With two seasons under his belt playing on North American ice, Dominik Petr is already quite familiar with life in the Western Hockey League.
Suiting up for 70 career regular-season and playoff games with the Brandon Wheat Kings, the Czech centreman jumped at the opportunity to keep his junior career in Canada moving by signing in the off-season with the Saskatoon Blades.
“Honestly, I heard lots of good things about Saskatoon when I played in Brandon,” Petr said. “I didn’t really know what to expect, but everything was very positive when I got here.”
That transition to a new environment has gone exceedingly well for the 20-year-old, who has stormed out of the gates with six goals and 11 points in just seven games to lead all Blades players in scoring to begin the 2025-26 WHL season.
The production has come fairly seamlessly into the lineup, according to Blades head coach Dan DaSilva.
“He’s a very gifted player,” said DaSilva. “He sees the ice really well, a very skilled player, extremely smart. He’s fitting in really well with (David) Lewandowski and (Hunter) Laing the last couple of games; they obviously have some chemistry right now and I think he would be the first to thank his linemates for the success he’s having right now.
“He’s just such a big part of our team. He’s come in and fit in so well.”
Coming off a 47-point performance and a stint at the 2025 world junior hockey championships last year for Czechia, Petr has generated an immediate connection with both Laing and Lewandowski on Saskatoon’s top line following an injury to centre Cooper Williams.
That was shown on Tuesday night in a 6-1 stomping of the Vancouver Giants, as the line was kept together despite Williams’ return to the lineup and combined for three goals and eight points at SaskTel Centre.
“(Petr’s) a smart centre,” Lewandowski said. “He sees the play well, he can score goals, he shoots it good. All-around he’s a great centre, so it’s easy to play with him.”
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Lewandowski, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2025 NHL Draft by the Edmonton Oilers, has also raced out of the gate since returning from NHL camp to net three goals and 11 points in only five games of action.
Giving the Blades a pair of imports, along with Flames prospect Laing who has piled up eight points in five games, to help set the tone offensively.
“I feel like we can see each other out there,” said Petr. “We’re each a step ahead and we know what the other guy is going to do. It’s working, so knock on wood it’s going to [keep working].”
New this year to the WHL and the Canadian Hockey League as a whole is the introduction of a third import slot for teams, something the Blades jumped on at the 2025 CHL Import Draft.
With the 40th overall pick, Saskatoon selected and later signed forward Dustin Willhöft, who was born in Estonia but holds German citizenship and represented the country internationally.
It was during his time at the U18 level that he met fellow countryman Lewandowski, who helped convince him to make the jump overseas to join the Blades.
“Of course, coming here knowing David, it’s just kind of a relief, because you know you have someone here,” Willhöft said.
Being the lone player from his home country last year, Lewandowski admitted it could be a bit lonely for an international player, which has been eased by the additions of Petr and especially Willhöft.
“I was really happy to see that because, of course, (it’s) another German,” Lewandowski said. “You speak German to him, it feels a little bit like home.
“You feel it, like there’s another connection, you feel it instantly.”
The adjustment to the WHL game hasn’t come as quickly as the small but skilled winger had hoped, as he’s been looking to find his place in the Saskatoon lineup.
On Tuesday, Willhöft took a big step forward in that development, scoring the first goal of his WHL career into an empty net with 4:08 remaining in the game.
“Of course it’s amazing,” Willhöft said. “It’s not the prettiest, but a goal is a goal and I’m happy.”
Willhöft’s goal came after he hit the crossbar on an earlier play, with the Saskatoon bench quick to deliver congratulatory pats to the rookie following his empty-net goal.
For Willhöft, that support has helped keep him pushing towards finding the back of the net as he adjusts to life in the WHL and in a new country.
“It’s been some difference for me personally and it’s been tough, to be honest, too,” Willhöft said. “But I think it’s getting better every day and I’m just trying to really do my best out there.”
Watching Willhöft make the difficult adjustment from European ice to the North American style of play reminded Petr of his similar journey three years ago.
“I know how hard it is to transfer from European hockey to Canadian-style hockey,” Petr said. “We’re very happy for (Willhöft) and hopefully he’s going to shoot even more now and get some confidence.”
With the move to three import slots per team, an additional 23 positions across the WHL have been opened up in the hopes of bringing in new international attention.
While DaSilva is excited to see a greater pool of players available, he added there’s no place for evaluating passports on his roster.
“If you can play, you can play with us and that’s kind of the biggest thing,” DaSilva said. “If you can play, you come here, you buy in the way we want to play, you compete and you work hard … it doesn’t matter where you’re from.”
The Blades (5-2-0) will look to stretch their win streak to four games on Friday night, kicking off the weekend on the road visiting the Swift Current Broncos (4-2-0).
