The Saskatoon Blades weren’t supposed to be a top team in 2024-25. They lost several key players from their 2024 playoff run and a good part of their incoming roster relied heavily on rookies. Yet, 13 games into the season, the Blades sit second in the league and were the first team to hit 10 wins. The team has truly taken to heart the idea of finding different ways to win, and although not all their games have been pretty, they’ve muscled through and don’t show any signs of slowing down.
It’s easy to point to Ben Riche, who currently leads the team with nine goals and 21 points in 13 games and has only gone scoreless once this season, or to rookie Cooper Williams, who earned Rookie of the Week honours after starting the season on a seven-game point streak, or star defenceman Tanner Molendyk, who already has nine points in seven games since coming back from the Nashville Predators’ training camp. But no one has embodied the Blades’ new identity more than David Lewandowski, who joined the team on Oct. 12, 2024, after deciding to leave the pro circuit in Germany. He’s been gritty and fearless when required, but also has shown incredible intelligence and creativity. Alongside Williams and fellow rookie Zach Olsen, the ‘Kid Line’ has become the heart of the Blades and could be a key to Saskatoon’s success in 2024-25.
Lewandowski Scouting Report
When the Blades selected Lewandowski with their last pick in the 2024 Import Draft, there were a few eyebrows raised. The 18-year-old had already committed to playing in his home country of Germany for the 2024-25 season and despite his potential as a top 2025 NHL Entry Draft pick, no other team across Major Junior wanted to waste their pick on a player who wasn’t going to come over. But general manager Colin Priestner wasn’t dissuaded, saying, “We feel that David is probably the best German prospect in the last two years in the Import Draft. We felt he was Germany’s best player last summer in the Hlinka tournament as an underage and his potential shows all the tools to be a high NHL draft pick next June.”
The @BladesHockey have announced they've signed German-born forward David Lewandowski to a WHL Scholarship and Development Agreement.
— The WHL (@TheWHL) October 8, 2024
The 17-year-old was selected in the second round (120th overall) of the 2024 CHL Import Draft!
📝 | https://t.co/KzjadTmkCR pic.twitter.com/ct4TpzahMy
Priestner wasn’t alone in his evaluation. Last season, at just 17 years old, Lewandowski was one of the best German teenagers in the country after putting up 15 goals and 48 points in just 33 games, finishing second among all 16-year-olds playing Germany’s U20 league. He then went on to put up two goals and seven points at the U18 World Junior Championship plus another goal and assist at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
It was at the latter tournament that he started to catch some 2025 Draft attention, and Daily Faceoff scout Steve Ellis wrote in his tournament summary, “Lewandowski isn’t a great skater, but he knows how to take advantage of open space. And if you’re not going to be a speedster, you need that. The Blades draft pick seemed to be in a scoring lane more often than not when the Germans had possession in the offensive zone and I like that he’s willing to get creative when he knows he can’t beat players with his (lack of) speed.”
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Lewandowski started the season, as expected, in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Germany’s top league, and in seven games, he didn’t score a point while racking up 18 penalty minutes and had an even plus/minus rating. Those numbers may seem lackluster, but teenagers rarely thrive in the DEL; in the past 20 years, only seven U18 players have scored three or more points in a single season, with the latest being Julian Lutz in 2021-22, who had a goal and two assists in 14 games with EHC München.
Lewandowski Fills an Experience Gap
Thankfully, the Blades were able to convince Lewandowski to reconsider his previous commitment and, on Oct. 8, the team announced they’d signed him to a standard player agreement and his arrival in Saskatoon was imminent. His arrival couldn’t have come at a better time, either. Despite the Blades’ hot start, their lack of experience was starting to show, especially after veteran Tyler Parr went down with an injury ahead of their Oct. 5 game against the Everett Silvertips. Still missing Brandon Lisowsky and Molendyk to NHL camps and Lukas Hansen to personal reasons, the team was suddenly down 700 games of Western Hockey League (WHL) experience.
With that lack of experience came a lack of defensive consistency, which both the Silvertips and Swift Current Broncos, who faced the Blades the game prior, were more than happy to exploit. Over those two games, the Blades allowed 11 goals; over their previous four, they only allowed 10. Players were caught flat-footed, missed their passes, and overall looked overwhelmed.
Since Lewandowski joined, however, Saskatoon hasn’t allowed more than three goals in a game, and much of that has to do with his previous experience in Germany. His team, Düsseldorfer EG, were still looking for their first win of the season, plummeting them to last place in the DEL. While the DEL removed automatic relegation more than a decade ago, it’s not a good look for the historic franchise, and thus teenagers like Lewandowski were forced to prove their worth if they wanted ice time. That meant playing smart, defensive hockey that saw few mistakes. Only one other teenager has played for the team this season, that being goalie Leon Hümer, who’s only game saw him post a 14.41 goals against average. Given the state of the team, the fact that Lewandowski finished with an even rating is almost unbelievable.
The Blades’ Dangerous ‘Kid Line’
It was somewhat unclear when Lewandowski arrived where he was going to fit in the Blades’ lineup, but he instantly found chemistry with Williams and Olsen. All three are rookies, but you wouldn’t guess it from watching them. The best example of their effectiveness came against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Oct. 23. Less than two minutes into the first period, Lewandowski pressured a Thunderbird in the corner, forcing him off the puck, which he quickly dished to Williams, who then fed it up to Olsen, who caught Seattle’s goalie off guard. The whole sequence was fast and perfectly executed, demonstrating the high-end skill of all the players involved.
Less than a minute later, the Blades’ next goal started almost exactly the same way, with Lewandowski starting the corner and forcing the puck off a Thunderbird. However, instead of passing it out, he dumped it to another rookie, Hudson Kibblewhite, who passed it right back to the German star, who then put it by the netminder for his second goal of his WHL career. The game began to devolve after that, and the Kid Line responded accordingly. Williams threw a massive hit on Brendan Rudolph, which drew the ire of the Thunderbirds, resulting in a line brawl. But Olsen and Lewandowski were more than willing to mix it up and protect their teammate, immediately grabbing at the players surrounding Williams.
All throughout the game, the three rookies showcased a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done, and their effectiveness had a lot to do with Lewandowski, who was the easy choice for the game’s first star. While there’s no questioning the Olsen and Williams’ individual skill as both had strong starts to the season, the line is much more well-rounded with Lewandowski. The German has been like a quarterback, directing the play around him and placing himself in the best place to benefit others around.
“He’s been great,” said head coach Dan DaSilva. “I mean, he looks like a pro out there, right? He’s got size, he protects the puck really well, has a tonne of poise, sees the ice well, he’s able to make plays – you saw it on the overtime winner here [on Oct. 15 against the Regina Pats] on the pass that he made to Lisowsky. I’m sure as he gets used to the time zone and our group and our culture and his surroundings, he’s just going to get better and better.”
For a Blades’ team looking for key players to step up and take on bigger roles, no one has filled the gap left from last season better than Lewandowski. His ability to play in every situation has already made him one of Saskatoon’s most underrated players, but it will almost certainly reflect well when the NHL steps up to draft in June 2025. He’s just too good not to pay attention to.
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