Where Is Poletin Ranked?
- 14th by NHL Central Scouting (International skaters)
- 53rd by TSN (Craig Button)
- 53rd by Recruit Scouting
- 58th by FCHockey
- 76th by TSN (Bob McKenzie) (January 2025 ranking)
- 89th by McKeen’s Hockey
- 89th by The Athletic (Scott Wheeler)
- Honorable Mention by DobberProspects (Their ranked list included 46 prospects, so consider this a ranking of roughly 50th overall)
What Others Are Saying About Poletin
Let’s start with Elite Prospects, who had this to say about Poletin in their 2025 draft guide:
Poletín plays within his skillset. He’s rugged, attacks in straight lines, and pushes an extreme effort level across all his shifts. He uses his motor with moments of notable physicality on the forecheck, then feeds pucks to his teammates on the inside to create chances out of his steals. He lives in the hard areas and along the walls, winning battles and creating space for his teammates.
Neutral Zone published a scouting report on Poletin back in January, starting their profile of Poletin out with the following:
Tomas Poletin is a power forward with a well-rounded skill set, excelling in physicality, leadership, and scoring ability. As captain of Czechia’s international team, Poletin has consistently displayed a heavy, relentless playing style that makes him effective in all zones. His ability to dominate puck battles, create offense from high-danger areas, and lead by example has him poised as a solid prospect for the NHL. However, improvements in his foot speed, puck management, and overall consistency will be critical for his transition to the professional level.
They also list his strengths as his physical presence and compete level, leadership and intangibles, offensive ability, faceoff success, and defensive contribution. They write that his weaknesses are foot speed and burst, puck management, shooting efficiency, consistency in physical engagement, and defensive zone awareness.
DobberProspects’ Anni Karvinen offered Poletin’s name up in the publication’s honorable mentions category of prospect rankings, with this brief writeup about Poletin:
While it’s been an uneventful season for Finnish regional scouting, Poletín is a skater worth keeping an eye on. The Czech winger plays a pro-style game and possesses great small-area skill, which he uses effectively around the net.
The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler has Poletin ranked 89th overall in his final draft rankings, with this to say about him:
Poletin wins battles, can skate for a 6-foot-1, 200-pound winger, has good hands pulling pucks and takes them to the inside. Despite his heaviness for his age, I find he actually isn’t the strongest player, but he’ll go to the net and drive and he’s got good instincts on and off the puck. He’s got a good stick, has impressed me on the PK and seems to break up a lot of plays, but also has a nose for scoring areas and finishing plays. He’s got a chance to become a bottom-sixer with the right development.
A Little Video
The YouTube channel Prospect Shifts comes through for us here at All About The Jersey once again. They put together a compilation of all of Poletin’s shifts from his Liiga debut in October of this past season. Let’s take a look:
The first thing to notice is that his first shift apparently comes a whole nine minutes into the game. It makes sense that Poletin would get limited ice time in his professional debut, and I only bring this up to set expectations that he will not be set up with prime opportunities in this game from his coaching staff.
At about the 50 second mark, Poletin starts a shift that is spent almost entirely in the defensive zone. While he’s been praised for his physicality and willingness to engage, he does look a bit physically overmatched out there. Not egregiously so, but enough to notice. The one thing I like about this shift though is that he never stops moving. Poletin has garnered praise for his motor from various scouting publications, and this was a prime example of that. He doesn’t make any amazing plays here, but he’s constantly moving his feet and engaging when he can. The work ethic is strong.
At around 2:30, his line is once again in the defensive zone, and this time Poletin is up to the task physically. He helps his team win a board battle and while they don’t immediately clear the zone, he effort helps them do so shortly after. He looked much less physically overmatched on this shift.
At 3:45, we get another shift where Poletin looks more physically strong and willing to engage, and where he never stops moving his feet. He’s not producing any sort of offense out there, but his compete level and defensive competitiveness are on full display.
At 4:45, Poletin’s line finally creates some sustained zone time. Poletin spends the majority of the shift camped out in front, which tracks with the many scouting reports we’ve seen praising him for his net-front work. He doesn’t do anything spectacular here, but it’s nice to see him not getting pushed around in front of the crease.
At the 7:05 mark, we finally see our first flash of significant puck skill from Poletin. He receives a breakout pass, skates the puck out of the zone, and slips a nice pass to his teammate to get past the forecheck. It’s nothing monumental, but after an entire game of not much going on for Poletin, this is at least notable. Good for him for showing poise and skill to get the puck moving the other way. He then finishes his shift off with a nice defensive play to knife the puck away from an attacker and clear the zone again.
Ok so that wasn’t exactly an action-packed game for Poletin, which is understandable considering it was his pro debut in which he got very limited ice time. So to balance things out, let’s take a look at a highlight package of actual goals and offense generated by Poletin:
Here we see a lot more of what makes Poletin an interesting prospect. There are a TON of net-front goals and chances generated here, which track with his reputation for being a terrific net-front presence. He’s bodying around his competition a lot more, showing good instincts, and a strong work ethic to either get to the dangerous areas or clean up rebounds and loose pucks. True power forward stuff from Poletin.
An Opinion
Based on everything I’ve read, and from the video I’ve seen of him, I think Tomas Poletin would be a solid target for the Devils’ 3rd or 4th round pick. I would not take him with one of their two 2nd round selections, as I think he lacks the offensive upside to be taken that high. But as a mid-round dart throw, I think you can do worse than Poletin. His skating is solid, especially for a player of his size, his compete level is very strong, and his puck skills are present, if only sometimes. With his size and skating combination, if he can develop some more offensive touch to his game, Poletin can be a good bottom-six NHLer someday.
Your Take
What do you think of Tomas Poletin? Which round would you be comfortable taking him in? What is the part of his game that excites you the most? What about the part that worries you the most? As always, thanks for reading!