Jakub Brabenec

Jakub Brabenec
Born	(2003-09-11) 11 September 2003 (age 20) Brno, Czech Republic
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	176 lb (80 kg; 12 st 8 lb)
Position	Centre / Left wing
Shoots	Left
NHL team (P) Cur. team Former teams	Vegas Golden Knights Henderson Silver Knights  (AHL) HC Kometa Brno HC Stadion Litoměřice SK Horácká Slavia Třebíč
NHL Draft	102nd overall, 2021 Vegas Golden Knights
Playing career	2019–present

Jakub Brabenec (born 11 September 2003) is a Czech professional ice hockey player who currently plays with the Henderson Silver Knights as a prospect for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for HC Kometa Brno of the Czech Extraliga (ELH), as well as HC Stadion Litoměřice and SK Horácká Slavia Třebíč of the Chance Liga, and for Charlottetown Islanders and Sherbrooke Phoenix in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). ^[1]

Playing career

Brabenec began his career with the youth teams of HC Kometa Brno in his hometown of Brno. Having already played at senior level on loan at second-tier HC Stadion Litoměřice during the 2019–20 season, he made his Czech Extraliga debut with Brno aged 16 on 18 February 2020, scoring the opening goal of the game against Mountfield HK of Hradec Králové ^[2] (he became the joint-fourth youngest scorer in the league's history – future NHL man Pavel Zacha first found the net at exactly the same age in 2013). ^[3] Soon afterwards that season was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the playoffs cancelled. He was a first-round pick by the Charlottetown Islanders of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in the 2020 CHL Import Draft, but due to complications of the pandemic he did not move to Canada at that point, ^[4] instead he remained with Brno and made 23 regular season appearances in the 2020–21 Czech Extraliga season, though only provided one assist, and had a short loan with SK Horácká Slavia Třebíč. In the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Brabenec was selected in the fourth round (102nd overall) by the Vegas Golden Knights. ^[5]

He completed his move to Charlottetown ahead of the 2021–22 QMJHL season and contributed 83 points across 73 appearances in the regular season and playoffs as the team from Prince Edward Island enjoyed one of their strongest campaigns, reaching the President's Cup finals for the first time, though they lost out to the Shawinigan Cataractes. ^[6] He was awarded the RDS Cup as the league's Rookie of the Year and the Michel Bergeron Trophy as Best Offensive Rookie. ^[7] In December of that year he agreed to a three-year entry level contract with Vegas Golden Knights. ^[8]

Brabanec began the following season at Charlottetown, but in January 2023 they decided to capitalise on his value after a strong showing at the 2023 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and traded him to the Sherbrooke Phoenix in a player-plus-draft-picks trade deal. ^[1] The Phoenix advanced to the playoffs semi-finals but were eliminated by the Halifax Mooseheads despite winning the first two games of the series on the road. ^[9] Ahead of the 2023–24 season Brabanec attended the Vegas Golden Knights training camp but was sent to local farm team, the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL, along with compatriot Jiří Patera, a goaltender who already played two NHL games for Vegas. ^[10]

International play

Medal record
Representing   Czech Republic
Ice hockey
World Junior Championships
	2023 Canada

Brabenec represented the Czech Republic at the 2021 IIHF World U18 Championships where he appeared in five games and made four assists.

He was named in the original Czech Republic squad for the 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships which originally began in December 2021 (he played in two matches with one assist), ^[11] but those results were annulled due to the COVID-19 cancellation of the tournament, ^{[12] [13]} and when it was replayed in August 2022 he did not take part. He again represented the Czech Republic at the 2023 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships ^[14] where he recorded one goal and six assists in seven games and won a silver medal (he was named his team's MVP in the overtime loss to Canada). ^[1]

Family

His father Kamil Brabenec was a professional ice hockey player who made 15 international appearances for the Czech Republic and played domestically for teams including Kometa Brno, as well as for clubs in Sweden, Slovakia and Italy. He was on the Brno coaching staff (and had not yet officially retired as a player) when his son made his senior debut with the team in 2020. ^[15]

