Minnesota Wild News: Pavel Jenys To Sign With Iowa Wild

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The Minnesota Wild will sign 2014 7th round draft pick Pavel Jenys to an amateur tryout agreement (ATO) tomorrow in order to have him finish out the season with the Iowa Wild, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.

As we covered in our most recent prospects update, Jenys season with the Sudbury Wolves came to an end this past week as the Wolves didn’t make the playoffs. They finished the season 12-54-1-1 for 26 standings points, 26 points behind the next worst team in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

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Despite a rough season for the Wolves, the silver lining for the Wild is that Jenys was the team’s best scorer in his first OHL season, posting 15 goals and 30 assists for a team-leading 45 points in 63 games. He also had 45 penalty minutes, five power play goals, and a minus-36 rating.

The plus/minus make take a little imagination though. This was a pretty bad team and he has the best plus/minus rating among the team’s top seven scorers who played the full season with the Wolves.

The Czech forward is just 18-years old, but has a big frame and skates with some power at 6-foot-3, 192 pounds.

Here’s what Hockey’s Future has to say about Jenys:

"Talent Analysis:Jenyš is a big, intimidating forward whose career has gone very far thanks to his hard work and big heart. He suffers from inconsistency and his hands are not as smooth as those of other top prospects. Jenys has been able to make up for that with his size as far at the junior hockey level, and with his attitude among the pros. Jenys never took a shift off while up in the Extraliga playing amongst men but did not always show that kind of effort in juniors.Future:Jenyš skated for the Wild in the Traverse City prospects tournament and attended training camp with Minnesota before joining the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves to start the 2014-15 season. One of the few bright spots on a rebuilding team that won just seven of its first 42 games, Jenyš is among the team leaders in assists. A late cut for the Czech Republic’s U20 team at the World Juniors, he has been playing in all situations for the Wolves while adapting to North America. Still raw in terms of his positional play, and a work in progress when it comes to defending, his size and determination to create scoring chances with the puck suggest he can one day be an effective power forward."

His effort has been noted by a number of scouts as lacking at times, so the HF assessment here is concerning: “Jenys never took a shift off while up in the Extraliga playing amongst men but did not always show that kind of effort in juniors.” However, lots of circumstance can lead to an assessment like that and it shouldn’t be read too much into until we can see what he’s capable of doing in his first taste of pro hockey in North America.

This will be a quick stop for Jenys to get a little AHL experience. At 18, he’ll have to return to the CHL next season unless he were to make the NHL squad (wildly, wildly unlikely). It’ll be a great chance for Wild fans to catch an early glimpse of his talent though.

Official word on the signing is expected to come through tomorrow, according to Russo’s tweet. Iowa will play the Texas Stars on Tuesday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Next: Minnesota Wild Prospects Update: NCAA & CHL Postseason Begins

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