Eduard Sale is a very interesting prospect, that is for sure. I have seen many scouts say he is a top-10 pick, yet we see Sale slide to the late 10s or early 20s in some mock drafts. Our staff at The Hockey News has Sale projected to go at pick No. 11 before Andrew Cristall and after Brayden Yager.
Sale reminds me a bit of a mixed version of Ondrej Palat and Valeri Nichushkin. I think that’s the type of player Sale will be in the NHL at his peak. The bottom is Palat, a 50-point winger who has eclipsed 20 goals only once in his 11-year career. Sale's peak is Nichushkin, a 50-point guy who has never really played a full year — but has the ability to put up 25 goals and 60 points.
But with Palat and Nichushkin being bigger wingers and Sale weighing in at only 168 pounds right now, the native of Brno, Czech Republic, will have to add some serious strength and size if he wants to live up to the projections attached to him.
Adding size to his game will be much needed but seems possible which is why he has been given the projections of Palat and Nichushkin.
“Sale is a good skater and skilled passer who can find teammates in the offensive zone with precision. He is very good in transition, transporting the puck through the neutral zone and weaving through traffic to get his team in the attacking zone. He is quite an intelligent player, focusing on playing in the middle of the ice. Sale is a good shooter, but it lacks pop.” - Tony Ferrari (The Hockey News)
As of right now, Ferrari has Sale projected to go at pick No. 26 and Ryan Kennedy has Sale projected to go at pick No. 15. But in The Hockey News mock draft, our staff has Sale being taken at pick No. 11. So there is definitely a lot of questions marks of where Sale will be taken, but he is a prospect that is worth noting.
The thing that jumps out when I watched Sale a tiny bit was his hands. The way he can get by defensemen with his hands and pairs that with his skating ability intrigues me. In the 2023 IIHF World Juniors tournament, Sale led all of Team Czechia in controlled zone entries and he did it mostly by deking out defenders.
Besides the tournament, Sale put up some great numbers in the Czechia league which is a league that is very hard to put up elite numbers as a 17-year-old. Yet Sale still showed us his ability to score despite playing against men 10 years older than him.
A D-1 Year For The Record Books
The 6-foot-2 forward also had a great D-1 year, one of the best in recent years.
Sale's D-1 year in the Czechia U20 league saw him ranked first in the league's history since 2000-01 in points per game. Sale put up an astonishing 42 goals and 47 assists for 89 points in just 39 games.
His 2.28 points per game in his D-1 year ranks ahead of Palat, Tomas Hertl, Jakub Voracek, David Krejci, Pavel Zacha and Dominik Kubalik. Sale's 2.28 points per game is also the highest since Pavel Kabrt's 2.38 points per game back in 1994-95 and the third highest behind Jaromir Jagr's 2.4 points per game back in 1987-88.
I think it's safe to say Sale's draft minus one year is one of the best we have ever really seen. Yet his projection for this year is mid-10s or even in the 20's.
What people don't understand is how hard it is to be a point-per-game player in the normal Czechia league. Sale's seven goals and 14 points in 43 games is still very impressive considering who he is playing against every night.
Jiri Kulich, who was just drafted by the Buffalo Sabres last year with the 28th overall pick, put up nine goals and 14 points in 49 games during his draft year in the same league as Sale.
Kulich spent last season in the American Hockey League where he was an all-star, made the AHL Top Prospects Team with Wild prospect Jesper Wallstedt and put up 24 goals and 46 points in 62 games with the Rochester Americans.
You could see Sale's game translate just like Kulich has so far. The only worry about Sale is some scouts believe he has to play in the top six in the NHL or he won't play to his true potential.
So, maybe a couple of years in the American Hockey League post-draft for Sale would be a good thing before he enters the NHL. That way he can slide into a producing role rather quickly.