Jan Mysak was a second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2020. The pandemic was a tough time to scout and affected many teams, so I’m not overly critical regarding this draft.
In the 2019 World Juniors, he showed a good Hockey I.Q. and was able to play at speed and he showed off his goal-scoring. All of those things were going well. I wrote this at the time.
In a recent 7-1 loss to Sweden, who dominated them, Mysak had the lone goal. A goal that gave his team a 1-0 lead and that gave his team some temporary hope that they could hang with the Swedes. It was a power-play snipe, a quick shot on his stick for a second or two, and it went high into the back of the net.
In the 2020-21 World Juniors, he scored three points in five games and was voted a Top 3 Player on his team. Again, another positive.
His first season in Hamilton was fantastic, He had 25 points in 22 games. Fast forward to 2022-23 in Laval, he had 13 goals in 48 games. And that’s the problem. He had seven assists. He couldn’t play center because he wasn’t good on face-offs and he was a one-dimensional goal scorer.
He’s 22, and having a decent season with the San Diego Gulls in the AHL. He has 12 goals and 16 assists in 44 games. He’s 48% on face-offs, that’s better and according to InStat, he’s getting 23% defensive zone starts. That’s not bad but is it NHL worthy? He’s a UFA at the end of the season.
I can see a team signing him to a one-year deal to see if he can build off this season.