Oilers Prospect Update: Tomáš Cibulka adds another layer of skill to the Edmonton Oilers pipeline

Edmonton Oilers prospect update Tomáš Cibulka another layer skill system

Tomáš Cibulka is officially the newest Edmonton Oilers prospect after he signed his two-year entry-level deal late last week.

With a lack of draft picks, the Oilers have had to get creative in adding new prospects to the system, which led them to sign Josh Samanski, Atro Leppänen, Viljami Marjala, and David Tomášek ahead of this season. The Czech defenceman finished his season in mid-March after Cibulka and his former team, Ceske Budejovice, lost in the preliminary round of the playoffs. This doesn’t come as a surprise, as the team ranked ninth out of 14 teams in the standings. As for the newest left-shot defenceman, he finished the season with seven goals and 22 points, adding one goal and three points in four playoff games. Eleven of those points came with the man advantage, but the most eye-popping stat is that Cibulka averaged 23:13 of ice time per night, with the next closest teammate being at 19:57 per game.

Cibulka played three seasons in the QMJHL from 2021-24 after being selected by the Val-d’Or Foreurs in the import draft. The six-foot-tall defenceman played in 191 games in the “Q” and finished his junior career with 102 points. After his junior career, Cibulka headed back home to Czechia to play for Ceske Budejovice, and in his rookie season, the blueliner put up six goals and 20 points in 43 games.

Let’s dive into the film and see the type of player the Oilers are getting in Tomáš Cibulka.

This is what fuels the rest of Cibulka’s game. The 176-pound defenceman is able to glide around the ice soundly with great mechanics. He is able to get his knees over his toes, excellent use of his outside edges, shows off a great first two steps, his transition from forwards skating to backwards is seamless, and he is able to maintain a wide base while defending. The first clips show off his overall skating package.

The last clip of the bunch is foreshadowing into the next section. Cibulka isn’t afraid to his lateral mobility as well which is why having a good first few steps is crucial, you need to be able to fly from a standstill if you want to play the type of game that Cibulka likes to play. Now the top gear isn’t elite, but it’s good enough to skate away from opposing checks. Cibulka’s skating style is almost “jittery” in the sense that he uses more bursts, outside edge work, and east-to-west movement. This style works at the NHL level, especially against forwards who don’t defend a ton of tricky defencemen, however the newest Oiler will need to continue to make this into an elite skill. From my viewings, Cibulka is much better at defending the rush than the cycle some of it is due to his superior skating ability in transition, but on the cycle he uses his hands to push over players when he should be using his legs to drive opponents into the boards.

The statistics might say otherwise, but Tomáš Cibulka is a very skilled offensive defenceman and the slick defender is willing to take risks if he is able to create some offence. It starts with the number of fakes he throws at the opposition. In the first section about his skating ability there is a clip showcasing his lateral movement and in that you can see him fake to go down the wall, but then beats the forward to the inside. The clip below shows that this is a pattern and something that Cibulka has ingrained into his game.

Excellent display of skill by Cibulka and I love how he throws head fakes at the opponent, but after the move his burst of speed to power through the hands and get inside positioning is what stands out most. Now the next clip is a bit more of a translatable play, if you try to go through the legs of a winger at the NHL level you might get a rude awakening.

Once again the 176-pound defenceman is showing off his hands, edge work, weight shifts, escape speed, and burst all in the above clip. As you can see, Cibulka wants to continue to get inside positioning on the opponent after he opens them up with his lateral movement. I love the thought process and the fundamentals on display, however at the NHL level Cibulka will need to try and maintain both hands on his stick when using his crossovers to pull away. It may seem nitpicky but having both hands on your stick helps you make the next play after you’ve beaten your check. Whether it’s a pass, a cutback to maintain possession, whatever it is having two hands on your stick will only raise the probability of the next action being completed. I like what I see in this area of the young Czech defender’s game, I believe there is a great fundamental understanding of how to read an oncoming opponent and mixed with his above-average skill level Cibulka has potential to create some offence out of nothing on a cycle. The final point I wanted to make here was that Cibulka does like to activate as the fourth man in and he’s not afraid to use his shot as you will see below.

All the great scorers say “shoot low” and in this case that is what the Czechia native decided to do. Cibulka’s shot is accurate and he is able to gets shots through from the point, but he doesn’t shoot everything and he is fairly selective about when is the time to shoot. This could be due to the fact he is looking for a better play and trusts his skill level to find one. There is a ton of potential in this area of Cibulka’s game and I think it’s something that should be continuously worked on to take advantage of it.

Other than how well you skate and how well you can think the game, for a defencemen I heavily weigh how you defend entries, the quality of your exits (controlled vs uncontrolled), and how you retrieve a puck. All three of these areas are strengths of the mobile defenceman’s game and I believe it will translate well to North America. Let’s start with how he defends the rush (Entries) and it begins with our first clip showcasing how tight he plays to the winger on the wall.

I believe defending starts right when you lose control of possession and you can see how tight a gap Cibulka has on the winger, the Czech defender makes the easy read and is able to cut off the pass by the time it gets to the outer hashmarks. The next clips below now showcases Cibulka standing up at his blue line to force a dump-in and in the second clip you’ll notice he lands a strong hit.

The second clip is a great play in my opinion. I wanted the camera to catch all of it and at the far right of the video before the hit lands you can see Cibulka transfer his weight to his left inside edge at the last second. Cibulka is trying to fool the defencemen into making the pass and once that pass is made he lays the hit. Great bait! When it comes to breaking the puck out, the 21-year-old defenceman values control and possession. There weren’t many instances when Cibulka chose to dump the puck out. The below video is a lot of what you will get when viewing him.

I linked a video in the skating section showcasing his crossovers and that is another example of his quality exits, any loose puck Cibulka will jump on it. As for the video above it’s a beautiful breakout pass under pressure, if the centre was able to make the next play then it would’ve looked a lot better. You can notice there’s an urgency to get the puck but once he gets it there is no need to hurry a play. That will bring us to his retrievals and once again another area of his game that I like. A lot of plays start with a “dirty” puck and you need to be able to make a play with the puck, defenceman touch the puck frequently and that’s why placing value in retrievals is crucial.

You can clearly see the confidence Cibulka has with pressure on him during these retrievals. Another thing to note is that each play ended with the puck on a teammate’s stick. Cibulka doesn’t only use his edge work in the offensive zone as he will keep you on his backside after a retrieval and slam on the brakes gaining himself some space.

I like the addition of Tomáš Cibulka, I have said for some time that the Oilers need to try and add some dynamism when it comes to defensive prospects. That’s what the young Czech defenceman can become if everything goes right. Next year with the Condors will be a telling one, with two years of pro hockey under his belt I find that Cibulka’s game should translate smoothly to North America smoothly. My main concern about becoming an NHL player is the struggles Cibulka has defending cycles, I believe the skating will be enough to learn how to not get beat on the rush by bigger opponents, but a lot of coaches don’t want to play a smaller offensive guy on a bottom-pairing role. Don’t turn him into something he isn’t, Cibulka has shown great potential in his offensive game using manipulation, lateral movement, and his underrated skill level. I want them to refine this area and make it even greater.

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