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FN Draft Profiles: Czech standout Tobias Trejbal may be the best goalie in this draft
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski/USA Today Sports
Ryan Pike
Jun 7, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 5, 2026, 01:08 EDT
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Pals, over the past few years, it’s been tougher and tougher to find a strong young Canadian goaltender. But on the flip side, we’ve seen netminders from throughout the world arrive in the National Hockey League via the draft and become impact players. In particular, some of the top young goaltenders in the NHL these days are from Czechia.
One of the most exciting young players available in the 2026 NHL Draft class is Czech-born USHL netminder Tobias Trejbal.

What do the scouts see in Tobias Trejbal?

Trejbal hails from Most, Czechia, and is listed at 6’4″ and 196 pounds. He’s a November 2007 birthday.
Trejbal played his youth and junior hockey in nearby Litvinov with the eponymous HC Litvinov, the same club that produced Flames star Robert Reichel. He was a decent enough performer in under-17 hockey in 2022-23 and 2023-24, but his game really took off in 2024-25 with Litvinov’s under-20 team, posting a .930 save percentage and leading the league in shutouts. He even made his pro debut with Litvinov’s Extraliga team, playing 16 minutes in relief in a 5-2 loss.
Trejbal committed to the University of Massachusetts in March 2025 and was a fifth round selection of the Youngstown Phantoms in the United States Hockey League’s entry draft a couple months later. He migrated to the USHL in the fall and had a superb year with the Phantoms, ranking among the league leaders in basically every goaltending category and being named that circuit’s top goaltender. He also represented Czechia at the Under-18 World Championships.
And we don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, but his draft year trajectory seems pretty similar to fellow Czech netminders Jakub Dobes (2020) and Michael Hrabal (2023). He’s headed to UMass in the fall.
As part of NHL.com’s Mike Morreale’s great feature on Trejbal, here’s what Central Scouting’s Al Jensen said about the netminder:
He’s got all the tools and the size… He’s got calmness and that positive swagger as well. I watched him in warmups, was impressed by the way he handles the puck on his stick. He held his ground when facing good chances, stayed patient on a few dekes. He challenges and tracks pucks well and has a good feel for the game. This kid is good.
At Daily Faceoff, our pal Steven Ellis included Trejbal in his top 100 list in May:
Trejbal is the near-consensus top goalie in this draft class. His numbers with the Phantoms have been excellent, and being 6-foot-4 doesn’t hurt, either. The stats don’t lie: the busier Trejbal is, the better he plays. His ability to stay calm and composed under pressure is impressive, and he has quick hands and quicker feet. Trejbal’s athleticism has gotten scouts talking, and his big frame makes him an easy project for a team willing to be patient with the UMass commit. I’ve been impressed with just about all of my viewings of his this year and feel confident he’ll be one of the first goalies off the board.

How did Tobias Trejbal perform in 2025-26?

As a USHL rookie, Trejbal played 42 games. He posted a record of 30-9-3 with a 2.12 goals against average, a .916 save percentage and three shutouts.
He was second in wins, first in goals against average, second in save percentage, and one shutout behind the league leader. It’s difficult to imagine a better first year for a goaltender in North America.

Could Tobias Trejbal be a fit for the Calgary Flames?

On one hand, the Flames have Dustin Wolf at the NHL level, and a slew of interesting young goaltenders behind him – Owen Say, Arsenii Sergeev, Yegor Yegorov and Kirill Zarubin. That said, you always need depth, and it seems prudent to grab a netminder in this year’s draft regardless; the Flames have taken netminders every couple of years and it’s probably how they’ve created and maintained depth at the position. If Trejbal is the best player available when they pick, they should probably grab him. Since he’s college-bound, they would have some time to figure out how he fits into things.
Trejbal is generally thought to be the top netminder in this draft class, and he usually appears on the public draft rankings somewhere early in the second round. The Flames have four second-rounders in this draft, and so it probably wouldn’t be terribly surprising if they grabbed a netminder sometime in the second or third round. (They selected Zarubin in the third round in 2024, in a draft where they similarly had oodles of early picks and could use one on a goalie early.) All goalie draft picks are rolls of the dice, so it might make sense to gamble on the guy considered to have the most potential.
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