2024 IIHF World Junior Championship Thread

[-dlc-]

When I just updated my Shaw-gers account I had one condition: "I MUST keep all sports channels". Didn't care about anything else...that's why I pay for cable - Canucks games #1 and things like the World Juniors when I'm on holidays #2. 

 

So aggravating to keep losing the signal (just happened as I was typing this). Signal resent and I only lost 5 minutes of the game this time. Tomorrow it better be solid or I'm going to lose my cool. They're supposed to call/come back and run a new line in but it can't happen quickly enough. I get owly when my games are interrupted. 

 

But at least they're trying to make things right by throwing in this channel that I didn't ask for. Not sure how I managed to live without it before. Riveting.

[Rip The Mesh]

3 minutes ago, Master Mind said:

 

While I understand the ban, I agree that the tournaments have not been as exciting without Russia.

 

Add in the hockey Canada scandal and the tournament doesn't have the same appeal.

Take years for it to be again with Russia. It is what it is, plenty of great, young players are on many NHL teams and their farm teams. 

I mostly just watch Russian players around the NHL and the Canuck's team and prospects. 

[-dlc-]

47 minutes ago, sassbs said:

lol wow.  I’m not getting into this debate but all I’m going to say is. Stop watching CNN

@sassbs    Where do you get your info? I'm curious.

 

For someone who's "not getting into it", you opted to so it would be interesting if you could provide further insight. I mean, it's not just CNN....the secret's out and it's coming from various sources.

 

While I don't know that punishing hockey players is the ideal route, it does make a strong statement. 

 

The Team Canada stuff also is very alarming and so it's easy for me to throw support behind Team Sweden this year. Although the same applies...these players shouldn't be subjected to the wrath of other player's mistakes. Unless they're following in their footsteps.

[Nucker67]

Future looks pretty bright with Lekkerimaki, Willander and Pettersson.

 

Damn, that D Petey can hit and play aggressive. Love it.

 

Hughes - Willander

Zadorov - Hronek

Pettersson - Brzustewicz

Mynio - Celebrini

 

Lekkerimaki is a sniper too, can't wait to see what Pettersson - Lekkerimaki can do down the road.

 

 

 

 

 

[-dlc-]

1 minute ago, Nucker67 said:

Damn, that D Petey can hit and play aggressive. Love it.

 

This, more than anything, is so important to me.

 

Our team is getting much harder to play against and I want that to be the theme moving forward. Tough, physical play.

 

I love the skill level of the goal scorers but it has to be balanced out.

[Rip The Mesh]

LOL.

[Conscience]

Tournament misses russia

[King Heffy]

Great goal!

[Rip The Mesh]

Unrelated; BUT:  Look at them thar emblems !!!

 

[King Heffy]

Much cleaner defensively so far than the Finland game.

[King Heffy]

Wood!

[JamesB]

9 hours ago, spook007 said:

..

A smooth skating RHD with size that can derend is a good thing, no?

We need bigger D, and a bigger D that can actually play and defend, so maybe Tom fits the bill more than [ASP]. 

More importantly so does the Canucks scouting staff. Time will tell who will be the better player. 
 

 

13 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Willander is on a similar pace to Cale Makar when he was 18 at the NCAA level. Willander is also an elite skater. So his progression is going just fine. 
 

I agree ASP is more boom or bust. But Boqvist is already turning into a bust so there is a good chance ASP will follow the same path. 
 

Not even sure why we would need ASP when we already have Hughes and Hronek who can play the PP and put up points. Tocchet likes his defence to be big and nasty. I’m pretty sure Tocchet wanted no part of ASP. And regardless the scouting department was unanimous in their choice of Willander. 

 

16 hours ago, LaBamba said:

Don’t be scared, I wanted Axel, he is more offensively dynamic. Imagine him with Hughes. This is just like OJ over MT. People would rationalize it and talk about OJ’s IQ and how he was a safe pick and a need. Just people trying to self soothe. I’m not saying Willy is trash by any means, I just think Axel is going to be a game changer. Willy is a late 1st to early 2nd Edler ish ceiling and we need that too I guess. 

