So I actually wrote this on Saturday in the morning. Spent a bit of time on it, tried to get it right. I was an idiot though and didn’t write it like I usually do on Word. I wrote it on the HB server and of course it crashed and I lost all of it. So it took me a few days to work up actually revisiting this. That’s happened to me a few times and it never gets old!
While the playoffs roll on with some really entertaining first round matchups, there is another tournament going on that is almost as important if you’re a team near the bottom. Or the middle. Or a team with a draft pick. The Under 18 World Junior Championships in Zug…yes Zug, Switzerland are on! The U18’s are a guilty pleasure if you can get a stream for it (you’ll have to pay sorry). It’s really sloppy and intense hockey that only the exuberance and unpredictability of youth can provide. Yet so much fun.
The U18’s provide a last chance look at prospects. It provides a last chance at redemption for a poor season. It provides a last chance to put the icing on an amazing season. It provides players on poor teams to show their stuff with players of equal or greater skill than they are used to playing with. It provides players that can’t make their U20 team due to things like age (Canada and Russia historically don’t take 17 year olds) or injury (Kylington). It provides scouts a chance to see a lot of the heavy hitters from the next year’s draft.
In this blog, I’m going to highlight some of the players worth keeping an eye on in this tournament. Plus the reasons why they need to have an eye kept on them. It would be easy to say “all of them,… but nobody has that amount of time. Personally I’ve only seen Canada vs Switzerland, Canada vs Czech Republic, Russia vs USA and Sweden vs Slovakia. I’m trying to get a varied watch and am really looking forward to Canada vs Finland since the young 2016 Finnish duo are really impressing apparently.
For the purposes of this blog I’m not going to talk about 2016 eligibles, but I will have one for them later.
Canada
Mat Barzal – Centre, 6’0 181lbs, 17 years old, Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL, Ranked 8-16
Barzal entered the year as a guy expected to fight for a top-5 selection. His fantastic performance at the Ivan Hlinka solidified these thoughts as he led Team Canada in points to a Gold Medal. Sadly an injury early in the season would force him to only play 44 games in the regular season where he put up 57 points. More impressively though is that the 57 points was one off the team lead despite all the time missed. The Thunderbirds don’t score much. Barzal is a gifted two-way playmaker, known for his smarts and ability to find players with crisp tape to tape passes. I honestly don’t get to watch much WHL hockey, but from the two games I’ve seen him play at the U18’s, that reputation is well deserved. He leads the tournament in points with 8 in 3 games and has dominated the face-off circle. He was particularly impressive against the Swiss and no offense to Mitchell Stephens his winger, but he was set up for three tap in’s and didn’t manage to put in one. Barzal was player of the game on a 2 goal 1 assist effort. Barzal gets a lot of comparisons to ex-first overall Oiler Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, for the vision and intelligence…plus both being from the WHL. That seems like an apt comparison, though I don’t think Barzal has as good of a shot. Currently Barzal is ranked anywhere from 8-16, yet his dominant performance (should he keep it up) could potentially see him rise. While everybody expects the top centres in the draft to be McDavid-Eichel-Strome-Marner in any particular order you want, the next best one is probably Barzal. Without the injury I seriously think he could be in that list comfortably. This is his last shot to show what he has and he’s taking it.
Parker Wotherspoon – Defenseman, 6’0 170lbs, 17 years old, Tri-City Americans in the WHL, Ranked 43rd of NA Skaters
Wotherspoon is the younger brother of Flames prospect Tyler. Wotherspoon is a different type of player and brings a lot more offense to his game. Wotherspoon despite his lanky nature is a feisty defender and plays with an edge. He skates extremely well and moves the puck with determination. Due to the nature of this tournament, he has gone for a lot of long skates that he wouldn’t be able to get away with in the NHL, but it’s still promising. I really like the physical side of his game. It’s something I read about, but didn’t expect. He really likes to throw big long running hits. A lot of scouts really love his partner from the Americans Carlo, but having seen both play now…I think Wotherspoon gets the edge. The only thing he does worse than Carlo is in a height competition. Wotherspoon is having a heck of a tournament with a goal and 4 points already. If he can keep that pace up, he won’t be ranked 43rd for long.
Nicolas Roy – Centre, 6’4 205lbs, 18 years old, Chicoutimi Saguenéens in the QMJHL, Ranked 45th of NA Skaters
Roy like Barzal was the top pick of his respective draft. Big things were expected from Roy, especially after a star performance at the U17’s, a solid rookie season as a 16 year old and a very good performance at the Ivan Hlinka. To say his year was a disappointment is rather understated. His 50 points in 68 games was a season rife with inconsistency. Chicoutimi was a poor team and he didn’t get a lot of help, but a player of his size and ability needs to produce. A strong playoff performance isn’t enough to dispel an entire season, nor is a great U18’s. However it will give some hope. Currently he has been one of the better Canadian forwards. He’s centering the second line with two fellow Q players Nathan Noel (ranked 54) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (2016). He has three goals already and has been noticeably physical. Against the Czech Republic I felt he had the better game than against the Swiss despite not registering a point. He nailed Michael Spacek who had his head down in the neutral zone. Spacek was pretty much a non-factor the rest of the game. Could be a nice guy to gamble on in the late second round.
