Vanecek came over from Czechia and turned his first WHL season into a top-four role with Tri-City, finishing with 14 goals and 35 points in 59 games and earning a draft combine invite. He’s a left-shot, 6-2 defender who skates well and carries the puck with confidence, the kind of mobile two-way blue-liner NHL teams target: he handles his own end, breaks the puck out cleanly, and can skate the team out of trouble. The shot is above average and the hands are good enough to beat a man one-on-one, which showed up as power-play production with the Americans and again at the U18 Worlds, where he led Czechia with five points in seven games on the way to bronze. He sat as a depth option at the World Juniors without playing but came home with silver.

Vaněček has hovered around this mark for most of the season for me. I like how he’s always moving thanks to a non-stop motor and good overall footwork. He beats opponents by taking their space away and forcing them to the perimeter. Vaněček isn’t too shabby with the puck, although his decision-making needs a bit of work. I like his two-way game and I think he’ll force his way into a bottom-pairing situation one day.