Vaclav Nestrasil started his hockey journey in Europe, and has continued it in North America. Read about what makes him a solid prospect here
Our All About The Jersey Prospect Profiles continue today with a look at Vaclav Nestrasil. A potential target for one of New Jersey’s two second round picks, let’s dive into what makes Nestrasil an intriguing prospect.
Who Is Vaclav Nestrasil?
Vaclav Nestrasil was born on April 6, 2007. A native of Czechia, Nestrasil is listed at a very lanky 6’5”, 190lbs according to his profile on Elite Prospects. Nestrasil spent the first few years of his major junior career with HC Sparta Praha’s U17 squad. In his first “full” season, 2022-23, he played 15 games while posting eight goals and 17 points. He added one goal and five assists in nine playoff games that season as well. 2023-24 saw Nestrasil play 27 games with HC Sparta Praha U17, and his production took a huge upswing. In those 27 contests, Nestrasil recorded a whopping 24 goals and 19 assists for a total of 43 points. One other thing that skyrocketed was his penalty minutes, as in 2022-23 he registered six PIMs in his 15 games, while he sat for 26 penalty minutes in 2023-24.
2023-24 also saw Nestrasil make his move to North America, suiting up for 11 games with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks. It appeared to be a rough transition, as he was held without a point through all 11 games, though he did get his penalty minutes under control with only four of them.
His first full season in the USHL, this past campaign (and thus, his draft season) was much kinder to Nestrasil. In 61 games with Muskegon, Nestrasil registered 19 goals and 42 total points. He was back to his troublemaking ways though, as he sat for 51 total PIMs with the Lumberjacks. As solid as his regular season was, Nestrasil found another gear in the postseason, scoring seven goals and adding six assists for a total of 13 points in 13 games (and eight penalty minutes). In case you’re bad at math, that’s a point per game.
On January 25th, 2024 (yes, over a year ago) Nestrasil announced on his Instagram account that he has committed to the University of Massachusetts for the next step in his hockey journey. He is set to join UMass this upcoming season.
Where Is Nestrasil Ranked?
Nestrasil is ranked:
- 50th by Mckeen’s Hockey
- 52nd by FCHockey
- 45th by Daily Faceoff
- 36th by NHL Central Scouting (North American Skaters, which Nestrasil is now that he’s in the USHL)
- 30th by DobberProspects
- 45th by Scouching
It’s a fairly wide range, but the consensus seems to be an early-to-mid second round grade.
What Others Say About Nestrasil
Let’s start with Scouching, who has Nestrasil at 45th in their rankings. That’s right in the range of New Jersey’s earlier second round pick at 50th overall (the pick they acquired from the Hockey Club Mammoth as part of the John Marino trade comes in at 63rd according to PuckPedia):
Nestrasil has been somewhat mixed on paper but shows plenty of potential when you watch him. He throws himself into contact and forechecks well, and has moments of great creativity, pulling pucks around opponents, using footwork to change angles on opponents and create options for himself. He’s got a great release on his shot and his play has steadily improved over the course of the season. Muskegon struggles to generate dangerous offense with him on the ice, as he can be a little bit careless with passes in transition and finding ways through opponents with puck possession, but there’s potential here. Big, range-y, with good skill and an impressive wrist shot, he has traits that you need, and traits you can build on long term. If he goes much higher I wouldn’t be surprised…I just see other players with a bit of a clearer profile a bit higher than Nestrasil, but he’s an interesting curiousity to keep track of.
So lots of skill, a pretty high ceiling, and a high-energy player according to Scouching.
Next let’s look at DobberProspects’ report on Nestrasil. In their March prospect rankings, here’s what site writer Whittaker Heart had to say in ranking him 30th overall:
Nestrasil is a raw, but intriguing 6-5 prospect out of Czechia, playing his first full year in the USHL. A fluid skater with slick puck skills, he plays with an edge but needs to add weight. His hockey sense is a question mark, but at NCAA UMass Nestrasil will have time to develop physically and refine his game.
Seems like more of the same: Lots of skill, willingness to play physical (perhaps to a fault), high ceiling, with questions about his hockey sense and frame.
