Tomas Galvas – 2025 NHL Draft Prospect Profile

Diving into his game, Galvas is a smooth skater. He can walk the blue line to create offense, which makes him both a serious shooting and passing threat from up high. Whether it be pinching in his opponent’s zone or joining the rush, he likes to be involved offensively. He has the discipline to know when the time is right for that, too.

Galvas’ aggression doesn’t stop there, though. Even in the defensive zone, he’s willing to risk a turnover to get the puck moving up the ice. To be clear, that’s a good trait—it’s part of the reason he’s so effective. Galvas possesses solid stretch-pass ability and can skate the puck up himself if he has to.

Galvas is a smart player. On retrievals, he understands where he has to play the puck to get a rush going the other way—seldom does he make mistakes there. He defends the rush well, and, for a uniquely undersized player, he denies entries more than you’d think. Galvas understands the game better than many of his much older peers and has the skill to take advantage.

In terms of pure ability and potential, there’s a case to be made that Galvas was better than over half of the players selected in the 2024 NHL Draft. Impressively, he’s taken his game to the next level as an overager. He should not get passed on twice.

Other THW Draft Profiles

Tomas Galvas – NHL Draft Projection

Galvas going undrafted last year, even if he was objectively better than most of the players picked, is understandable. Unless they are star-caliber, abnormally small defensemen are rarely given the time of day in the NHL. When teams have a choice between playing a small versus a big depth defender, they will almost always choose the latter—even if they’re objectively worse. So, that’s the challenge Galvas faces, even if he’s coming off an encouraging 2024-25 campaign. He may have the talent of a second-round player, but don’t expect him to go much earlier than the fourth.

Quotables

“He doesn’t shirk from his defensive responsibilities, but has a poised puck game that should allow him to produce from the back end. Because he lacks size and isn’t as dynamic as some of the other smaller defensemen in this draft, it’s harder to slot him in as a likely top-four option for teams down the road.” – Chris Peters, FloHockey

“I like the way he jumps in and out of coverage while still recognizing where his responsibilities are and when he needs to hop back out to the blue line. I like the way he jumps on pucks and gets them out of danger so that he can spend less time defending.” – Scott Wheeler, The Athletic (from ‘2024 NHL Draft ranking: Macklin Celebrini, Ivan Demidov lead Scott Wheeler’s final top 100,’ The Athletic – June 3, 2024).

“He complements his skating with great hands, and when the two are working in harmony, that makes him a very effective player. He can walk the blue line and support the offense with relative ease, activating with smart, well-timed attacks into the offensive zone.” – Jim Bay, The Hockey Writers

Strengths

Under Construction – Improvements to Make

NHL Potential

With an NHL training regimen and the attention he deserves, Galvas can evolve even more. Considering he may fall to the middle or even late rounds, the upside here is immense. His outlook is someone who flirts with NHL minutes as a sixth or seventh defender, but his ceiling is far greater. Galvas has the upside of being a second-pairing player.

Risk-Reward Analysis

Risk – 2.5/5, Reward – 3.5/5

Fantasy Hockey Potential

Offense – 6/10, Defense – 6/10

Awards/Achievements

Interviews/Links

Tomas Galvas Stats

Videos