At No. 9 on our Oil on Whyte 2025-26 top 10 prospects list, we have the player the Edmonton Oilers took with their Fourth round pick, 117th overall at the 2025 NHL Draft.
David Lewandowski is a 2007-born German power forward winger, clocking in at 6'1 176lbs. He grew up in Dusseldorf, Germany playing for the Dusseldorf youth system before finally making his DEL debut last season, playing seven games for his hometown club.
He then came to North America to play for the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League (WHL) scoring 15 goals and 24 assists for 39 points in 52 games. Although not the most eye popping numbers, joining a new team midseason in a different continent require an adjustment period.
He showed signs of adjusting to the league, ending the regular season with a seven game point streak, scoring nine points (five goals and four assists) over that span.
He has proven to be a big member of the German teams at the international level, playing big minutes and scoring at a good pace relative to his peers. He has represented his country at two Hlinka Gretzky Cup tournaments as well as at both the IIHF Men's World Under-18 Hockey Championship and at the IIHF Men's World Junior Hockey Championship.
Future outlook
In the meantime, he is set to attend the Oilers rookie camp which will take place in the next week and will see him skate alongside fellow Oilers prospects. They will also faceoff against the provincial rivals, Calgary Flames in a classic Battle of Alberta matchup.
Looking ahead, Lewandowski is expected to rejoin the Blades for next year and will look to improve upon his numbers from last year. As I stated above, he has proven himself time and time again against his peers, performing well on an underdog country in international hockey like Germany.
There is also a good chance that he is never a big time point scorer, given not only his draft pedigree but also his style of play. Lewandowski plays a more aggressive, "dog on a bone" style of hockey, using his body to create chaos and win puck battles, banging and crashing the net. In certain organizations, this is not conducive to racking up points.
NHL potential
Keeping in mind his play style, Lewandowski does have legitimate potential at the next level, checking a lot of boxes for a projectable player. He plays with high energy and is unafraid to use his body to forecheck and attack the opposition net. This gives him a solid foundation of skills to at least receive a chance at an NHL lineup, filling in for a bottom-six role.
His skills and abilities with the puck also help to increase his odds as he has shown the ability to create offense and score goals himself, usually through his play style. This is a very translatable trait which could give him some serious potential as an NHL player, in the right situation.
Lewandowski's style of play is very reminiscent to players like Vasili Podkolzin, Connor Brown and Zach Hyman, which can be good. Hyman specifically has proven his worth as a player in his own right but has been utilized as a complimentary player alongside of elite players since he entered the league with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2016, playing alongside Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
In Edmonton, he has been a consistent linemate for superstar Connor McDavid, seeing him hit new heights in his career, scoring over 50 goals just two seasons ago, creating very high expectations for himself to bounce back. This is the high point of Lewandowski's potential but he likely lands somewhere closer to Brown or Podkolzin, even Hyman with the Leafs is a much more realistic comparable.
This means that the likely projection for the 18 year old German is a third line energy winger, capable of providing secondary offense and being a role player if need be.