Film Room: Why Simas Ignatavičius will become Lithuania's third-ever NHL draft pick

It has been nearly two decades since the last Lithuanian name was called at the NHL draft, but that drought is set to end this year. Simas Ignatavičius is almost certain to become the next addition to that list, joining Darius Kasparaitis and Dainius Zubrus as the third-ever Lithuanian player to be drafted into the NHL. 

Born in Memphis, Ignatavičius chose to develop his game in Switzerland. After posting better than a point-per-game pace in Switzerland’s U21 league during his draft-minus-one season and helping Lithuania’s U20 national team earn promotion to Division IB with 14 points in five games, he carried that momentum into this year by fully breaking out against men in the top-tier Swiss National League.

Despite operating in a limited role for much of the season and receiving primarily bottom-six usage, Ignatavičius still managed to record a respectable 13 points in 52 regular-season games, while establishing himself as one of the top U20 performers in the league. It was a highly encouraging first chapter to open his professional career.

His body of work throughout the season consistently kept him near the top of our second-round range, but with his projection profile and the right organizational fit, he could emerge as a late first-round option for teams targeting his specific blend of motor, physical detail, and off-puck reliability. 

Now, however, it is time to take a much deeper look into his game and into the specific habits and underlying details that made him one of the more fascinating projection cases in this year’s draft class. 

Forecheck and Motor 

It is difficult to begin discussing Ignatavičius’ game without first highlighting his forechecking and motor, which rank among the strongest components of his impact on both sides of the puck. They are not only the primary tools through which he contributes defensively and helps recover possession, but also key mechanisms that allow him to generate offence in the attacking zone.

Ignatavičius’ strong, polished forechecking game looks as though it belongs to a player with several professional seasons already behind him, rather than someone in his first year at the pro level. His relentless motor, strong contact skill, and intelligent off-puck awareness, which will be addressed in greater detail later, allow him to consistently apply pressure on puck carriers deep in the offensive zone. He regularly takes advantage of his long reach and active stick to catch opponents off guard, lifting sticks cleanly to steal pucks or disrupting breakout passes along the wall. Once possession is recovered, he immediately looks to identify open teammates and quickly turn those retrievals into dangerous scoring sequences. Even when he is unable to win the puck outright, his contact skill still allows him to outmuscle opponents in battles and create loose-puck recoveries for supporting teammates.

His backchecking game is another major strength, and it quickly becomes one of the recurring habits that jumps off the tape. Shift after shift, Ignatavičius is committed to tracking back after offensive-zone turnovers and, thanks to his skating pace and stick detail, is often capable of disrupting or regaining possession already through the neutral zone. Combined with his strong off-puck processing, he identifies developing threats well, makes smart coverage switches onto open opponents, and consistently uses small defensive details — tying up sticks or getting body positioning and a shoulder inside opponents — to prevent clean finishes or second-chance rebound opportunities.

Physical skill 

Ignatavičius’ motor and off-puck game would not be complete without mentioning his contact skills and physical dimension.

Despite being an 18-year-old playing against men, he already possesses a pro-ready 6-foot-3, 198-pound frame and knows how to use it effectively. He is very strong in wall battles, consistently showing good reads of opponents’ body positioning before contact. When the opponent has inside leverage on the puck, Ignatavičius often looks to disrupt him with a well-timed shoulder check before he is fully braced. In more even races for loose pucks, he excels through smaller technical details — tying up sticks, getting his shoulder inside, or turning his back into the opponent before contact — all of which allow him to gain leverage, create separation, and open a lane to advance the puck away from the wall.

His puck protection was also excellent throughout the season. Along the boards, he repeatedly showed an advanced sense for when to extend his back and hips into the defender, eliminating stick-lift or poke-check attempts while simultaneously buying himself enough room to continue moving the puck further along the wall.

Ignatavičius’ physical engagement is not limited to puck battles alone. He also uses his size well to finish checks, pin opponents along the boards, and force turnovers that lead to possession recoveries for teammates deep in the defensive zone.

The final area where Ignatavičius heavily leans on his frame is around the net front. He is capable of creating chaos through sheer presence, hunting rebounds in traffic, creating additional space for puck carriers working below the goal line, and providing useful layers as a screen or deflection option in front of the goaltender.

Although Ignatavičius already owns a strong physical toolkit, there is still room for improvement in the consistency and frequency with which he imposes himself physically — particularly when it comes to delivering open-ice hits and making opponents less comfortable over the course of a game. 

Physical habits are only part of the equation, though. Much of his offensive impact comes from how intelligently he moves without the puck. 

