World Junior Ice Hockey Championships Tue, Dec 26, 2023 – Fri, Jan 5, 2024

[Jargon]

The Atheltic's Scott Wheeler's thoughts on the Sharks in the tourney:

World Juniors notebook: Scott Wheeler’s thoughts on more than 100 NHL prospects

Scott Wheeler empties his notebook on the more than 100 drafted and draft-eligible NHL prospects who participated in the 2024 world juniors.

theathletic.com

So basically they're all trash and we should just give up and embrace the suck.

Curious what Smith does next year. He certainly needs more time to develop but I wonder if turning pro and learning in the AHL would help or hurt his development. Though, seeing Grier’s track record, I imagine he’ll do one more year where he is unless he comes into Sharks training camp and forces the issue.

I have a feeling Musty may turn pro though.

 

[Shark Finn]

I hope Halttunen is back next year, if possible.

 

[Barrie22]

Curious what Smith does next year. He certainly needs more time to develop but I wonder if turning pro and learning in the AHL would help or hurt his development. Though, seeing Grier’s track record, I imagine he’ll do one more year where he is unless he comes into Sharks training camp and forces the issue.

I have a feeling Musty may turn pro though.

Pretty sure Smith can't force the issue, unless the plan is to leave the NCAA already. That is probably the only downfall of drafting a NCAA player, is it makes it hard to force the NHL to play them early.

 

[lakai17]

I hope Halttunen is back next year, if possible.

He's mainly a lock I'd say.

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[Shark Finn]

So.. Apparently Halttunen's antics in the bronze medal game have brought some unwanted traffic on his Instagram page. According to a Finnish tabloid, he's gotten thousands of hate comments from Czech hockey fans. Even a Czech paper wrote about the attention Halttunen has been getting. He's been labeled a childish brat or something like that.

I recall the game and after a whistle when Finland was still leading, perhaps in the second period, they showed Halttunen in a scrap and afterwards he made some faces to a Czech player.

Here's a link to the Finnish article, unfortunately I'm not in a position to translate it right away: Nuorten Leijonien ”omahyväisen kakaran” käytös nosti raivon – joutui poikkeuksellisen hyökkäyksen kohteeksi

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

Nice.

Haltunen is essentially our next Evander Kane

 

[Sendhelplease]

Nice.

Haltunen is essentially our next Evander Kane

Between Haltunen and Musty it seems like our 2023 draft class has some players with a nasty streak, I like it.

 

[The Nemesis]

Between Haltunen and Musty it seems like our 2023 draft class has some players with a nasty streak, I like it.

The 2026-27 Sharks: You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

 

[Shark Finn]

Yeah, I don't mind Halttunen's antics at this point - even if the situation was reversed, I wouldn't care - but can't really say the same about thousands of people attacking him online. Jeez.

 

[landshark]

Yeah, I don't mind Halttunen's antics at this point - even if the situation was reversed, I wouldn't care - but can't really say the same about thousands of people attacking him online. Jeez.

But he did the bad things so outrage must be always. It's the internet, if you're not outraged by something you're not doing it right.

 

[The Nemesis]

It's funny, we're here half-joking/half-serious looking at the broad pool of Sharks prospects from the WJCs with expectations that are probably like "If Smith and like 1 or 2 of the others become something even halfway decent that's outstanding" meanwhile during last night's Sharks/Habs game on the TSN Habs feed Craig Button did a rundown of all the Montreal prospects that were at the WJCs and I'll be damned if he didn't make it sound like most, if not all, of them were going to be impact guys at the NHL level.

He sounded more like a stereotypical HF poster than most actual HF posters.

 

[hohosaregood]

It's funny, we're here half-joking/half-serious looking at the broad pool of Sharks prospects from the WJCs with expectations that are probably like "If Smith and like 1 or 2 of the others become something even halfway decent that's outstanding" meanwhile during last night's Sharks/Habs game on the TSN Habs feed Craig Button did a rundown of all the Montreal prospects that were at the WJCs and I'll be damned if he didn't make it sound like most, if not all, of them were going to be impact guys at the NHL level.

