2018 World Junior Championships

columbia
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2018 World Junior Championships

Postby columbia » Sun Jan 07, 2018 11:36 am

He’s clearly not a Capitals prospect.

mikey
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2018 World Junior Championships

Postby mikey » Sun Jan 07, 2018 2:34 pm

Post-mortem on this for those that care...

Start with the throw away teams...

Belarus - Had a rough tournament in general. Was neck and neck with Denmark, but just couldn't close them out. Denmark stays up once again (the Kazakhs will join in 2019). They're hanging around for a while. Taking the spot that I thought Norway would have locked down in the Zuccarello-Aasen fall out. Back to Belarus, I always like when someone not on my shortlist grabs my attention (and he's undrafted), Belarus had a guy that showed me he's worthy of a draft pick in sniper Yegor Sharangovich. He's a '98 birthday, plays in the KHL. Definitely someone I would consider later on.

Denmark gets to stay through relegation. I felt they sat back a little more this year, trying to get their game to mature a little bit. They don't have a lot going for them in terms of individuals...but they did what they had to do...

Switzerland - The Swiss have established themselves as a hockey nation now. This team has talent, they're producing talent. Nando Eggenberger is a player that has some upside to him certainly. Philipp Kurashev, who plays for the Remparts, is another guy I'll be following up on over the next few months. Tim Berni plays that calmer, smart style...I wonder if he has the skill to move up though. Wasn't impressed by the hockey sense of Nico Gross. He makes a mess out of lot things.

Slovakia - Another no-name Slovak goalie steals a show...Durny comes in and helps the Slovaks into the relevance for a moment...Slovakia continues to struggle to retain talent, even with their Agent Orange team or whatever they're called. I think Michal Ivan is going to be a top-2 round guy, he looked really good in the tournament. Martin Fehervary didn't do a lot for me...not a very skilled player. I was underwhelmed by Milos Roman, but saw enough to track him back to Vancouver.

Czech Republic - The Czechs upset the Finns, who were loaded on defense. They finished 4th in the tournament, their highest finish since 2005. It's a young team, they had six draft eligibles. Filip Zadina, probably my #2 overall selection at this point, was supreme throughout the tournament. He gets open so well, he can skate, he can shoot...Zadina better get a seat close to the stage at the draft, he's not gonna go too much later than Dahlin. Martin Kaut is a competitive and physical player with some skills. He's a winger I could see being a second round guy. Very consistent and even game throughout the tournament. Unsung. Jakub Lauko and Kyrstof Hrabik did nothing for me. I'll give Filip Kral another look in Spokane, but I had some early hockey sense questions and skill questions. The goaltender Skarek doesn't look like he's on pace to be a North American goalie. One guy that was passed over, really caught my eye...Kristian Reichel (Robert's son), I know he was passed over (somehow) but I'm going to have a hard time not considering him worthy of a first round pick in 2018. The big goof ball with decent hands, Kurovsky I believe, showed enough to warrant a draft pick despite being a '98. Skating needs to improve. But he's like 6'4", so I'm hoping he just hit a growth spurt and his skating is all wonked out...

Finland - Their defense, as mentioned in the preview, is an absolute wagon. Even 2nd round pick Robin Salo only averaged two minutes per game. They were just running with their horses. They lacked a lot of forward skill, which has been siphoned off to the NHL. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2nd rd., Buf) had a rough game against the Czechs despite an otherwise strong tournament. He still needs some refinement in terms of not letting pucks leak through him (and to stop doing that thing where a goalie gives up a goal glove side and then stares at his glove like it's an impossibility that he missed it...) but he has some definite upside. The Finns only had one draft eligible...a little waterbug type player in Rasmus Kupari...he didn't touch the puck a lot in the tournament...disappointment for the Finns probably...

Russia went with 19 year olds as they always do...as a slap in the face to me, they dismissed all of their 2018 eligibles late except for Andrei Svechnikov...and he didn't seem to play a lot. Some of their defensemen showed that they would be worthy of a look, if they were willing to come over. Not a lot of star power on this Russian club for once. Nor did they have great goaltending. They quietly slinked away without a medal for the first time in a while...

USA - Couldn't get it up for the Slovaks. But had a good showing in general, despite the loss to Sweden. Their skaters were not the problem. Perunovich and Hughes are two defensemen I really like. Brady Tkachuk is going to be a menace. I thought Woll was pretty bad in the tournament. It's unfortunate he was allowed to continue over Oettinger when it mattered. They waxed the Czech Republic in the bronze medal game, so good focus by them. Casey Middelstadt put on a show for the fans he will soon be playing in front of.