 

Not a lot more to say but I will say something anyway.

 

1. Both Willander and ASP are good prospects. As @spook007 says, we won't know for a while who was the better pick.

 

2. I was rooting for Willander over ASP at the draft. While there is some chance (but not much) that ASP turns into Quinn Hughes (or something close) that is very, very unlikely. There are many smallish offensive D-men who can dominate in Junior or the NCAA (Hutson?) or even in the AHL or the Euro leagues but who are not good enough to be on the PP at the NHL level and get pushed around defensively: Boqvist, Rathbone, etc., etc., etc.

 

3. Willander is bigger (the BU website has him up to 191 lbs), stronger, and a better skater (although ASP is good. See https://theathletic.com/4549615/2023/06/15/nhl-draft-ranking-skaters-shooters-passers/). And he is a very good defensive player, in addition to putting up decent offence. It is noteworthy that  he leads BU in +/- (well ahead of Hutson) despite getting a lot of tough match-ups. The comparison to Juolevi does not make sense to me. Juolevi did not have a separating skill (and was a terrible pick by Benning at #5 overall).  Remember when Juolevi got turnstiled a few times at the youngstars? No one is going to turnstile Willander, who has excellent mobility in all directions.

 

4. The other thing about Willander that I like was that he rose steadily in various rankings throughout his draft year, indicating rapid improvement, which is still continuing. ASP had a pretty flat trajectory in this draft year, although he has taken a good step forward this year in the SHL.

 

5. While there are very few "can't miss" prospects, I think Willander is close. He is a RHD with excellent skating, very good defensive skills, good offensive skills, decent size, and he contributes to physical game. He might not be a PP quarterback at the NHL, but we don't need one of those. We do need a good top-4 RHD who is very good in all situations. 

[King Heffy]

12 minutes ago, JamesB said:

 

2. I was rooting for Willander over ASP at the draft. While there is some chance (but not much) that ASP turns into Quinn Hughes (or something close) that is very, very unlikely. There are many smallish offensive D-men who can dominate in Junior or the NCAA (Hutson?) or even in the AHL or the Euro leagues but who are not good enough to be on the PP at the NHL level and get pushed around defensively: Boqvist, Rathbone, etc., etc., etc.

 

Barrie was named as a comparable.  You don't want a guy like that on your team of you care about winning.

[LaBamba]

15 minutes ago, JamesB said:

 

 

 

Not a lot more to say but I will say something anyway.

 

1. Both Willander and ASP are good prospects. As @spook007 says, we won't know for a while who was the better pick.

 

2. I was rooting for Willander over ASP at the draft. While there is some chance (but not much) that ASP turns into Quinn Hughes (or something close) that is very, very unlikely. There are many smallish offensive D-men who can dominate in Junior or the NCAA (Hutson?) or even in the AHL or the Euro leagues but who are not good enough to be on the PP at the NHL level and get pushed around defensively: Boqvist, Rathbone, etc., etc., etc.

 

3. Willander is bigger (the BU website has him up to 191 lbs), stronger, and a better skater (although ASP is good. See https://theathletic.com/4549615/2023/06/15/nhl-draft-ranking-skaters-shooters-passers/). And he is a very good defensive player, in addition to putting up decent offence. It is noteworthy that  he leads BU in +/- (well ahead of Hutson) despite getting a lot of tough match-ups. The comparison to Juolevi does not make sense to me. Juolevi did not have a separating skill (and was a terrible pick by Benning at #5 overall).  Remember when Juolevi got turnstiled a few times at the youngstars? No one is going to turnstile Willander, who has excellent mobility in all directions.

 

4. The other thing about Willander that I like was that he rose steadily in various rankings throughout his draft year, indicating rapid improvement, which is still continuing. ASP had a pretty flat trajectory in this draft year, although he has taken a good step forward this year in the SHL.