Finally we’ll take a look at another prospect profile on Nestrasil from The Hockey Writers. Here’s their overview of Nestrasil as a prospect:
Vaclav Nestrasil is one of the more intriguing prospects in the 2025 NHL Draft prospect group. He possesses the ideal combination of size, skating ability, and offensive upside. At 6-foot-5 and 190 pounds, Nestrasil combines his physical presence with smooth skating, strong puck control, and creativity to generate offense. However, there are significant areas of concern, such as strength, consistency in puck battles, and defensive reliability, that explain the wide range of rankings from pundits.
They go on to say that he will most likely land in the second round, though a team might reach for him late in the first round.
A Little Video
From the YouTube account Prospect Shifts, here’s a – you guessed it – shift by shift breakdown of one of Nestrasil’s games. Specifically, his USHL game against Madison from this past March 29th:
The first thing that strikes me about this video is Nestrasil’s frame. He really does look every bit as wiry as his 6’5”, 190lbs measurables would lead you to believe. His skating does not seem nearly good enough for him to be able to play at that weight in the NHL, though I didn’t think his skating was weak by any means. He will certainly need to put on some muscle, which I’m sure he will as he develops.
The highlight of this video comes at about 12:05, when Nestrasil scores on a power play. He begins his shift by flashing some skill and creativity between the move to escape a forechecker in the neutral zone and the in-stride pass against the grain to a teammate when trying to enter the zone. From there he engages pretty well on the forecheck and in board battles, and eventually sets up in front of the net a couple times when his team gets set up. He actually scores by batting a rebound out of midair and in, a very impressive display of skill from the big winger.
Throughout the game, I thought Nestrasil got caught floating from time to time, but when he was engaged in the play he was noticeable. This juxtaposition showed up the most in his defensive play to me, as I thought he was pretty lackadaisical when backchecking, but once he actually got back to the defensive zone, he showed solid defensive instincts and a strong willingness to battle. His coaches seem to agree, as he got ample penalty kill time in this contest.
His passing also stood out to me. He missed on a lot of his passes, but to be honest I thought a lot of times this was more due to him outthinking his teammates. In other words, he was making higher level passes that perhaps players of the USHL aren’t quite ready for. Once he gets to higher levels, I can see more of those passes connecting. For what it’s worth, when he did hit on a pass, it usually looked quite pretty.
As for his shot, he really wasn’t able to get his shot off all that much in this game. It’s a bit concerning that he struggled to generate offense for himself, especially considering that while I thought his passing was creative, his overall playmaking wasn’t at the level you need it to be to make up for a relative lack of shooting.
In the end, I saw plenty of the flashes that make Nestrasil a tantilizing prospect. I also saw the inconsistencies and weaknesses that make him a mid-round project.
An Opinion
Vaclav Nestrasil certainly seems like a typical second round project to me. There is much to like, there are things to be concerned about, but at the end of the day it isn’t that hard at all to see an NHL player in there. Based on everything I’ve read and watched on him, he absolutely feels like he’s worth taking a shot on in the middle of the second round, where the Devils are currently slated to pick twice. Heck, I think there’s a decent chance he’s already off the board by the time New Jersey is on the clock.
As an aside here, I find New Jersey’s later second round pick (#63 overall) quite amusing. They traded for this pick just about a year ago when they shipped John Marino to Utah. However, this is not Utah’s own second rounder. The Mammoth acquired this pick from the Edmonton Oilers all the way back on July 7th, 2022. This was back when the Utah Mammoth were the Arizona Coyotes! Somehow this pick made it’s way through a franchise relocation, approximately 300 name changes, and three separate franchises (four if you count Arizona and Utah as different entities like the NHL officially does). The full breakdown of the trade was as follows:
- Edmonton trades Zack Kassian, a 2022 1st round pick, a 2024 3rd round pick, and a 2025 second round pick to
CoyotesHockey ClubMammoth -
ArizonaUtah trades 2022 first round pick to Oilers
So if the Devils somehow manage to select a future superstar with this pick, you can impress your friends by telling them the trade tree that brought (insert future superstar) to New Jersey began with Zack Kassian back in 2022.
Anyway, Nestrasil is a prospect I would strongly consider using a second round pick on. His skill, playmaking, length, skating, and physicality are all anywhere from decent to strong for me. There are holes in his game, but the right development can turn him into a good NHLer.
Your Take
What do you make of Vaclav Nestrasil as a prospect? Would you be fine with New Jersey using one of their second round picks on him? Which current NHL player do you think serves as a good comparable to Nestrasil? As always, thanks for reading!