Jakub's grandfather, also named Kamil, was an international basketball player for Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and 80s; ^[16] his aunt Andrea Brabencová  [ it ] and elder sister Kristýna Brabencová  [ it ] also played that sport at a high level. ^[17]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2019–20	HC Kometa Brno	ELH		2	1	0	1	0		—	—	—	—	—
2019–20	HC Stadion Litoměřice	CZE.2		10	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
2020–21	HC Kometa Brno	ELH		23	0	1	1	4		—	—	—	—	—
2020–21	SK Horácká Slavia Třebíč	CZE.2		3	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
2021–22	Charlottetown Islanders	QMJHL		58	17	47	64	8		15	5	14	19	14
2022–23	Charlottetown Islanders	QMJHL		28	8	17	25	16		—	—	—	—	—
2022–23	Sherbrooke Phoenix	QMJHL		26	10	25	35	10		14	2	7	9	12
2023–24	Henderson Silver Knights	AHL		48	6	7	13	16		—	—	—	—	—
ELH totals				25	1	1	2	4		—	—	—	—	—

International play

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2019	Czech Republic	U17			6	0	0	0	0
2021	Czech Republic	U18	7th		5	0	4	4	2
2023	Czech Republic	WJC			7	1	6	7	10
Junior totals					18	1	10	11	12

Awards and honours

Award	Year
QMJHL
Rookie of the Year (RDS Cup)	2022	[18]
Offensive Rookie of the Year (Michel Bergeron Trophy)
All-Rookie Team

References

1. Charlottetown Islanders move Jakub Brabenec in QMJHL trade, Jason Simmons, Saltwire, January 6, 2023
2. Kometa zvládla boj o šestku. Hradci Králové dal gól šestnáctiletý Brabenec [Kometa managed the fight for sixth. Hradec Králové conceded a goal from a sixteen-year-old Brabenec], Česká televize, 18 February 2020 (in Czech)
3. Kometa získala půdu pod nohama, trefil se i mladíček Brabenec [Kometa gained ground, and youngster Brabenec also scored], iDNES.cz, 19 February 2020 (in Czech)
4. Jakub Brabenec – 2021 NHL Draft Prospect Profile, Eugene Helfrick, The Hockey Writers, June 19, 2021
5. VGK Sign Forward Jakub Brabenec to Three-Year, Entry-Level Contract, Vegas Golden Knights / NHL.com, 10 December 2022
6. Cataractes capture QMJHL title with OT win over Islanders, SportsNet / The Canadian Press, June 11, 2022
7. Jakub Brabenec named QMJHL Rookie of the Year, QMJHL, May 30, 2022
8. Brabenec inks ELC with Golden Knights, Matt Tidcombe, Canadian Hockey League, December 11, 2022
9. Mooseheads defeat Sherbrooke to advance to Q league final, Paul Palmeter, CBC News, May 8, 2023
10. Gólman Patera a útočník Brabenec se přesunuli z Vegas na farmu [Goalman Patera and striker Brabenec move from Vegas to farm], České Noviny, 1 October 2023 (in Czech)
11. Kimelman, Adam (25 December 2021). "2022 World Junior Championship rosters". NHL.com. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
12. "Team Czechia placed in quarantine, to miss game". IIHF . Retrieved 2021-12-29.
13. "2022 World Juniors to be played in August, was postponed due to COVID-19". NHL.com. February 17, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
14. Jakub Brabenec před bojem o zlato: Ještě není konec, chceme to urvat [Jakub Brabenec before the fight for gold: It's not over yet, we want to grab it], Tereza Žáková, hokej.cz / HC Kometa Brno, 5 January 2023 (in Czech)
15. Kamil Brabenec, EliteProspects.com
16. Brabenec Kamil, Menšíkova jedenáctka (in Czech)
17. Doma mluvíme moravsky. Holky někdy nevěděly, co říkám, směje se Brabencová [We speak Moravian at home. The girls sometimes didn't know what I was saying, laughs Brabencová], Patrik El-Talabáni, deník.cz, 16 May 2018 (in Czech)
18. "Charlottetown Islanders' Jakub Brabenec named QMJHL's top rookie". SaltWire.com. May 30, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2023.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com , or  Eliteprospects.com , or  The Internet Hockey Database