Before the start of the first round of the AHL playoffs, the Canucks have signed 2015 6th round pick Lukas Jasek to a three-year entry-level contract.

The full press release can be found below:

The deal will start in the 2018-19 season and brings the Canucks to 32 contracts on the books for next year.

Jasek burst onto the scene in North America with a noteworthy three-point debut with the Comets on March 31st and currently has 7 points in 6 games with Utica. That performance made many fans get excited about what was a forgotten prospect. But it is important to remember that although he slipped the minds of many observers, the Czech forward is still quite young and has played well throughout this entire past season after being given a larger role with Liberec than the one he was being afforded with Trinec.

The former 6th round pick has taken advantage of all the opportunities presented to him this season and made the most of it.

It will be interesting to see what happens with him over the summer and into next season as he did sign a two-year contract with Liberec last summer. At this time, we don’t know what the plan but it’s fair to believe that the Canucks want him to move over to the AHL. Dhiren Mahiban is reporting that the NHL/Czech transfer agreement stipulates that the 2nd year of the aforementioned deal is voided:

At this moment, I have been unable to confirm that to be true.

With that being said, it’s exciting to see Jasek earn this contract. He was a player that jumped off the page when using PCS/pGPS and presented tremendous value based on where he was selected. His development was stagnated due to the opportunities he was given but it appears that he is quickly righting the ship.

There is still a long way to go for Jasek but his speed, strength along the boards, shot and awareness give him a good shot to prove himself further over the next couple of years. He may not present a high ceiling but his overall game lends itself to believe there is a chance he can carve out an NHL career, which cannot be said for a lot of 174th overall picks.