GDT: Which players are impressing you the most at the 2024 World Junior Championships?

[Tkachuk Norris]

Wait.... a disaster? Where do you get that from?

Far too many turnovers. Hasn’t really created much offensively. For example, second goal against Germany he has a brutal turnover at his own blue line, shorthanded, then deflects the puck into his own net.

He was demoted to the 4th line at the start of the game and not sure he saw a shift after that turnover. It’s just one tournament but he’s been really disappointing for a top ten pick

 

[schuelma24]

Far too many turnovers. Hasn’t really created much offensively. For example, second goal against Germany he has a brutal turnover at his own blue line, shorthanded, then deflects the puck into his own net.

He was demoted to the 4th line at the start of the game and not sure he saw a shift after that turnover. It’s just one tournament but he’s been really disappointing for a top ten pick

... he's literally been on the 4th line (with that line drawing consistent praise) since the first exhibition, and despite playing on that line and getting zero PP play time until today isn't exactly being outscored by most of Canada's forwards (who are not counted on nearly as much for their defensive presence).

One fluky sequence on a penalty kill and he's having a horrible tournament? Despite being named the player of the game against Finland?

Edit - I'm not going to claim he's been amazing or anything, but he's been solid at worst IMO.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Hutson is Team USA's MVP. The rest of the team outside the fourth line has underperformed and played sloppy

Is it opposite day? Hutson has been extremely poor for the majority of the tournament, and our 4th line is the only line not producing.

The Brindley - Nazar - Howard line literally has 11 goals, feels like a stretch to call that disappointing.

 

[Roomba With a Bauer]

... he's literally been on the 4th line (with that line drawing consistent praise) since the first exhibition, and despite playing on that line and getting zero PP play time until today isn't exactly being outscored by most of Canada's forwards (who are not counted on nearly as much for their defensive presence).

One fluky sequence on a penalty kill and he's having a horrible tournament? Despite being named the player of the game against Finland?

Edit - I'm not going to claim he's been amazing or anything, but he's been solid at worst IMO.

Look at the username and who drafted Danielson and the reasoning becomes a lot clearer.

 

[Petes2424]

One of the big misconceptions on this site, is World Junior statistical success, or non-statistical success is even a better example… Equating into how good a player is, or isn’t, based on statistics mainly. We all do it to an extent too, but we probably shouldn’t.

Just look at Canada’s roster. There’s 3 players specifically, and a couple others somewhat, who are absolute pros already, even though they’re not lighting up Junior hockey, or even this tournament. it’s one of the major things a scout looks for these days too.

Watch Minten, Poitras and Danielson specifically for a few shifts. They’re constantly a step ahead of their Teammates, because they “think the game” so well. At an NHL level. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen Poitras and Danielson, making a pass, and immediately finding space and putting themselves in a shooting position, just to never get the puck back, because whoever it was the pass went to, isn’t “thinking the game” at such a high level.

That’s just a very basic type of example, but watch Poitras and Danielson without the puck next game. They’re far ahead of some other players who may look flashier, but still depend too much on their individual skill, rather than what it’s going to take, to play in the NHL.

It’s by far, one of the major differences between NHL players, and other pro leagues. Do they “think the game” better than most. Exactly why those 3 looked so well, playing with NHL players.

 

[FlyguyOX]

8 pts in 4 games and third best center on faceoff.not bad.View attachment 793321View attachment 793322

Half those points came off simply winning a faceoff.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Is it opposite day? Hutson has been extremely poor for the majority of the tournament, and our 4th line is the only line not producing.

The Brindley - Nazar - Howard line literally has 11 goals, feels like a stretch to call that disappointing.

I track every shift. Literally every shift of every player. 4-6 hour process per game from rewinding every shift. Hutson is unquestionably the least problematic with the puck and the most creative. Rinzel a close second. Before today, Chesley, Casey, Buium, and Fortescue were all borderline terrible with turnovers, coverage, low-IQ plays, and more inaccurate than accurate with their breakout passes. This is not surprising if you paid attention to the puck’s every move and muted the horrific broadcast team.

Nazar’s passing is feast or famine. Go back and watch his two worst games — Norway and the Czechs, and the Canada exhibition. Plenty of turnovers, and Gauthier has been even worse. Howard was horrible in every facet for long stretches to start the WJC and was mostly lazy on pucks until getting his act together. He’s a goal scorer but he tries to avoid contact.

