The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. It was a combination of six staff writers and over 485 fans that ranked players under the age of 25 as of August 10, 2021. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production to rank each player.
The “Buffalo Sabres Top 25 Under 25” continues today with the noted organizational pest, Matej Pekar.
Last season, Pekar made his professional hockey debut with the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League.
In 25 games last season, Pekar struggled to find his way offensively, only tallying six points (one goal, five assists).
While struggling offensively, Pekar filled up the stats sheet with 50 penalty minutes.
For a young player struggling to find their offensive stride, filling up on penalty minutes is the opposite of what you want to do.
Pekar certainly suffered growing pains throughout his first 25 career games with the Americans but one has to hope, for both Pekar’s sake and the organization’s sake, that he figures out the transition from junior hockey to professional hockey.
A player who can be a noted pest adds a dimension to any team’s bottom six but those players must remain disciplined to remain effective.
While Pekar is still a young prospect at only 21 years old, he did fall down the Top 25 Under 25 rankings due to his overall ineffectiveness last season.
Heading into the 2020-21 season, expectations and excitement were equally high for Pekar. With his lackluster response, it is no surprise that he moves from 13th last season to 18th this season.
#25 Casey Fitzgerald
#24 Aaron Huglen
#23 Linus Weissbach
#22 Aleksandr Kisakov
#21 Albert Lyckåsen
#20 Erik Portillo
#19 Devon Levi