The Brantford Bulldogs have started the season 8-0-2 through their opening ten games. As of writing this, they have scored the most goals (61) and have the largest goal differential with a +32. Additionally, they have the league’s top powerplay, batting at 36.1%, and they have a new Czech import forward who has been a significant addition to the Bulldogs roster this year. 

Brantford traded away a total of four draft picks to move up and grab the Peterborough Petes’ second overall selection in the 2025 CHL Import Draft. You’re not parting ways with a second and two thirds if you’re not confident that the player you’re drafting will commit to your organization. 

They used the second overall selection to select Minnesota Wild prospect Adam Benak. It was getting late in the summer, but the dynamic Czech forward eventually signed with the Bulldogs, and he has wasted no time in becoming one of the league’s most dangerous players. 

Benak missed Brantford’s first two games of the season due to attending Minnesota’s training camp, but his OHL debut was nothing short of spectacular. In his first game in the black and gold, he recorded four points in Brantford’s 7-2 win over the Sudbury Wolves, which included a slick through-the-legs shorthanded goal for the first of his OHL career. 

Benak was held off the scoresheet in his next game, but since then, he has rifled off three goals and 12 assists in six games. The Wild 2025 fourth-rounder leads the OHL in points with 19 in just eight games. In addition to that, his +14 is also tops in the league. 

There was a lot of hype behind the talented Czech forward for several years before his NHL draft season. In his DY-1, he played 18 games for HC Plzen in the Czech Extraliga. He was also a standout underage player for Team Czechia at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, recording 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in five games. 

There’s no mistaking it; if Benak were not an undersized player at 5-foot-8, he would have most likely been a first-round draft choice last summer. His vision is elite, and he possesses that quick-strike passing skill set to take advantage of defenders sleeping. 

Benak last year played his draft campaign in the USHL for the Youngstown Phantoms, leading his squad with 59 points (17 goals, 42 assists) in 56 games. Before he started his year with Youngstown, he returned to the Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournament, dominating it once again, with a team-leading 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists), setting the all-time record for most points at the Hlinka tournament with 21 points in 10 career games. 

After scoring six points in two games this past weekend, Benak was named the OHL’s Player of the Week. 

Brantford has shown promising potential to contend for an OHL championship early in the season. The team already boasts some talented offensive players, including Seattle Kraken’s Jake O’Brien and Chicago Blackhawks’ Marek Vanacker. However, Benak's presence has already surpassed expectations.

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