Single out
The Canadian Ducks: Mason McTavish, C / Olen Zellweger, D McTavish was the best player in the tournament. His combination of pace, high skill, power and scoring ability set him apart from the pack. McTavish was impressive in possession due to his feet, strength and two-way competition, while also being able to make very creative plays to create chances. He also made a tournament-saving defensive play in the gold medal game in overtime. He looks like a player ready to go with the Ducks. Zellweger was one of the best defenders in the tournament. His skating and benching consistently stood out. He made a lot of plays and with his legs he was able to play at the fast pace of this competition without a problem. His defense wasn’t amazing given his size, but with his skating he was good enough on rebounds and made enough defensive plays to get the most out of his offensive gifts. Emil Andrae, LHD, Philadelphia Andrae was Sweden’s best skater in the tournament. His great skill and playmaking ability drove their attack, and when they needed a goal, the cane went to his stick to get things done. Andrae isn’t the biggest defender, but he fights hard enough, allowing him to get stops and win fights. Because of his skating I question if his game will really work in the NHL, but he is definitely a player on the rise after a strong year in the Allsvenskan. Ridly Greig, C, Ottawa Until he was injured in the quarterfinals, Greig was one of the best players in the tournament. He showed his typical two-way tenacity, being excellent defensively while also attacking the net consistently with speed and skill. He looks like a player who is on the fast track to becoming a top nine center in the league. Roby Jarventie, LW, Ottawa Jarventie had a huge tournament for Finland as a big part of her offense. He is not a perfect player as he lacks speed and physicality, but inside the attacking zone Jarventie can do a lot. He is very skilled, can hit the seams as a passer and has a great shot, making him a real threat on the power play. The difference between him in this tournament and the version of him we saw in 2021 was night and day. Kent Johnson faces Finnish goalie Juha Jatkola in overtime during the gold medal game at the 2022 World Juniors (Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press via AP) The Kent Johnson (Columbus)-Logan Stankoven (Dallas)-Tyson Foerster (Philadelphia) Line In the tough games, it was this group that stepped up for Canada and was their most consistent line. Johnson’s skill is elite and his imagination with the puck has been above cultivation at this level. Stankoven also brought a ton of energy and skill in addition to being reliable in the middle for that line, and by the end of the tournament Canada’s power play flowed through him. Foerster didn’t have the best junior year but was pretty good in this tournament. He made a lot of plays, worked hard and was consistently involved in the attack. His skating will be an issue as a pro until he proves it isn’t, but with the fast pace of this tournament he showed it wasn’t. Finland’s top line The top three of Roni Hirvonen (Toronto), Aatu Raty (New York Islanders) and Joakim Kemell (Nashville) were the clear leaders for Finland at even strength. Ratty and Kemmel were among the top scorers at the tournament, with Kemmel doing so just months after being drafted following a breakout performance at December’s World Juniors. All three showed extremely competitive levels to match their abilities and Kemell was able to play at a strong pace. Jiri Kulich, LW, Buffalo As with Kemell, Kulich was average in this tournament before he was canceled in December, but suddenly he was a go-to player in this tournament and a stat leader for the Czech Republic. Kulich showed the speed, skill and scoring prowess that made him a late first-round pick, but he was also strong on pucks and wasn’t physically overwhelmed by going up against bigger players. Joel Maatta, C, Edmonton Maatta’s scouting report has always focused on his work ethic, but he’s never been as impressive in terms of skating or skills. That’s why it was so interesting to see the Oilers’ recent seventh-round pick emerge in a prominent role for Finland with power play time. I wouldn’t call him a natural scorer or playmaker, but he might have more ability than I thought. Maxim Strbak, RHD, Slovakia, 2023 eligible I don’t think Strbak stood out, but for a player born in 2005 in a 2002 tournament, I thought he held his own, which is impressive in itself. Strbak is quite the tool, is a 6-foot-6 defenseman who can skate well and showed impressive skills in the tournament — including running a power play unit. I’ve commented in my previous pieces about the lack of top defensive prospects in the 2023 NHL Draft, but it looks like Strbak has a chance to improve that group. Team Latvia For a group of players that wouldn’t be in the tournament without Russia’s elimination, they certainly look like they belong. The Latvian U20 team was highly competitive in almost every game they played. The two NHL draft picks in forwards Sandis Vilmanis (Florida) and Dans Locmelis (Boston) looked like strong prospects. I like Vilmanis better because of his good speed and skill, but Lothemlis also made a lot of plays. Draft-eligible defenseman Nicks Fenenko is a strong skater who can also move the puck quite well, and could potentially have some 2023 draft intrigue as well. Jesper Wallstedt, G, Minnesota There weren’t many good goalkeeping performances in this tournament, but the few of them often came from Wallstedt. He was one of the rare goalkeepers who was pressured by his team to carry them and he did when asked. He is so smart and technically sophisticated that he made many difficult poses look easy. He will still need time to learn how to make quick saves against men in North America, but there was no doubt that he is a top keeper.
Disappointments
Dalibor Dvorsky, C, Slovakia, 2023 eligible Dvorski was good on the power play, but I thought he struggled to generate much offense in even positions, mostly due to his lack of speed and being physically underdeveloped as an ’05 player in a ’02 tournament. He’s still a top prospect for the next draft because of how talented he is offensively, but the lack of pace in his game is a bit of a flag as he prepares to play pro hockey in the Allsvenskan draft season. Ville Koivunen, RW, Carolina For a player who was so productive against the man last season, I expected more from the 2021 second-round pick. Koivunen is a skilled, creative forward, but his skating has never been a strong point, especially for his size. I’ve historically liked his work ethic on the ice, but he hasn’t been competing as well or creating enough offense to make up for it which has led to his ice time being reduced. Matthew Knies, LW, Toronto I generally thought the US top line of Knies, Logan Cooley and Matthew Coronato played well, at least until they were needed in the quarterfinals, where this group fell short. Knies in particular was a disappointment to me. While he showed great physicality and flashes of skill throughout the tournament, he finished the tournament with no goals and three points. She scored more goals at the Olympics than at the World Juniors. I felt his game lacked pace and creativity at times. Forward of Sweden This is tough because we knew Sweden would be tough to score minus Alexander Holtz and William Eklund (never mind Lucas Raymond). With that in mind, they still had enough older first-round picks in Fabian Lysell (Boston), Isak Rosen (Buffalo) and Oskar Olausson (Colorado) to go along with some young 2022 first-rounders in Jonathan Lekkerimaki (Vancouver) and Liam Ohgren (Minnesota). None of them stood out. The efforts from Lysell, Rosen and Olausson in particular were quite disappointing as compared to the good teams they could achieve very little consistently. Lysell was probably the best of the three because of his great speed and skill, but he stuck to the perimeter a lot when creating his offense, as did Rosen and Olausson. Brad Lambert, RW, Winnipeg Lambert was the star of the December tournament but struggled in this event, seeing his time drop as the race progressed to a healthy scratch. He had flashes of his great speed and skill, but struggled to make many plays in the fast pace of the tournament and many of his attacks came from the outside. Next year will be his year to have a bigger role in this event. Simon Edvinsson, LHD, Detroit Edvinsson was one of the standouts of the December tournament, but it’s fair to say he didn’t have the week he expected. Part of that was due to the injury in the pre-tournament game and the midweek food poisoning, but even with that in mind he didn’t do much to help Sweden win games. He’s a great player coming off a great season and there aren’t many players in hockey with his combination of size, skating and skill, but he was coming off a lot of bolts this week when the games got faster and it was hard to tell that looked NHL ready. (Photo by Mason McTavish: Andy Devlin/Getty Images)
