Frontenacs acquire rights to NHL Draft prospect Tomas Pobezal
The Kingston Frontenacs had immediate success with a pair of CHL Import Draft standouts this past season, and are going back to that well once again with the addition of 18-year-old Slovak centreman Tomas Pobezal from the Kitchener Rangers.
A late 2006-born forward, Pobezal is eligible for this summer’s NHL Draft, coming in as the 27th-ranked European skater by NHL Central Scouting. The 5-foot-11, 179Ib. pivot played against grown men in his home country, leading the Slovak Extraliga in points by a junior player with 23 (15-8–23) over 42 regular season games. He tacked on four more (1-3–4) over 20 playoff contests. Pobezal won a Slovak Extraliga title with HK Nitra in 2023-24. Internationally, he represented his home country at the World Juniors this past January after previously doing so multiple times at both the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the U18 Worlds.
The deal is the first of its kind for the OHL involving CHL Import Draft selections after the Canadian Hockey League announced changes earlier this spring. The Kitchener Rangers effectively traded up from 117th overall to the 44th overall selection in July while also gaining a conditional eighth round pick from Kingston in 2029.
Originally selected by the Rangers with the 25th overall pick in the 2023 CHL Import Draft, Pobezal would slot into one of the Import spots previously held by Tuomas Uronen (Vegas Golden Knights) or Emil Pieniniemi (Pittsburgh Penguins) in Kingston.
“Tomas is a dynamic offensive player that brings pace and compete to the game,” said Frontenacs general manager Kory Cooper. “He has a natural goal scoring ability and showcased that with 15 goals playing in a professional men’s league this season.”
“We think Martin Chromiak is a great comparable for Tomas. Both players played in the Slovakian league at 18 and contributed offensively,” Cooper continued. “When Martin arrived in Kingston, he became a valuable player for the organization. We think Tomas’s game will translate the same way, and we are excited to continue his development here in Kingston.”