He sounded more like a stereotypical HF poster than most actual HF posters.

I watched that broadcast and they really did their best to rip the Sharks for being bad as well as hyping up the Montreal youth as much as possible. Is that what the TSN broadcast is usually like?

 

[Pavelski2112]

I watched that broadcast and they really did their best to rip the Sharks for being bad as well as hyping up the Montreal youth as much as possible. Is that what the TSN broadcast is usually like?

Canadian hockey media being Canadian hockey media

 

[The Nemesis]

I watched that broadcast and they really did their best to rip the Sharks for being bad as well as hyping up the Montreal youth as much as possible. Is that what the TSN broadcast is usually like?

The mitigating factor is that it was a regional broadcast, functionally not any different than talking heads on NBCSN California putting on some teal colored glasses about the Sharks. But Button's stuff in particular was kinda funny because the worst he could say about the Habs' WJC guys was that Owen Beck won't be a top 6 forward but will be something like an integral 3rd line cog of the type that is essential to winning stanley cups. Hutson's a stud, the US goalie whose name escapes me looks good, and Mesar is a great scoring prospect. With the way that Habs' young core of guys like Suzuki and Caufield get talked up you'd think they were a dynasty waiting to happen.

TSN national broadcasts (when they existed. f*** Sportsnet) were usually a fair bit better.

 

[Barrie22]

The mitigating factor is that it was a regional broadcast, functionally not any different than talking heads on NBCSN California putting on some teal colored glasses about the Sharks. But Button's stuff in particular was kinda funny because the worst he could say about the Habs' WJC guys was that Owen Beck won't be a top 6 forward but will be something like an integral 3rd line cog of the type that is essential to winning stanley cups. Hutson's a stud, the US goalie whose name escapes me looks good, and Mesar is a great scoring prospect. With the way that Habs' young core of guys like Suzuki and Caufield get talked up you'd think they were a dynasty waiting to happen.

TSN national broadcasts (when they existed. f*** Sportsnet) were usually a fair bit better.

It isn't even just Canadian media, that is just Canadian teams in general, Fan's, Media, even upper management for the teams that extremely over hype prospects. I am surprised that the leaf fans didn't ask for a statue to be built for Minten during the world jrs. Even though he was by far the worst Canadian forward during the tournament.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

The Atheltic's Scott Wheeler's thoughts on the Sharks in

So just to wrap this tournament up:

Celebrini - Chocker even though the Sharks will probably also choke at the lottery and not get to draft him

Smith - Secondary points

Pohlkamp - Worthless

Furlong - Worthless

Hulttanen - Chocker

Bystedt - Scrub

Havelid - Worthless scrub

conclusion: Nothing matters and the Sharks will continue to suck for decades because the universe is bleak and without meaning.

Looking at drafted players in Sweden and wondering about Havelid.

Numbers-wise (1-5-6, -2 in seven games) it seems Havelid had a solid tournament.

On the downside, his role seems to have diminished some in the SHL with Linkopings - he does have 2 goals with 9 assists but is -5 in 35 games; averaging two minutes less ice time per game (13:30).

He was drafted in 2022 but has yet to sign. With so many young defensemen added recently, is there still a place for him?

 

[Cas]

Looking at drafted players in Sweden and wondering about Havelid.

Numbers-wise (1-5-6, -2 in seven games) it seems Havelid had a solid tournament.

On the downside, his role seems to have diminished some in the SHL with Linkopings - he does have 2 goals with 9 assists but is -5 in 35 games; averaging two minutes less ice time per game (13:30).

He was drafted in 2022 but has yet to sign. With so many young defensemen added recently, is there still a place for him?

We have exactly one right-handed defenseman in the AHL signed with the Sharks (Laroque). No one is blocking Havelid.

I suspect there's no real urgency to sign him because he's under contract in Sweden and isn't NHL ready, so we can't actually bring him over until he's either ready or a free agent (per the NHL-SHL agreement).

He absolutely still has plenty of promise, but there is no hurry to sign him.