USA
Jordan Greenway – Left Wing, 6’5 229lbs, 18 years old, USNTDP Juniors in the USHL, Ranked 17-47
Greenway is a polarizing player, you can tell from the disparity in the rankings. His size and physicality are something to be desired. Surprisingly soft hands are another. I’ll say one thing for him, he was known as an unruly player going into the draft, but from what I’ve read he has taken a lot of the garbage cheapshots out of his game this year. My main problem with him is that he really struggles with the first strides. He looks slow out there, which isn’t surprising since the USA is a 2016 wet dream of talented skaters (Matthews, Tkachuk and Keller), but it’s noticeable. He has 2 assists in three games, but I only saw him play against Russia and he was terrible. A complete non-factor. I don’t even think he registered a shot, despite playing on the second power play. He tried rushing the zone with the puck and got stripped clean by Kaprizov who almost scored on a shorthanded breakaway because of it. This was probably a case of seeing him at his worst. Greenway has size you just can’t teach, but he needs to be more than a hulking menace to be an NHL player.
Sweden
Oliver Kylington – Defenseman, 6’0 181lbs, 17 years old, AIK in the Allsvenskan, Ranked 13-27
Few have fallen farther than Kylington since the beginning of the season. Kylington was expected to compete with Hanifin as the top defender in the draft. Sadly his defensive game simply hasn’t come around enough to warrant that. This is Kylington’s last shot to show what he has. From Sweden vs Slovakia, what I gather he has is elite skating and little interest in his own zone. Most of Sweden was a mess that game though and “steady… Larsson was pretty abysmal. I also wish he would shoot more. He was doing the Kaberle thing on the PP though with a lot more mobility. He was effective, but I can’t help but feel that he would be more so if he threatened more shots. Thus far he has two assists in three games, both coming against Germany. He’s also a minus 3. I’m not a fan of +/- yet this makes sense. From reading the live tweets from the USA vs Sweden game he apparently got pummeled by the USA’s third line. Kylington is insanely gifted, but the worries about his defensive game are very much real.
Russia
Kirill Kaprizov – Left Wing, 5’10 185lbs, 17 years old, Metallurg Novokuznetsk in the KHL, Ranked 29th of EU Skaters
Kaprizov is one of the only under 18 players to play in the KHL all season. He was pretty solid on the fourth line. Novokuznetsk is a pretty mediocre squad so they can afford to keep a 17 year old on the team all year. He scored four goals and added 8 points in 31 games, which is very respectable. Small and lightning fast, Kaprizov is a player who generates nearly all of his scoring off the rush. As mentioned earlier he almost scored a breakaway shorthanded goal against the USA mostly off his speed alone. He has 4 points in the tournament and has been good on a Russian team that is playing very conservatively. They love the counter attack and have a lot of faith in their goalies and defense to handle a lot of offensive zone pressure. Kaprizov might go undrafted this year due to his deal lasting another two years with Novokuznetsk. However I think he is making a good case to be taken in the later rounds. Also he absolutely dominated at the Ivan Hlinka, this guy is good yet size and contract length will likely hurt him.
Ilya Samsonov – Goaltender, 6’3 201lbs, 18 years old, Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk in the MHL, Ranked 1st of EU Goaltenders
Samsonov is the top ranked European Goalie and probably the second ranked goalie overall. Size and athleticism like most Russian goalies that are coming out of the pipeline. He robbed the Americans of a win in a 49 save performance. He was insane. The US peppered him with shots in the first as they had two PP’s. He’s having an amazing tournament and is living up to the hype of being the top ranked European goalie. Which is good, because he only played 20 games this year…which is worrying. He was the backup for Magnitogorsk…and the year before he was the third stringer. So pretty much all the scouts are playing with here is his natural abilities. Which is why this tournament is so important for him. With the performance he has had, this should be a no brainer in the second round should he continue this level of play. Now they just need some CHL team to get him over there so he can actually start some bloody games.
Czech Republic
Pavel Zacha – Centre, 6’3 213lbs, 18 years old, Sarnia Sting in the OHL, Ranked 8-15
Zacha needs to have a huge tournament. He has straight up been a disappointment. No doubt about it. He finished the season with just 34 points in 37 games and was completely outplayed by 16 year old rookie Jordan Kyrou in the playoffs. A lot of people were quick to say that his season was derailed by two suspensions for pretty poorly thought out hits…but I call bull on that. Suspensions can harm a season no doubt, but if he’s that psychologically weak then you can’t pick him 8th overall. Zacha has the size, skill and speed to be a monster. His skill set is one you dream of. Yet his production simply lacks. He just doesn’t seem to be able to produce. Whether it’s the U18’s, U20’s or the OHL. He reminds me a lot of the Rangers J.T. Miller, a player with the size and skill to be a star, but never seemed to put it together in junior or even the NHL at present. I have to give him credit though in this tournament. He was an animal against Canada. He was hitting like a truck and getting scoring chances left and right. He ended up with only one goal, but could have easily had more if not for an amazing performance by Zach Sawchenko. In the first period especially he was fantastic, the way he bulled his way to the net was great to watch. That’s the Zacha we all expected. Consistency is probably the most unheralded skill of all and I’m not sure Zacha has it or will ever have it. When he’s on, boy howdy he’s on. When he’s not…well he’ll probably take a run at a player and sulk in the penalty box. Zacha seems like the perfect pick for a team with a lot of established front end talent like the LA Kings.
Thanks for reading.