Offensive Support and Off-Puck Habits 

Because Ignatavičius’ puck touches and individual puck-skill flashes were somewhat limited throughout the season, he found other ways to become a highly effective piece within team offensive sequences and through neutral-zone transition play.

Thanks to his strong game reading and tactical awareness, Ignatavičius knows how to turn himself into a threat by timing his disengagements from the main battle area. Most commonly, he slips low into the corner to open a passing lane, which then gives him options either to distribute into the slot or continue the play below the goal line. When board battles develop without his direct involvement, he often waits for the exact moment when the defender loses visual contact with him for a split second, then attacks the weak side of the net to present himself as a tap-in option.

Because he is not at his best as a primary puck carrier creating offence off the rush, Ignatavičius instead does excellent work as a supporting presence. He uses his large frame to draw in pressure from pursuing defenders, effectively clearing central ice and creating cleaner skating lanes for the puck carrier. He provides similar value through the neutral zone, where he lifts sticks and interferes with forechecking routes to make life easier for teammates in possession. On controlled entries, he consistently stays close enough to the puck carrier to offer an outlet or positions himself along the wall where he can receive the puck, quickly bump it into support from the blue line, and immediately continue his route toward the net. It is not a flashy offence, but it is the kind of connective detail that keeps possessions alive and dangerous.

Puck skills 

Passing and Transitional Play 

Although Ignatavičius’ puck-skill ceiling is somewhat limited and many of his immediate plays after recovering pucks along the wall are simple, quick chips up the boards, there should not be concern that this is his only method of creating offence. Throughout the season, Ignatavičius showed flashes of being able to generate dangerous looks and initiate cycle sequences from those same areas.

While his creativity is not high-end, he can still manufacture space through subtle edgework, changes of pace, and small deception elements that allow him to separate from closing defenders. Those details buy him just enough time and room to thread pucks into the slot or across traffic to the weak side. The vision to identify those lanes is there.

That said, his execution remains inconsistent. His passing touch still lacks precision at times, and some feeds arrive with too much pace for teammates to handle cleanly. He also still has room to improve in handling pressure and making composed decisions when defenders close quickly on him.

Although Ignatavičius operates primarily as a supporting piece through the neutral zone, his ability to draw defensive pressure toward himself and his tactical processing still give him a positive influence on transition buildup. With quick one-touch touches, short backhand distributions, or occasional cross-ice feeds, he is capable of creating the extra layer of space needed to generate advantages immediately after the offensive-zone entry.

Shooting and finishing 

When looking at how Ignatavičius generated his goals throughout the season, most of his production at the NL level came from the net-front area, where he was able to locate rebounds, use his frame to establish inside positioning, provide screens, and get sticks on pucks for deflections. That projects as the most natural source of offence in his current profile.

He still showed flashes, however, of wanting to attack the middle with possession during rush sequences, beat defenders one-on-one, and finish with poise — whether by sliding pucks through the five-hole or picking corners from mid-range with his wrist shot.

Those individual scoring flashes appeared more frequently during his brief stints in the lower Swiss League and in the U21 league. Looking specifically at his wrist shot, its success comes more from timing and release deception — hiding the puck behind defenders and cutting down the goaltender’s reaction window — than from overwhelming goalies with pure velocity or elite shooting power.

Because that truly clinical release speed and top-end corner accuracy are not yet consistent parts of his toolkit, his most translatable offensive threat at the NHL level will likely come through his work around the crease, where he can make life difficult for netminders through screens, tips, rebounds, and second-effort chances.

Projection and Next Steps 

Thanks to his already pro-ready size, relentless motor, strong skating pace, and intelligent off-puck game, there is little doubt that Ignatavičius projects as an NHL bottom-six player, with at minimum the foundation to fill an effective checking role.

If he can learn to use his frame more consistently to get under opponents’ skin with physicality, create cleaner plays off the wall, and continue refining his puck skills, there is a path for him to grow into a true bottom-six power-forward type with net-front utility on the power play. That projection is driven largely by his off-puck intelligence and his instinctive feel for when to separate from coverage around the crease.

After he becomes familiar with the organization that drafts him, the ideal next developmental step would be a return to Genève-Servette HC, where he should be pushed into a much more meaningful role and, most importantly, given further opportunity to sharpen the puck skills that will be necessary for a smoother eventual transition to North American hockey.

If his development continues on the right path, Ignatavičius has the profile of the type of player NHL general managers routinely pay significant prices for to acquire at the trade deadline — a hard-driving, detail-oriented bottom-six piece capable of helping contenders survive deep Stanley Cup runs.