Zielinksi was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the 3rd round (80th overall) of the 2026 NHL Draft.

An incredible nasty shot and understanding of off-puck movement highlights most of what Zielinski’s game is about. It makes him an incredibly useful and effective player but also means that he doesn’t pop up in viewings or showcase the high end traits you would be typically looking for.

He has moments where he shows good understanding of leverage to get position and win loose pucks, and he was relatively consistent with coming down low to receive the pucks from his defenseman to alleviate pressure. He was a big part of Des Moines’ team last season, featuring on both PP1 and the 1st Line.

On the powerplay, he was situated on the right hand side halfwall, and he was just very stationary. Wasn’t involved in as many puck battles as I would like, he was often the third man in. The passing has some extremes, he’s generally a very accurate passer and Des Moines made sure he got lots of puck touches last year but that also means bad viewings like his April 11th game against Omaha end up looking really ugly.

Good effort level on the backcheck where he would get a sneaky stick lift in on the opponent and create scoring chances in the chaos that ensued. Zielinski isn’t a selfish player, and he’s very willing to play off his teammates with short area passes, but he’s a very on-script player. It looks like a lot of his decisions on the puck are pre-made and his default when he doesn’t see an immediate pass is to shoot the puck from distance.

Overall, I’m not over the moon impressed with Zielinski but if his average game this year is more like his performance with the US at the Hlinka; where the shot and off puck routes shine and the motor around the ice is more consistent, I can see him making some noise on draft boards.