Just saw this thread and I really liked him against Slovakia (only u17 game for Germany I saw). With Slovakia missing most of their top players I was focused a little more on the other teams than I would usually be and Willhoft stood out for sure.
He’s a little small, I’m not sure he’s even 5 foot 9 (EP listing), the Slovak team had a lot of sub 5 foot 9-10 forwards and he looked smaller than them. Still electric with the puck, and generates many chances for himself and his teammates. He seems to zip around the ice, really good feet. His line got caught a few times in the defensive zone but when the puck was recovered were really good in transition.
If he grows a little more we could be looking at a serious top prospect here. It’s still a long while until 2025 draft but I’ll be keeping an eye on what he does this year. Would be fun to see this German 07 group to be at the U18 Worlds, they have to be favorites for promotion? The 06 group looks better than any of the others in Div.1
I don't know how strong the other teams at the U18 WJC Div 1a will be this year, but I would expect our 06s with some help from the top 07s to win promotion, if I had a little more faith in our coaching.
Will be interesting to see who the coach will be, but in the past our coaching wasn't exactly helping our efforts to get decent results at these tournaments.
As for Willhöft, I hope he will make the WJC team unlike the Hlinka. His lack of size is obviously a concern, but he is not afraid of taking a hit, to make plays.
Of course that could turn from a strength into a problem, if he gets hurt once the opponents get older and bigger and hitting becomes a bigger part of the game.
I think he has the skill and talent to be a mid-to-late first rounder, if he keeps developing the way he has been so far, but there is obviously no guarantee for this. I am glad he is playing in Sweden because he will be facing tougher competition and get used to a higher level of play than he would if he played in Germany, like some of the others.