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Golden Knights need to bank on Tomas Nosek’s recent playoff success

Editor’s note: We’re continuing our expansion draft profiles, and we’re getting to the home stretch. If you’ve missed any of our profiles, make sure to click here.

The Vegas Golden Knights went off-the-board in selecting Tomas Nosek from the Detroit Red Wings in the expansion draft.

When the Golden Knights passed on Petr Mrazek, Riley Sheahan, and Xavier Ouellet, George McPhee made a questionable decision with hardly any answers.

Here is a look.

Scouting Report

The 6-foot-2 undrafted center from the Czech Republic is a defensively-reliable center that’s a solid faceoff guy. He can play the penalty kill and powerplay units, and chip in offensively at the lower levels. He’s willing to do the dirty work in the corners and is said to have a strong work ethic.

At 24 years old, it’ll be soon time for him to transition to the NHL level as a bottom-six forward.

Numbers, numbers, numbers

Teams should never pay players based on a playoff run. It seems like that’s exactly what McPhee did with that selection.

In a 19-game playoff run last year for the Grand Repids Griffins, Nosek potted 10 goals and added 12 assists for the Calder Cup champions.

Outside of that, his AHL production is solid if not unspectacular. Nosek has 105 points (41 goals) in 176 AHL games. He hasn’t produced a single point in 17 NHL games. These are not deal-breaking numbers, but still not worth selecting Nosek over other options.

Verdict

The Golden Knights might have made a misstep here. They miss out on a a really good prospect like Ouellet while they could have had a similar center to Nosek, Brendan Gaunce (instead of Luca Sbisa).

Nosek probably finds his way to the NHL, and if he is able to build on his playoff success, he could be a very solid depth player.

If not, he is an easily replaceable player.