Oilers Draft Watch - Konstantin Komarek

This is the seventh article in our Oilers Draft Watch 2011 series.

In compiling the Oilers Draft Watch list, I'd remembered an Austrian kid from the 2010 World Junior Championships who had been among the scoring leaders for the entire tournament.  After navigating the IIHF website, I found my man - Konstantin Komarek.  Komarek was 9th in goal-scoring for the tournament (PDF Warning), tied with Anton Lander, a familiar name to Edmonton fans.  In front of Komarek were names like Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Richard Panik, and Nino Niederreiter - the 17-year-old Komarek was in some rare air throughout the tournament.  Unfortunately, his 5 goals in 6 games weren't enough to help Austria avoid relegation.

After being relegated in 2010, Austria played in Division 1B during the 2011 WJC and Komarek again lit it up.  Komarek tallied 5 goals and 5 assists in 10 games (PDF Warning) as Austria fell just short of promotion and will stay in Division 1B next year.

Komarek left the Austrian Junior program in 2008-2009 to join the Luleå system in Sweden.  Before being called up to the SEL last season, Komarek scored 8 goals and added 12 assists for Luleå's Under 20 team in the SuperElit league.  His play earned him a promotion to Luleå's senior club at the end of the season and for the playoffs.

Konstantin Komarek

#17 / Wing / Luleå

Height: 6-0

Weight: 187

Born: November 8, 1993

Wien, Austria

When it comes to Swedish Hockey, there is no better writer and analyst than Jimmy Hamrin, Sundsvalls Tidnings' Timrå Hockey writer. Jimmy has followed Komarek for three seasons and has seen a great deal of him, especially in 2011.  I asked him for an overview on Komarek:

Konstantin Komarek is a spectacular player with great skill and speed. He's great one-on-one and plays an intense style and doesn't mind the physical aspect of the game. Reminds me a little of Mattias Tedenby. He had a great playoff with Luleå's senior team and had like Tyler Seguin a couple of amazing performances.

I asked for Hamrin's thoughts on Komarek's chances to make the NHL:

I don't know. Komarek has a lot of steps left to take. Next season will be important. He needs to show more consistency to be a regular player in Luleå.

Komarek has made a couple of trips to North America this spring, and talked about his travels with Norrbottens Kuriren:

Do you have a favorite club that you would like to play in?

Which NHL team isn't important, but it is clear that it would be fun to play for an Original Six team.

Komarek will follow the draft but the day after he'll pack his hockey bag to attend a summer camp in Oakville, Canada, a few km south of Toronto. He'll be there for three weeks through the summer to train with everyone from Juniors to the NHL players.  The camp is run by a few NHL players from the region and focuses primarily on hockey-related physical training.

On Monday, representatives of the Toronto Maple Leafs were in Luleå to interview the 18-year-old. During the meeting, he was among other things, answering questions about his view of himself - both on the ice and off.

"It's the first NHL club that I've spoken to personally and of course it feels nice that they show interest in me."

The Leafs have taken notice of Komarek, as have any of the teams that heavily scout the Tournament of Small Sample Sizes.  Komarek is ranked 55th amongst European Skaters by NHL Decentralized Scouting, but his Junior-level production is equal to or greater than a number of Swedish U20 players ranked in front of him and drafted in 2010.  Below is a table comparing Komarek's numbers with those of 10 players either ranked in front of him for 2011 by CSB or who were drafted in front of his expected draft slot in 2010.

His numbers compare well to many of the players in this group, yet his ranking is much lower than anyone in the group.  He's got size, plenty of speed, a goal-scoring touch and he likes the physical game.  He has the ever-popular consistency issues, which all but two of the prospects in this draft suffer from, but Komarek is looking like a draft day steal for someone.  The Oilers could use a late afternoon pick on Saturday to steal him out from underneath Brian Burke and the Maple Leafs.