I’m back again with another Edmonton Oilers prospect profile from the 2025 draft. This time, we have fourth-rounder David Lewandowski, who was mentioned among the honorable mentions in our Summer Prospect Countdown.

Lewandowski is a German import player who spent his pre-draft year in the Western Hockey League with the Saskatoon Blades. The 6-foot-1 winger scored 15 goals and 39 points over 52 regular-season games in 2024-25 and added a goal and an assist in four playoff games in his rookie campaign with the Blades.

The Oilers are Stanley Cup contenders, and as a scout, that generally means they’ll usually have fewer high-end draft picks to work with. When it comes to late-round picks, a promising strategy is to try to find one elite skill that a player has and build around that.

For Asher Barnett, who we talked about last week, that core skill is his defensive game. But for Lewandowski, it’s his mix of puck protection and playmaking skills that can carry him a long way.

The 2024-25 season was a busy one for me. I was at almost every Edmonton Oil Kings game to compile my annual ranking of the top WHL NHL draft-eligible players. One prospect I was higher on than most was David Lewandowski, whom I ranked 14th, ahead of the Oilers’ third-round pick Tommy Lafreniere. The big draw was his elite playmaking all year.

This first clip is my favourite example of Lewandowski’s vision. He pre-scans before the puck arrives, anticipates his teammate (Germany No. 9) getting to the right spot, and off a dirty, bouncing puck, he one-touches a backdoor, tape-to-tape pass with no telegraphing at all.

This clip is another great example of elite playmaking tendencies. He pre-scans, one touches the puck from the wall, and puts it on a platter for his teammate.

In the next two clips, note which side of his blade he’s using.

Even at the junior level, players are scared to use their backhands, but the power-winger in Saskatoon is as good on his backhand as he is on his forehand. You absolutely have to be able to use your backhand as well as your forehand if you want to play at the highest level. Does this remind you of any other German forward on the Oilers?

In the next two clips, watch how Lewandowski doesn’t just take what he’s given, but creates his own passing lanes. This is a skill that will eventually be critical to have at the NHL level against bigger and more mobile defenders.

This is a very important trait to have as a playmaker. NHL defenders will not allow the easy pass to get through. You absolutely have to create your own lanes via movement and deception. This is a trait that is on the way to being able to translate to the top professional level.

This is by far the most intriguing part of the 6-foot-1, 176-pound winger. If he makes the NHL one day, I believe it’s because the playmaking tendencies he shows keep blossoming. That is Lewandowski’s biggest strength by far, but he has a couple of other traits that can translate to the NHL, and the next one I want to show is his ability to create contact, put pressure on his backside, and protect the puck.

I love this clip for the simple fact that he doesn’t allow himself to get tied up, throws his bum at the player, and makes the pass for a clean breakout. Why does creating contact matter? Not only do you throw off the defender’s path to the puck, but you buy yourself some extra time to make a play.

The next few clips illustrate this to perfection.

Lewandowski doesn’t allow the defender to create contact. He goes out of his way to make sure he is the one gaining position.

Position is more important than possession. Once you get the position, the possession part of the equation solves itself much more easily.

This next part will be a bit quicker than the rest, but there were multiple instances where the 2025 fourth-rounder showed off high-level deception. Watch these next two clips, and we will talk about them.

In the first clip, off the turnover, the playmaking forward fakes the cut inside and is able to gain a step on the defenceman (2025 ninth overall pick Radim Mrtka).

From an elite winger like Kirill Kaprizov to a power-play quarterback defenceman like Evan Bouchard, all the high-end playmakers use deception to get what they want on the ice. If you have no options, you have to create your own in the NHL, and a lot of the time that is done through deception. Manipulating your opponents to give you what you want is a very translatable trait across all leagues.

The last thing I want to note about what makes David Lewandowski intriguing to me is his constant work ethic on the forecheck.

The main point to take away from these clips is that one of the newest Oilers in the pipeline targets the hands or tries to get his stick on the puck. A lot of junior players forecheck to just lay a hit, but Lewandowski forechecks to gain possession back. The Florida Panthers just won back-to-back Stanley Cups by forechecking properly and creating scoring chances off turnovers.

The biggest criticism around Lewandowski as a prospect is his skating ability. Scouts suggest that he needs to improve his speed and quickness to become an NHL player.

I agree to an extent. I believe he has great outside edge use, and his first two steps are about average. The skating mechanics do need some cleaning up. However, the main issue that can hold Lewandowski back at the professional level is his pace of play.

The left-winger struggles to push the pace of play. He needs somebody else to do it for him.

In the above clips, he’s skating in a straight line with no use of linear crossovers. Linear crossovers help you cross the defender’s feet and generally makes you harder to read.

In this next clip, you will see that although he isn’t going fast, Lewandowski is able to push the defence back by using east-to-west movement. More of this is needed in his game.

Let’s circle back to the skating mechanics. This is an aspect of Lewandowski’s game that does need some work, but for me, it’s not as major as others are making it out to be.

The stride needs to get more horizontal instead of vertical, which is the main technical issue. Another thing to work on is sitting lower in a squat. When Lewandowski gets going, he can over-hinge at the hips a little bit. Now, being 6-foot-1 and 176 pounds, it leads me to believe he has room to gain muscle, and I think if he can gain more leg strength and core strength, you will see his skating come a long way.

In the fourth round of the NHL Draft, David Lewandowski was a smart swing based on his elite playmaking, strong work ethic, and ability to get inside defenders while protecting the puck. He still needs to keep pushing his pace, offensive-zone movement, and skating mechanics, but there is a clear path to a bottom-six, puck-possession winger who can make plays along the wall and create chances off the cycle.

Lewandowski will be an interesting prospect for fans to follow in 2025-26. He’ll take on a larger role in his second WHL season with the Saskatoon Blades, and he’ll likely represent Germany at the World Juniors.