The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. It was a combination of staff writers and over 200 readers that ranked Buffalo Sabres players under the age of 25 as of August 1, 2023. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production to rank each player. Staff votes counted equally with reader votes.
Jakub Konecny
Drafted: 2020, 7th round, 30th pick (216th Overall)
Position: Center | Shoots Left
Born: June 19, 2002 | 21 years old
2022-2023 Stats: 3 G | 10 A (Czech Extraliga)
2022 T25U25 Ranking: N/A
New to the top 25 rankings this year is forward Jakub Konecny of the Czech Republic. The 21-year-old center made his professional debut during the 2021-2022 season with Hockey Club Sparta Praha (also known as HC Sparta Prague) in the Czech Extraliga. During that time, he played 23 games in the regular season and tallied 13 points (three goals and 10 assists, respectively). During his playoff debut in the same season, Konecny made appearances in 12 games and contributed one goal and three assists.
Following these debuts, he also played for the Czech Republic in the 2022 World Junior Championships in Edmonton, where his team took fourth place. This was a long-anticipated event as it had been canceled and rescheduled several times due to COVID-19. More recently, though, he did not get the chance to play alongside fellow Czech and potential Sabres teammate Jiri Kulich in the 2023 Championships.
With his limited professional exposure, Konecny will be one to watch during the next few years as he hopefully develops into a stronger, more mature player. He seems to have potential and describes his best ability as his skating – a skill always needed on an NHL team, especially the Buffalo Sabres – as well as his playmaking.
While this video is a few years old, it is still a good watch to get a better feel for who Konecny is as a player and teammate: