U18 player's stock
db23 said:
Andrew Cogliano, Ryan O'Marra, Brenden Mikkelson were all more impressive than Brule at the tournament. If anything, I think Brule's stock dropped substantially.
Cogliano, O'Marra, Mikkelson and many others, played great at this tournament no doubt. The scouts will certainly pay more close attention to these players over the season. Insofar as trying to assess Brule's performance, I think it goes without saying, that Brule is still the best prospect other than Crosby in this age group. Brule may not have had as many points as expected but that's hockey. Sometimes the puck goes in and sometimes it doesn't. Brule still created oodles of scoring chances for his team mates and himself. His stock will not fall unless he has a disappointing upcoming season with the WHL's Vancouver Giants. The U18 World Cup is after all, a summer tournament, and scouts weigh it accordingly and will assess all of these players a little more closely from November onwards to determine player rankings.
The scouts were in Europe to mostly watch the Europeans, as this is a good opportunity to see them in one place. North American players will be more thorougly evaluated in their respected Jr or NCAA leagues this fall. If you take this tournament at face value, it appears that the upcoming draft(if there is one) will be deep in Canadian talent. Many scouts were disappointed in the lack of depth in European prospects for this age group.