After trading down from the 52nd pick and receiving the 58th and the 133rd selections, the Edmonton Oilers selected six-foot-four Latvian centre Rudolfs Berzkalns from the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL.

Berzkalns was born in Latvia but has been playing in North America since the 2022-2023 season when he joined the Bishop Kearney Selects program. The big centre first joined the Lumberjacks for the 2024-2025 season, where he scored five goals and finished with eight points in 43 games played. This season, Berzkalns was once again with Muskegon, but his point totals saw a big jump as the Latvian pivot scored 13 goals and added another 12 assists. The playoffs are where Berzkalns’ game took another step as he scored four goals and ended with 10 points in only 16 games played.

The statistical numbers don’t stand out to you beyond Berzkalns’ frame, but if you watch the film, the one thing that will stand out is the defensive details in his game. A lot of centres at this age usually aren’t as detailed defensively, but Berzkalns bucks that trend. Below is a clip that shows off how well he can stick to opposing forwards.

He doesn’t get fooled easily, Berzkalns allows the hand-off to happen and takes on the new checking assignment. The 203 pound centerman isn’t a “handsy” defender, Berzkalns gets low and uses he legs to drive the opponent to the wall ultimately sealing him off completely and gaining possession back for his team. A quick note to make of is how Berzkalns hops right back onto his horse and tries to become a passing option for the breakout. Below is another example of Berzkalns using his excellent mobility and work ethic to seal off an opponent and igniting the breakout.

In all of my viewings I don’t think I saw one instance of him flying the zone early, Berzkalns is more often than not the first forward back in many situations. Below is a clip of one of those moments, the big Latvian takes his defensive zone seriously, and you can tell with his play.

Mind you, this play is against some of the best players that the Canadian juniors have to offer. Berzkalns wins a battle and has no issue inviting pressure on to make the best play available. This was by far the most impressive attribute of his game, as I said earlier, a lot of young centres don’t carry these kinds of details defensively. There is zero doubt in my mind that if Berzkalns plays in the NHL, he will be a centre. Muskegon gave the Boston College commit a ton of responsibility defensively this season, and he was deserving of defending leads, playing a ton of important penalty-killing minutes, and checking some of the top lines. The defensive details mixed with the size and speed give Berzkalns an excellent floor as a prospect.

I have already talked about it a bit throughout the post, but another intriguing aspect of Berzkalns’ game is the mobility he brings to the table. The Latvian product has a great base as he gets his knees over his toes and explodes with crossovers; he is able to contract his feet back to the middle quickly and has some good outside edges when he chooses to use them. Below is a clip of Berzkalns on a power play entry, and it showcases his skating ability pretty well.

During my viewings the 203-pound centre man was constantly pushing the pace against the opposition, which led to a fair share of controlled entries (more on that after). Below are a few examples of Berzkalns using his mobility and frame to push defenders back.

Berzkalns has shown off a great tendency to constantly push back the defenders with speed, and it resulted in some nice plays, as you can see above. However, I did notice that the Muskegon pivot can skate himself into trouble at some points. Berzkalns will need to work on changing the pace consistently and start to use his outside edges more to cutback. In two of the four clips that we have looked at in this section, the 58th overall pick showed off his puck protection and the way he can get on the inside of defenders. As Berzkalns gets older and adds on more strength to his frame, the skating mechanics will start to look cleaner.

The latest second-rounder of the Edmonton Oilers didn’t have eye popping numbers, but there are some intriguing tools that makes me think Berzkalns offence has more to give. To me it starts with how well he takes care of the puck in transition and while he has pressure on him. In my viewings I rarely ever saw the big Latvian dump in a puck or give it away for free. Berzkalns is constantly scanning the ice surface for a pass to make or space to exploit and he is very willing to make a play through pressure. Below is one of his best offensive zone shifts I captured and it explains my prior point to a tee.

Berzkalns is strong on the puck and it took three players to take him off of it. But the whole clip is just excellent as he uses his speed to gather the loose puck then he uses his size to protect the puck and send it back to the point; at the end of the clip is where Berzkalns allows his teammates to change while he works against three defenders. The ability to keep plays alive and bring the puck off the wall will help translate to the next level. When those pucks get off the wall, he is able to use some of his playmaking abilities to create along the perimeter. Below are a few clips of his playmaking highlights throughout my viewings.

The reason why I like these clips are because all of the passes have a different element to them. Whether it is a backhand pass to open space, a slip pass around an opponent, using deception to open a passing, or seeing a passing lane under a stick. There are four great examples of the passing ability and vision Berzkalns brings with him. In my viewings, there wasn’t a ton of offensive opportunities for the smart forward to take advantage of and I think that’s because of his defensive zone work. The coaches clearly trusted him to play a shutdown type of role and he played that role very well. But given the opportunity to grow his offensive game and take advantage of it will come with better results in my opinion. I like the decision to return to junior for another year and being a core offensive player for the Lumberjacks, I believe it will help out his offensive game continue to develop.

Overall, I really liked the selection of Rudolfs Berzkalns. There is a safe floor with him due to the size, mobility, and defensive awareness. However digging deeper into the player got me excited about the potential around his transition game and his playmaking ability. If he can be an everyday third liner for you… that’s an excellent selection at 58. There is some tinkering you will have to do and if you can influence him to get to the middle of the ice more often that will also help his offense, but even if Berzkalns continues on the path he is currently on I think he can be an excellent fourth line centre or depth piece with a ton of penalty killing upside.