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CA’s top 20 Canucks summer prospect rankings: #3 Adam Novotný

Photo credit: © Tav Morisson-CanucksArmy

By Jacob Fraser

Aug 2, 2026, 15:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 2, 2026, 03:44 EDT

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Welcome back to our collective CanucksArmy top 20 Vancouver Canucks summer prospect rankings. Today, we have our 3rd-ranked prospect, Adam Novotný.

Adam Novotný

The Canucks got their guy at 24th overall in this year’s NHL draft. Novotný was expected to go much higher than he did leading up to draft day, so the Canucks getting him in the late first round was the obvious choice and arguably their best selection in the entire draft.

Last season, the Czech forward made his way over to North America, joining the Peterborough Petes in the OHL. In his first season with the Petes, Novotný led his team in points, scoring 34 goals and adding 31 assists for 65 points over 58 games.

The first thing you’ll notice when you watch Novotný’s game is his unbelievable shot. The proof is in the pudding; the kid scored 34 goals last season, his release is quick and deceptive, and he doesn’t need much time or space to unleash his shot. Novotný does a great job of attacking the middle of the ice and is very dangerous off the rush because he doesn’t need a ton of space to get his shot off; he’s able to attack the middle of the rush, rip a shot and beat the goalie clean.

He may be considered a sniper, but Novotný is also a very capable playmaker; opposing teams see him as more of a shooting threat, which opens passing lanes for him to find his teammates and give them scoring chances.

On top of being a major threat in the offensive zone, Novotný plays with a ton of compete. He uses his size to separate defenders from pucks on the forecheck and plays a high-energy game. He’s fairly responsible defensively as well; though he led the Petes in scoring, he was also used in late-game defensive situations to help the team get the win.

At this point, it would be fair to label Novotný as an above-average skater. He’s not necessarily going to blow by defenders, but it shouldn’t be considered a weakness in his game. That being said, he certainly could use some extra development in the skating department in order to reach his full potential as a future NHLer.

Since he already has such a complete game, many fans believe Novotný could play NHL games sooner rather than later. We’ll dive into his ETA a bit later on, but it’s worth mentioning that it shouldn’t be out of the question that we could see him get a look in training camp this year and maybe in preseason, though there’s a very low chance he actually makes the NHL roster as an 18-year-old.

Now, to somewhat contradict that, he does need to work on his all-around game before making the jump to pro hockey. The biggest thing Novotný needs to do is work on some of his decision-making. It’s not due to having low hockey IQ or anything like that; it’s just about becoming more assertive in his decision-making and committing to plays rather than hesitating. We want to see him be the guy and attack. Sure, it’s important to use your teammates and be a team player, but with Novotný, he should be able to take over more often than he does, and that’s something we hope to see more of this coming season from him.

On top of that, Novotný needs to use his size more. You could say the two go hand in hand, in a way, with him using his size to control the play and dominate on the offensive end.

Projection

Ceiling: The ceiling for Novotný is a legit top-six winger that can score 30-plus goals and be a contributor on the top power play unit. He’s the best winger prospect in the Canucks system as things stand now, and possibly one of two that have this kind of upside.

Floor: The floor is likely still an NHLer, but more so a third-line winger that adds some scoring depth and contributes to a secondary power play unit. His size, skating and compete should make him an effective player lower down the lineup, even if he doesn’t quite reach the top end of his scoring potential.

ETA: His ETA is probably one to two years away from playing pro hockey. Though, as we said, he’s one of the most NHL-ready prospects in the Canucks organization, he could use some more time to fully develop into that dominant winger to reach his full potential offensively. The reason it’s one to two years away is that there is a fairly high chance that even if we don’t see him in Vancouver in the next year or two, he’ll likely make the move up to Abbotsford, while getting a taste for the NHL as early as next season.

Keep up to speed with our rankings so far with our honourable mentions and criteria, and our rankings thus far:

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