2026 NHL Draft Prospect Report – Simon Katolicky (LW)

Simon Katolický is a player I’ve been pretty underwhelmed with in terms of progression this
year; he feels a bit snake-bitten offensively, and that’s clearly impacted his confidence and
ice time. He’s still very raw, but the foundation is there, great size at 6’4”, skates well for that
frame, and shows a decent motor with flashes of understanding how to use his length
effectively. That said, his stride lacks power for someone his size, he takes smaller, less
explosive strides and almost skates like a smaller player, which limits his physical impact.
His IQ is still a work in progress, especially with the puck, where he tends to default to safer,
simpler plays and doesn’t always show the poise you’d want to see to hold onto possession
and create. He competes, but not consistently, he’ll have shifts where he’s engaged and
others where he fades a bit. Off the puck, though, he brings value with an active stick and
physical presence, and offensively, he leans more as a shooter than a playmaker, you’re not
relying on him to thread passes or consistently find seams. There’s a lot of raw ability here,
and based on what he showed last year, I still have confidence he can bounce back, but at
this point, he’s not a first-rounder for me, more in that mid-to-late second range. If things
click, you’re looking at a powerful middle-six winger, but there’s definite boom-or-bust risk,
and I wouldn’t touch him in the first round right now; I liked him a lot more last year, but
there’s still something to work with.