Magnus Paajarvi’s 15-year-old Hlinka Gretzky Cup scoring record has finally fallen.
The former top Edmonton Oilers prospect scored 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in eight games with Team Sweden over the 2008 and 2009 competitions, back when it was called the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.
But now, that record belongs to Czech forward and top 2025 NHL Draft prospect Adam Benak, who has eight points in three games at this year’s Hlinka to go along with his 10 points in five games at last year’s tournament.
Benak, 17, officially broke Paajarvi’s record with a hat trick and two assists in Team Czechia’s 7-3 win over Team Germany on Tuesday at Rogers Place in Edmonton. He tacked on another assist in the Czechs’ 4-1 win over Team Finland on Wednesday to bring his career point total at the Hlinka to 18.
This give-and-go goal by Adam Novotný and Adam Benák is absurd pic.twitter.com/1G4VTLzDNg
— J.D. Burke (@JDylanBurke) August 7, 2024
The Czechs are undefeated through three games at this year’s Hlinka, with the stage now set for them to take on Team Sweden in the tournament semifinals on Thursday.
Benak is a 5’7″, 157-pound centre from Plzen, Czechia who will spend the upcoming season with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms. Daily Faceoff prospect guru Steven Ellis ranked him at No. 32 on his way-too-early list of the top prospects in the 2025 draft class.
After his own days playing at the Hlinka, Paajarvi went on to be selected by the Oilers with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft. The 6’2″, 205-pound winger made the jump directly from the SHL (then called Elitserien) to the NHL in the 2010-11 season, scoring 15 goals and 34 points in 80 games during his rookie year in Edmonton.
Paajarvi struggled to maintain his spot in the Oilers’ lineup in subsequent seasons, moving back and forth between the NHL and AHL in both 2011-12 and 2012-13, and was eventually traded to the St. Louis Blues as part of the deal that brought David Perron to Edmonton. After parts of five seasons in St. Louis, Paajarvi spent two more with the Ottawa Senators before heading back overseas.
In 467 career games over parts of nine NHL seasons in Edmonton, St. Louis, and Ottawa, Paajarvi collected 62 goals and 124 points; he added one goal and four points in 11 playoff games. Now 33 years old, the Norrköping, Sweden product currently plays in the SHL with Timrå IK.
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