 

5. While there are very few "can't miss" prospects, I think Willander is close. He is a RHD with excellent skating, very good defensive skills, good offensive skills, decent size, and he contributes to physical game. He might not be a PP quarterback at the NHL, but we don't need one of those. We do need a good top-4 RHD who is very good in all situations. 

Willy is the new Eddy 

[sassbs]

2 hours ago, -dlc- said:

So where do you get your info from?

CNN is an extremely biased media outlet as is majority of the news outlets.  
they report untrue facts.  Gaddafi was an animal, India developed Nukes only recently, Israel is innocent, America has never committed any misdeeds, Putin is the second coming of the devil and so on. 
my original comment wasn’t to spark a debate, it was simply stating Russia should participate as we are missing so much talent that can rival Canada and Sweden.   It’s not the same. 
 

I do get annoyed when I read comments about how Russia is a terrorist state. I mean for what? For invading another country? Then by that alone America should be banned as well no? They have committed more atrocities, more war crimes than Russia has ever committed.  

[Satchmo]

1 minute ago, sassbs said:

CNN is an extremely biased media outlet as is majority of the news outlets.  
they report untrue facts.  Gaddafi was an animal, India developed Nukes only recently, Israel is innocent, America has never committed any misdeeds, Putin is the second coming of the devil and so on. 
my original comment wasn’t to spark a debate, it was simply stating Russia should participate as we are missing so much talent that can rival Canada and Sweden.   It’s not the same. 
 

I do get annoyed when I read comments about how Russia is a terrorist state. I mean for what? For invading another country? Then by that alone America should be banned as well no? They have committed more atrocities, more war crimes than Russia has ever committed.  

There are other threads for this kind of stuff.

 

TBH -  I hope you post something like this in the Ukraine or World Events thread.  I'd love to discuss it there.  You write with such sass.  I think it's mostly bs though.

[sassbs]

8 minutes ago, Satchmo said:

There are other threads for this kind of stuff.

 

TBH -  I hope you post something like this in the Ukraine or World Events thread.  I'd love to discuss it there.  You write with such sass.  I think it's mostly bs though.

That’s my point!!!!!  I never wanted to discuss this as I clearly mentioned. I just said it’s too bad Russia isn’t playing as we are missing out on so much talent!!

[Hairy Kneel]

Watched Corrado's article on hitting from behind.  5 mins and a game should be increased to 5 mins and 2 games. This one and the next.

[Sophomore Jinx]

Macklin Celebrini's five-point performance leads Canada over Latvia at world juniors 

 

Macklin Celebrini's five-point performance leads Canada over Latvia at world juniors

© Provided by The Canadian Press

GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Macklin Celebrini had a goal and four assists as Canada hammered Latvia 10-0 at the world junior hockey championship on Wednesday.

[Hammertime]

I definately miss Russia at this tournament. 

[Wiggums]

25 minutes ago, Hammertime said:

I definately miss Russia at this tournament. 

 

Agreed.  Matvei Michkov would of been a treat to watch as well and probably the best or one of the best players in the tournament.

[Hairy Kneel]

Just now, Wiggums said:

 

Agreed.  Matvei Michkov would of been a treat to watch as well and probably the best or one of the best players in the tournament.

That's why Russia can't have nice things 

[Alflives]

1 hour ago, sassbs said:

That’s my point!!!!!  I never wanted to discuss this as I clearly mentioned. I just said it’s too bad Russia isn’t playing as we are missing out on so much talent!!

Na. Russia are proven cheaters. 

[spook007]

4 hours ago, LaBamba said:

I have no beef at all, I just think he is a very average, normal player that can be acquired thru more avenues than an offensive RHD. I’d sooner take big swings and miss in the first round then to take a middle pairing dman. 

 

2 hours ago, JamesB said:

 

 

 

Not a lot more to say but I will say something anyway.

