The Vegas Golden Knights' first move on the second day of the NHL Draft was trading picks 58 and 122 to Nashville for the 55th overall pick.
And with the 55th overall pick on Saturday, the Knights then selected 6-foot-2, 185-pound Jakob Ihs Wozniak, who played for Sweden's Lulea HF. Ihs-Wozniak had 57 points in 40 games last season with Lulea HF.
We are proud to select forward Jakob Ihs-Wozniak with the 55th pick! 😃 #VegasBornpic.twitter.com/e94OsOLINs
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) June 28, 2025
Ihs-Wozniak, 18, is a right-handed Australian left winger with a big shot who was expected to put up some eye-popping numbers last season after breaking the scoring record for 17-year-olds in the Swedish junior league the previous year.
Unfortunately, his production stagnated. He also had some underwhelming showings at the Hlinka Gretzky and Five Nations tournaments, resulting in him tumbling out of the The Hockey News' top 10 rankings.
Scouts want to see Ihs-Wozniak ramp up both his physical play and his urgency.
"When he decides to compete and work, he is very hard to stop," said one scout. "I find him wildly inconsistent, particularly with his compete. When he’s using his body, he’s really good. I just haven’t seen him do it that often."
Ihs-Wozniak projects as a second-liner if he figures things out. Multiple scouts said that when he goes to the dirty areas, he can accomplish a lot.
"We’re still trying to figure him out," said another scout. "He just blends in sometimes. He has some consistency issues that need to be addressed. He has size and does some good things, but you often can’t find him."
The team still have four other picks, at No. 91 (third round), No. 154 (fifth round), No. 186 (sixth round) and No. 187 (sixth round).