With only one Flames prospect headed to the annual international junior hockey showcase, you may be wondering what reason you have to watch World Juniors this year. Aside from the fact that it’s always a highly emotional tournament with stakes getting higher with each game of course. Here are a few ways to enjoy this year’s tournament.
1.) Watch Matthew Coronato This one is a no-brainer. The Flames’ only prospect at the tournament and their newest, shiniest toy just waiting to be unboxed and enjoyed. The first viewing for most Flames fans will be this year’s World Juniors.
Coronato isn’t burning anyone with his speed. His game involves a mix of sublime stickhandling, keeping opposition on their heels with a strong physical game and finishing plays with a great sense of timing. Coronato’s hockey IQ and ability to finish has scouts projecting him in a top six role when he makes the jump — while still being able to put his time in in a checking role on his way to getting there by working up the third and fourth lines.
The 19 year old Huntington, New York native has six goals and six assists in 11 games this year at Harvard University in the NCAA.
2.) Watching players the Flames passed on While the Flames are lacking in players at World Juniors, there is still an opportunity to make yourself sound smarter than the Flames brain trust by exhuming bold claims from the last two NHL Entry Drafts about players you’ve only read about or, at most, seen highlights of.
An example of this would be Logan Stankoven. Given that Logan spent time playing a major role on the Kamloops Blazers at the same time as former Flames first round selection Conor Zary — It’s fair to say that the Flames have extensively scouted this kid.
Yet when their pick at #45 rolled around this year, they went for more of a development project in the smooth skating William Strömgren.
Those kind of picks tend to drive fans nuts. They read all about the year’s top prospects then when it is their team’s turn to scoop up one of the guys that squeaked into the late first or early second round — they get someone they haven’t heard of. For fans with no exposure to these fringe prospects, this is the equivalent of a Jelly of the Month membership instead of a Christmas bonus.
Jankowski instead of Maatta. McDonald instead of Demko. These are the low hanging fruit takes that are easy to make yourself sound smart and often the most fun to talk about.
This year is Stankoven instead of Strömgren. It would have been even more interesting if Aatu Raty had been able to go. He tested positive for COVID a few weeks ago and missed the cut-off to report.
To Strömgren’s credit, he’s having a good year in Sweden’s Junior circuit with 23 points in 29 games with Rögle BK J20. He even made his SHL debut with the parent Rögle club. 18 years old until June 7; he is eligible to play at next year’s U20 World Junior Championship.
3.) Experience Canucks fan’s brains melting Many a Flames fan will remember a trade between their club and the Vancouver Canucks. Just a swap of a prospect for a pick. Immediately out of the gate fans of the Flames were subject to sentiments such as:
“Wow what a fleecing. Only a second for Baertschi?…
Or
“Can’t believe we stole Baertschi from a divisional rival for so cheap!…
Throw in a few more swear words and it paints the whole picture. Flames fans were subject to much gloating for a few years.
Until that second round pick panned out.
The gift that keeps on giving. Thanks, Jim.
The reason I bring this trade up is because often trading picks is a slow burn for fans. So far the trade below seems palatable if you don’t worry about picks.
To the Canucks: Oliver Ekman-Larsson Conor Garland
To the Coyotes: 9th overall pick (Dylan Guenther) 2nd round pick in 2022 7th round pick in 2023 Loui Eriksson Jay Beagle Antoine Roussel
The picks are relatively unknown and Garland is a great hockey player. It’s agreed to be a bit of a sacrifice, but the team needed a shake up and this changed the core around.
This World Juniors will be a showcase for 9th overall pick Dylan Guenther. The kid already looked ready for an NHL role in preseason action this year. His skating has defenders scrambling in the WHL and his shot is already good enough to turn heads at the pro level. Last year he produced at two points a game in a 12 game season. This season he’s under 2 points per game, but has been tearing it up prior to this tournament. 16 points in his last 10 games.
It’s petty to rub trades in the faces of fellow hockey fans, but it’s fun to be petty sometimes. If you’re watching the tournament with your Canucks fan friend, be sure to ask them what they think of #9 on Canada.
In Flames news, Goaltender Daniel Vladar entered COVID protocol today. If he is not ready by the time the Flames resume their schedule then Dustin Wolf may get a call up. It would be a good way to get the team focused on defence if they were to give the rookie the start in their first game back. Just a thought.
Trevor Neufeld