This is the fifth story in a series of player profiles from the NHL's Scouting Combine in Buffalo, N.Y., focusing on potential second-round picks for the Penguins at 44th and 46th overall.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- If there's one position of the Penguins' prospect pool that's the weakest, it's the defensemen. They just don't have very many.
If the Penguins can use at least one of their two second-round picks later this month on a defenseman, it'd be a big boost for their prospect pool. And Dominik Badinka might be a good option.
Badinka, 18, is a 6-foot-3, 185-pound right-handed defenseman from Chomutov, Czechia. He describes himself as "a two-way, all-around defenseman with also some offensive upside. But first I play D-zone, then I like to go offense" at this month's Scouting Combine in Buffalo. That "offensive upside" he describes is often setting his teammates up for success.
"I help teammates and give them more space," he said. "Basically, I'm activating myself at the blue line, and when I get the puck, I don't hold it too much, and I pass it to forwards to have more time."
Badinka said that he looks up to defenseman like Washington's John Carlson and Vegas' Alex Pietrangelo, because they're both right-handed defenseman and are a similar size. He sees their games as ones he could realistically try to emulate.
Badinka spent last season in Sweden with the Malmo Redhawks, split between the Redhawks' U20 junior team and the big club in the Swedish Hockey League. He played 17 games at the junior level, scoring two goals and 11 assists. He spent 33 games with the SHL club, scoring a goal and three assists.
🚨 A ještě jedna příjemná zpráva o našem odchovanci. @dominik_badinka takhle vstřelil první gól v dresu @Malmo_Redhawks. V duelu s @HV71 šlo zároveň o jeho první bod v @SHLse, v níž odehrál už 21 utkání. Gratulujeme! 💪 pic.twitter.com/szwx5WdEm1
— Piráti Chomutov (@PiratiChomutov) January 23, 2024
Badinka left Czechia when he was 16 in search of a better development path, citing the low level of play in the Czech league. "Basically, if you put players not from the NHL in the World Championship, we would not win the Championship," Badinka explained, referring to Czechia's recent World Championship win on home ice this summer.
After leaving Czechia, Badinka first moved to Finland for the 2022-23 season, where he played for Jokerit's U20 junior team and was teammates with Penguins defense prospect Kalle Kangas, a 2023 seventh-round pick. Jokerit's main club competes in the second-highest level of Finnish hockey, and after that season Badinka had offers from Liiga teams to play in the top Finnish league, but his Jokerit contract wouldn't allow him to leave. So, he left for Sweden.
"I decided to take a risk in the SHL," he said. "I believed in myself that I can play senior hockey."
Other than four games with his hometown club in a lower league when he was 16, this past season was Badinka's first real experience playing in a men's league against older players, and he thought he handled the transition well.
"Of course, it's a hard thing to do," he told me. "But I think I adjusted quick and adapted. I knew that I can play it and I believed in myself and worked hard. And when I got the chance after 15 games in juniors, I took it and earned my spot in the SHL."
Malmo's sporting director Bjorn Liljander said in a team release early into Badinka's SHL career that Badinka "solved situations on the ice in a calm and controlled manner. In recent games with high absences on the back end, he was one of those who logged big minutes and took on a responsibility where he sometimes looked like a seasoned SHL veteran."
NHL Central Scouting, which ranks skaters separate from goaltenders and players from North America separate from international players, ranked Badinka the 14th-best international skater in the final rankings. Consensus seems to be that Badinka will end up being an early- to mid-second-round pick later this month. He's ranked as high as 35th (Elite Prospects, Smaht Scouting) or 36th (FC Hockey), but some other lists have him lower: 42nd (Bob McKenzie) 45th (Daily Faceoff) or 48th (Flo Hockey).
There's a good chance Badinka will still be an option when the Penguins are on the clock at 44th and 46th overall. He met with 27 teams at the combine, and the Penguins were one of them. Something the Penguins did in a lot of their meetings with prospects was film study of the player's highlights and lowlights, and Badinka was no exception.
"You had basically your videos from your games, and they stop it," Badinka recalled. "And there were some mistakes, and they were like, 'What's gonna happen next?' And I was saying, 'Yeah, I'm gonna screw it up and get scored on.' They wanted to know and have you rethink the moment."
Moving forward, Badinka said that he wants to focus on improving "everything. I think young players needs to work on everything." But if he had to pick one focus, it would be adding strength -- that will allow him to have more success at the pro level.
When Badinka signed with Malmo he signed a three-year deal that will keep him in Sweden through the 2025-26 season. So, he won't be making the jump to North America anytime soon. But after that contract with Malmo does expire, the experience that he will have playing professional hockey against older, bigger and stronger players should give him an edge over some of the other defensemen available coming from other leagues.
