Prospect Info: World Junior Championships 2024

[1440]

Yep, he and D partner Willander are tied for the best +/- in the tourney at +11. He was +3 today. He’s been nothing short of fantastic at 5 on 5 and is highly relied upon on the PK as well. He played the most of any Swedish player today at 21:44. Which isn’t a ton for a team’s leader in ATOI so clearly they balance their lines pretty evenly.

I’m actually surprised the Lindstein-Willander pairing isn’t playing more. They're both +11 so clearly the team is killing it when they’re out there. The Petterson-Havelid pairing is -3 and -1 respectively. Salomonsson-ASP are even and +1.

Stenberg had an assist, was also +3 and played 15:14.

Lindstein and Willander have definitely been the best pairing in the tournament, and likely the two best defencemen overall. As a Canucks fan I have been impressed with Willander's ability to create time/space for Lindstein to make passes (he is a smart, patient puck mover). Willander's contributions haven't showed up on the scoresheet in the same way, but they are still important. For Lindstein, the one question mark for me is his straight-line speed (his mobility is good otherwise), but he has been very good overall. He projects as a smart two-way puck mover a la Dan Hamhuis.

I will say this for their ice-time: Sweden has rolled 3 pairings pretty evenly and has set roles for their defensemen in that ASP and Havelid play on PP1 and PP2 respectively while Lindstein-Willander and Pettersson-Salomonsson are the PK pairings. They have done the same with the forwards on the PK, with players like Forsfjall, Rudslatt, O Pettersson and Born who don't feature on the PP are the go to guys on the PK. I think it is a pretty good system where every player has a role that they can focus on. Lindstein led in ice-time this game because SWE only had one PP (15 seconds), but expect ASP to lead in a game with more PP time, or E Pettersson to lead in a game with lots of PK time.

I have also liked Stenberg. In particular his ability to corral pucks in tight, be evasive with his edgework in zone, and find space to shoot have been impressive. He has outperformed some of the older Swedish first round picks like Ohgren and Bystedt.

 

[PJJJP]

Snuggy draws a penalty

 

[BleedBlue14]

May be a dumb question. But how high end exactly is Snuggys shot? They’re using him like Ovechkin a lot this period.

May be a dumb question. But how high end exactly is Snuggys shot? They’re using him like Ovechkin a lot this period.

Yep was a dumb question. Answer is very

 

[LGB]

WOW! Missile from Snuggerud

 

[Brian39]

Snuggy!

 

[BlueOil]

snuggy with a howizter from the top of the circles to get USA on the board with a PP goal

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

What a bomb from Snuggerud! Give him some more ice time.

 

[PJJJP]

Please get him up here and let him teach our guys how to one time a puck

 

[BleedBlue14]

What a bomb from Snuggerud! Give him some more ice time.

Think he might be sick or hurt. They’re using him exclusively in offensive situations.

 

[Brian39]

Please get him up here and let him teach our guys how to one time a puck on the PP

 

[Oberyn]

I want to see Thomas feeding Snuggy one timers from that spot on the PP for the next 10 years. Absolute piss missile.

 

[MissouriMook]

Smith ties it. Feels like this could be opening the floodgates.

 

[AyeBah]

Man our powerplay could use a one timer like that right now

 

[mk80]

Good period by the US overall.

Here’s the video of the Snuggerud bomb for those who missed it.

 

[Blueston]

Snuggy draws a penalty

not sure if he is getting less ice bc he is still getting over virus, but he drew the penalty and scored on pp, so us would be wise to get him some more ozone time with skilled linemates.

 

[LGB]

He's back with Gauthier and McGroarty now. Right after he scored on the PP they had a very impressive shift where the Fins couldn't get the puck off of them. Snuggy making good plays on the cycle and being a load in front of the net.

 

[BlueOil]

 

[Blueston]

helenius is so impressive for a 17 yo. so good in tight spaces, he should be even better on na ice. he and kaskimaki seem to have developed some chemistry. kid is really good. he might be my favorite forward (other than celebrini) in this draft.

 

[bleedblue1223]

That's why I think Snuggs could have a pretty significant impact early. Even for just the PP, he has a skill that can be easily translated into early success, and it's a skill we currently lack.

 

[Blueston]

buium is really good too. he looks to be best draft eligible defenseman in this tourney. he doesn't really fit what we need- he is more shatty than heiskanen- but he should make someone happy in top 20 picks.

 

[Brian39]

That's why I think Snuggs could have a pretty significant impact early. Even for just the PP, he has a skill that can be easily translated into early success, and it's a skill we currently lack.

Yup. Ignoring everything else, his current one-time ability is better than any player on our roster. If you want to build a left dot 1-time option onto your PP (you should), then he is a better option to do that job than any player currently on our team. I can't think of the last Blues rookie that joined our team with a specific/useful skill that was so far ahead of the rest of the existing team. None of Thomas/Kyrou/Neighbours/Fabbri/Tage deserved to be on the top PP unit right off the bat. Sticking them in the bottom 6 meant that they were going to play very limited minutes. But we can use Snuggy the same way when he gets here, but boost his minutes with 3+ PP minutes a game where he genuinely improves the unit.

I don't know if it is next year or the year after, but I think he has a change to produce right off the bat when he does get here.

 

[STL fan in MN]

helenius is so impressive for a 17 yo. so good in tight spaces, he should be even better on na ice. he and kaskimaki seem to have developed some chemistry. kid is really good. he might be my favorite forward (other than celebrini) in this draft.

Agreed. Very smart player. Obviously quite skilled too. I’d like to see more of Lindstrom and Demidov but Helenius has been one of Finland’s best players as a 17 year old.

Great shot by Cutter on the PP. BS call against the Finns on the penalty though.

 

[Ranksu]

My favorite FIN in this tournament.

Tommi Männistö at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Tommi Männistö, 2004-02-07 Riihimäki, FIN Finland. Most recently in the NCAA with Michigan State Univ.. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[Blueston]

we get the gold medal game we expected (and most of us wanted), as us will face host swedes. rematch of u18 gold in the spring, although only about a half dozen from each side were at u18 this year, but i believe a bunch more were there when the 2 met in '22 u18s, so these 2 seem to be the top countries in this age group (at least when bedard isn't playing). blues will have 3 of their last 4 1st rounders playing in this one, so guaranteed at least 1 of our prospects takes gold.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Snuggerud v. Lindstein/Stenberg.

Should be a great game! As a Blues fan you can't really ask for much more out of this tournament. It's been fun to watch.