The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed Seattle Thunderbirds right wing Lukas Svejkovsky to a three-year entry level contract.
The contract will begin in the 2022-2023 season and run through 2024-2025, according to an April 5 Penguins media release. His deal carries an average annual value of $859,167 at the NHL level.
So far, in the 2021-2022 season, Svejkovsky has played in 55 games and has 32 goals and 41 assists for a total of 73 points. He was named the Western Hockey League Player of the Week in late March for the Kent-based T-Birds who play their home games at the accesso ShoWare Center.
Pittsburgh selected Svejkovsky in the fourth round, 108th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft.
“Congratulations to Lukas and his family, this signing is a result of a lot of hard work,” said Seattle general manager Bil 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 T-Birds have clinched a playoff berth. As of April 5, they are in fourth place in the Western Hockey League Western Conference. Their regular season ends April 15.
Svejkovsky, 20, is in his fourth year in the Western Hockey League, splitting the 2021-2022 season between the Medicine Hat Tigers and the T-Birds. He scored 13 goals and 30 points with Medicine Hat prior to his trade in December.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound forward has recorded 71 goals, 88 assists and 159 points in 194 games in the WHL with Seattle, Medicine Hat and the Vancouver Giants.
Prior to his time in the WHL, Svejkovsky, of Tampa, Florida, played one season in the British Columbia Hockey League with the Wenatchee Wild, recording 11 points (5G-6A) in 16 games.
His father, Jaroslav Svejkovsky, played 113 games across four NHL seasons with the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. From 1996-2000, he recorded 23 goals, 19 assists and 42 points.
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