 

1. Both Willander and ASP are good prospects. As @spook007 says, we won't know for a while who was the better pick.

 

2. I was rooting for Willander over ASP at the draft. While there is some chance (but not much) that ASP turns into Quinn Hughes (or something close) that is very, very unlikely. There are many smallish offensive D-men who can dominate in Junior or the NCAA (Hutson?) or even in the AHL or the Euro leagues but who are not good enough to be on the PP at the NHL level and get pushed around defensively: Boqvist, Rathbone, etc., etc., etc.

 

3. Willander is bigger (the BU website has him up to 191 lbs), stronger, and a better skater (although ASP is good. See https://theathletic.com/4549615/2023/06/15/nhl-draft-ranking-skaters-shooters-passers/). And he is a very good defensive player, in addition to putting up decent offence. It is noteworthy that  he leads BU in +/- (well ahead of Hutson) despite getting a lot of tough match-ups. The comparison to Juolevi does not make sense to me. Juolevi did not have a separating skill (and was a terrible pick by Benning at #5 overall).  Remember when Juolevi got turnstiled a few times at the youngstars? No one is going to turnstile Willander, who has excellent mobility in all directions.

 

4. The other thing about Willander that I like was that he rose steadily in various rankings throughout his draft year, indicating rapid improvement, which is still continuing. ASP had a pretty flat trajectory in this draft year, although he has taken a good step forward this year in the SHL.

 

5. While there are very few "can't miss" prospects, I think Willander is close. He is a RHD with excellent skating, very good defensive skills, good offensive skills, decent size, and he contributes to physical game. He might not be a PP quarterback at the NHL, but we don't need one of those. We do need a good top-4 RHD who is very good in all situations. 

 

Cheers @JamesBJames and @LaBamba

 

There are various ways to look at this, or at least I think there are...

 

Firstly, what are we looking for, and what are the needs.

Secondly, what is the probability of success.

 

When they went into the draft, and the whole year leading up to it, it was very evident, that drafting D was a need, and in particular RHD.

 

What we were really hoping for/ needing, was a partner for Hughes.

Up until the Hronek trade, we didn't really have any proper first pairing RHD, and even after we traded for Hronek, most folks thought he was going to anchor the second pairing. So long term, it's fair to think, we were looking at an eventual partner for Hughes. 

With Hughes being a rover, a player with his forte as an offensive player, offence was not as important as somebody, who could actually both defend, have a bit of size, and as such be a good supplemental piece to the 1st pairing.

Secondly, the chance of Willander panning out, is probably larger than Axel becoming a Hughes type of player... (there were concerns about Alex defensive ability + smallish stature).

 

And finally, I think its fair to say, that management actually did address the need for offensive D, with their pick in 3rd round of Hunter... I may add, that at this point in time, it looks like a master stroke and a bit of luck as well, cause had it been expected he'd be taking off like this, there is no chance he would have been available at out 3rd pick.

 

Nevertheless, this has a bit of the mother/daughter syndrome. Some prefer one and others the other... as I said in the start, I think it depends of what you think of you team building, and of course of the probability of success...

 

Had they though Alex would be a 'home run' like Hughes, its very unlikely he wouldn't have been taken.... Time will tell.

However, even if both reach their top potential, I'd say we have a winner, as a cost controlled partner for Hughes for 3-5 years would be perfect in about 3 years time. That is when our second window hopefully opens after the reduction in the OEL Cap hit...

 

As Labamba rightfully said, you don't draft a 3C with your first round pick, just because that is the need, but you do draft for top pairing Ds and second pairing RHDs if you can. 

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by spook007

[higgyfan]

6 minutes ago, Wiggums said:

 

Agreed.  Matvei Michkov would of been a treat to watch as well and probably the best or one of the best players in the tournament.

 

I think it would have been a treat for Michkov too, seeing as he's only played 1 hockey game

so far this season.