Fresh off earning Western Hockey League (WHL) Player of the Week honours, Lukas Svejkovsky has landed a much bigger prize.
The 20-year-old from Point Roberts has signed a three-year entry level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The deal was announced by Penguins general manager Ron Hextall on Tuesday.
The contract will begin in the 2022/23 season and run through 2024/25. His deal carries an average annual value of $859,167 at the NHL level. He was selected by the Penguins in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Svejkovsky is currently in his fourth year in the WHL, splitting the 2021/22 season between the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Seattle Thunderbirds. He has recorded career highs across the board this season with 32 goals, 41 assists and 73 points in 55 games.
His 32 goals this season are tied for 21st in the entire WHL, while his 73 points are the 20th most. He scored 13 goals and 30 points with Medicine Hat prior to a trade in December, which both still lead his former team. His 19 goals with Seattle post-trade are the sixth-most among his Thunderbird teammates.
His weekly honour was earned after scoring five goals in a pair of wins over the Vancouver Giants. Last fall, he was invited to the Team USA final selection camp for the World Junior Championships.
“Congratulations to Lukas and his family, this signing is a result of a lot of hard work,” says Seattle general manager Bill La Forge. “Lukas has been a great T-Bird since we acquired him earlier in the year. He is a player that works on his game and is great in the dressing room. I look forward to watching him in a Penguins uniform after a long and successful playoff run with us this year.”
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound forward was born in Tampa, Florida where his father Yogi Svejkovsky, concluded his NHL career after initially being a first round pick by the Washington Capitals. The family relocated to Point Roberts and Yogi is now a renowned skills development coach who has worked for number of minor hockey associations, the Delta Hockey Academy and now at the pro level with the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks.
Lukas' sister Ava is a member of the U18 USA women's national team that will be playing in the world championships this summer and is taking her career to Colgate University next fall.
Svejkovsky's signing adds to the local flavour in the Penguins' organization. North Delta native Tristan Jarry is enjoying an all-star season as the team's No. 1 goalie.
