Photo credit: Leila Devlin

By Regan Bartel

Rockets make three picks in Import Draft

Czech one, Czech two, Czech three

Jul 2, 2025 | 2:48 PM

Picking a European player in the CHL Import Draft used to be part scouting, part guesswork, and part spinning around blindfolded, firing a gun, and hoping you didn’t hit your foot.

Now? It’s all about connections. Teams work the phones and lean on contacts to find out which agents have players willing to cross the pond and chase the NHL dream. The word’s out. The CHL is still the best route to getting noticed, and getting paid, in North America. But there’s always a risk. You don’t want to waste a pick on a guy who vanishes like a Facebook Marketplace buyer the moment you reply, “Still available!”

Some teams can roll the dice. But the Kelowna Rockets? They’re in win-now mode. They need someone who can jump into the top six and make an immediate impact on the ice, not just in warmups. Trading up to pick first overall, thanks to a trade with the Moose Jaw Warriors, added even more pressure. Not only did they need to hit the target, they needed to hit the bullseye with a crowd watching.

“He’s definitely someone we hope can step right into our top six,” Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton told RocketFAN about 18-year-old Czech forward Tomas Poletin, taken with the number one pick. “He’s a forward, he’s big, and he’s a draft pick of the New York Islanders. Everyone we talked to had good things to say. He plays really hard.”

Not only was Poletin the captain of the Czechia U18 team, but his younger brother Frantisek, a goalie, was also scooped up by the Rockets later in the draft. It marks the first time Kelowna has ever selected a netminder in the Import Draft. Call it a family affair, Rockets-style.

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“There were about four or five guys that could have been chosen first overall,” Hamilton explained. “Adam Benak (chosen second overall by OHL Brantford), we couldn’t get a commitment whether he would come or not.”

Benak, a shifty but undersized 5’7 forward, is expected to head back to the USHL with Youngstown this season.

Instead, the Rockets grabbed someone they were already high on.

“The guy we got is a big, strong guy who can carry a lot of minutes for us and do a lot of things for us,” Hamilton said. “Trust me, we were dialed onto him way before the draft. I am sure Derrick (head coach Derrick Martin) and Don Hay (associate coach) are going to be happy that we have another big forward who will be able to carry heavy minutes for us.”

With their second pick (7th overall), Kelowna stayed in Czechia and selected 19-year-old forward Daniel Pekar.

“He is a great skater,” Hamilton added. “We hope he can be one of our top six or seven forwards. He is 19, so we wanted to make sure we picked a player that was older.”

Now, the casual observer might wonder, if Poletin was only a fourth-round NHL pick, was there no flashier, higher-profile Euro available?

“A lot of the high-end picks are under contract,” Hamilton replied. “If they are under contract with a pro team in Europe, then you need to get a release to get them and that isn’t easy, or the NHL team has to sign them and then assign them to us.

“That is the game you are playing that has a little bit of chicken to it….if he is a first round (NHL pick) player, he isn’t coming here to play junior, he is probably playing pro.”

In most cases, those first-rounders are guys who’ve already spent a season in the CHL, like former Vancouver Giant Samuel Honzek, who put up 56 points in 43 games before going 16th overall to the Flames in 2023.

“It wasn’t a very deep draft,” Hamilton admitted. “There were few Finnish players, and there were a lot of Russia players picked, so when you are picking them, who has seen them? You may have seen them on video.”

With Russia barred from IIHF events, getting eyes on their players has become tricky if not impossible.

Still, the Rockets believe they’ve tapped into a reliable source.

“We have a good pipeline over there now,” Hamilton said. “I can’t recall having a player from Czechia that doesn’t fit in really well.

“Generally they are pretty good people, and you never have a problem with them off the ice. They end up liking it here and spending more time here.”

Sounds like a win already. And this time, nobody’s ghosting.