Sweden - This team is dynamite. Rasmus Dahlin dominated - clear #1 choice. I also liked the long-term upside of Isac Lundestrom, he didn't show a ton of flash in this tournament, but next year, I bet he becomes a premier player in it. I thought Jesper Sellgren played a reliable defensive game but with enough skill and skating to be a player. I'm trying to figure out where he can top out on the Stralman-Hjalmarsson-Dahlbeck scale. I'm thinking closer to Hjalmarsson. He was probably out for almost 3 of the last 4 minutes against the United States in the semi-final to help secure that win. I cannot believe that player #27 (Moravare?) was allowed to play at this level, much less continue to play...probably responsible for Sweden's loss. The Swedes put up a good show. I thought they might have had the best goalie in the tournament (Pittsburgh 2nd rounder Gustavsson) and he was the most mature of all of them...really good rebound control. Named best goalie I believe. Outplayed Hart in the gold medal game, but didn't get the scoring support.

Canada - More depth than star power. Canada only had one top-10 pick on the team...Cale Makar...who was for some unknown reason not playing 30 minutes a night...some games he would be glued to the bench for periods at a time, he was probably Canada's best player throughout the tournament though. Here's the redo of Bryan Berard if he can keep both of his eyes, this guy is gonna be some kind of player. Berard, Leetch, go where ever you want with it - I'm sure Cale would prefer a Canadian comparison but that's what I got. Odd usage from Ducharme. Connor Timmins (2nd rd, Col) was a rock in the tournament. Plus-15 (+16, -1) in 7 games. Victor Mete (4th rd, Mtl) (+11, -0) too. Drake Batherson was a good story. Alex Formenton is fast. Jordan Kyrou has a lot of skill. Came in with an open mind about Carter Hart and again, he really doesn't do it for me. I don't think he's a good goalie. Fight me irl. Canada brought no draft eligibles with them, so nothing to report there.

##

Buffalo was fun to visit, in general and in comparison to Lansing, MI. Caught a few days' worth of games, not a lot of people there. Belarus/Russia was what I call a friends-and-family game, there were more people on the bench than in the stands. Even in the Canada games, I could walk up to the box office, buy an upper level ticket and just walk into the club box (nawwwtt a big deal). Canada and USA games drew a few thousand each. But the tickets were over-priced, I struck a good balance between stubhub and the box office and got it all done on the cheap.

The best part was that the two arenas were across the street from each other. Made it so easy to see four games in a day in almost their entirety. The worst part was sitting outside on that snowy cold day in a football stadium watching a game that could have been better if not played in a snowstorm. I also learned just how far the Bills play from Buffalo. Orchard Park is not that close by. I also learned that Buffalo has a single subway line...it's unclear where it goes, if anywhere...

Talked good sports talk with most uber drivers, they seemed both passionate and knowledgeable...a rare breed to find consecutively.

On a personal level, met with a fair amount of scouts while I was there...talked some shop...handed one GM some samples of my work and my resume, which he pocketed...perhaps to throw away when I turn around, perhaps to one day call me, either way, I went down swingin' while I was there. Great experience. The tickets seem like they won't come down next year, as Canada continues to milk this thing dry...attendance will be buoyed by that outdoor game (40+ thousand legit), but I was dismayed by how poor the attendance was...even accounting for the super cold weather...I'm not sure how I feel about going to Vancouver/Victoria next year, but it's definitely on my radar...Vancouver is on the cities-to-visit list, which helps...

Re: Lias Andersson (NYR 1st rd). The kid worked his bag off in this tournament and probably deserved a better fate. Very emotional moment. Glad he ended up with his medal back, he was gonna want that back...even if he didn't want it right then. Good kid.

dodint
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2018 World Junior Championships

Postby dodint » Sun Jan 07, 2018 3:45 pm

Good luck, dude.

columbia
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2018 World Junior Championships

Postby columbia » Sun Jan 07, 2018 3:48 pm

I ran into my boss at Home Depot and we had some quality home repair bro time; expecting a big raise next year.

meecrofilm
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2018 World Junior Championships

Postby meecrofilm » Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:14 pm

Good stuff, mikey.

mikey
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2018 World Junior Championships

Postby mikey » Sun Jan 07, 2018 7:12 pm

Thanks, boys. I've been stringing together a lot of positive experiences in a row on the never-having-to-work-a-day-in-my-life front...and getting a lot of attention in the process (pretty surprisingly), trying to load up for something somewhere when all the personnel changes happen in the summer. My mindset is: I'm just gonna go down swingin, so even if it doesn't work out, I'll never wonder...

shafnutz05
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2018 World Junior Championships

Postby shafnutz05 » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:42 am

Thanks, boys. I've been stringing together a lot of positive experiences in a row on the never-having-to-work-a-day-in-my-life front...and getting a lot of attention in the process (pretty surprisingly), trying to load up for something somewhere when all the personnel changes happen in the summer. My mindset is: I'm just gonna go down swingin, so even if it doesn't work out, I'll never wonder...
Good luck mikey! Your insights/obs are appreciated.

willeyeam
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2018 World Junior Championships

Postby willeyeam » Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:57 pm

Much appreciated mikey. Good luck

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