The fourth line has been the least mistake prone. Finley has been near-perfect with the puck in every game.

Personally, I don’t care about WJC stats because they’re usually padded. I care more about IQ, selflessness, pass accuracy, poise, effort, and coverage. If you go by those requirements, you’ll see I wasn’t wrong.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Celebrini is another Mackinnon type. Cowan has been good. Lamoureux has been solid. Rehkopf has been the second best forward. Savoie and Geekie have been solid.

Underwhelming for Canada.
Mateychuk has skill but his game is going to have to completely change to be an NHL player. Soft as butter in the corners. Jumps into the play way too often.

Wood and Yager have left me wanting more.

Danielson has been an absolute disaster IMO.

Lol wtf, Cowan has been good, but Danielson has been a disaster? I can't even begin to respond to that

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Lol wtf, Cowan has been good, but Danielson has been a disaster? I can't even begin to respond to that

Agreed. Cowan has killed more Canadian possessions with turnovers or low-pct shot attempts than any other forward on the entire roster. At least Danielson has spurts and periods to be proud of. Cowan up to this point looks like the wrong addition.

 

[OTB]

I track every shift. Literally every shift of every player. 4-6 hour process per game from rewinding every shift.

Hum let me doubt about that.

There have been 20 games played so far * 5 hours AVG per game = Approx. 100 hours of video watching. The tournament is 6 days old. That mean you would have spent 16+ hours per day to watch every shift.

You don't need to exagerate things to get your point valuable..

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I track every shift. Literally every shift of every player. 4-6 hour process per game from rewinding every shift. Hutson is unquestionably the least problematic with the puck and the most creative. Rinzel a close second. Before today, Chesley, Casey, Buium, and Fortescue were all borderline terrible with turnovers, coverage, low-IQ plays, and more inaccurate than accurate with their breakout passes. This is not surprising if you paid attention to the puck’s every move and muted the horrific broadcast team.

I've watched every shift. Hutson's poor coverage, inopportune giveaways, and weak 1-1 defending have caused significant issues. He's also overextended on shifts causing goals against, like he did vs Czechia. He's played extremely selfish hockey for much of the tournament. To suggest I'm taking cues from that joke of a broadcast crew is laughable.

Nazar’s passing is feast or famine. Go back and watch his two worst games — Norway and the Czechs, and the Canada exhibition. Plenty of turnovers, and Gauthier has been even worse. Howard was horrible in every facet for long stretches to start the WJC and was mostly lazy on pucks until getting his act together. He’s a goal scorer but he tries to avoid contact.

The fourth line has been the least mistake prone. Finley has been near-perfect with the puck in every game.

Playing mistake free hockey isn't the goal, especially for offensive players. The goal is to outscore the opponent, which sometimes means making high risk plays to create offense. It's odd that you seem to give Hutson, a defenseman, a free pass for all his reckless play, but then hold the forwards to a higher standard.

Personally, I don’t care about WJC stats because they’re usually padded. I care more about IQ, selflessness, pass accuracy, poise, effort, and coverage. If you go by those requirements, you’ll see I wasn’t wrong.

I couldn't disagree more. Hutson's play has been selfish, his coverage has been poor, and he's made tons of low IQ plays.

 

[Oak]

As a neutral, totally unbiased fan, the NHL has a thing about little guys.

Chances are that he may land up playing forward at some point in his career, particularly in the playoffs. His offense is far too good for him not to have a career.

Habs gonna need to trade for Tanev to give Lil' Hutson a proper baby sitter.

 

[Oak]

I track every shift. Literally every shift of every player. 4-6 hour process per game from rewinding every shift. Hutson is unquestionably the least problematic with the puck and the most creative. Rinzel a close second. Before today, Chesley, Casey, Buium, and Fortescue were all borderline terrible with turnovers, coverage, low-IQ plays, and more inaccurate than accurate with their breakout passes. This is not surprising if you paid attention to the puck’s every move and muted the horrific broadcast team.

Keep trackin buddy. Keep trackin. Might want to consider a new hobby or line of work though.

 

[Hollel]

Playing mistake free hockey isn't the goal, especially for offensive players. The goal is to outscore the opponent, which sometimes means making high risk plays to create offense. It's odd that you seem to give Hutson, a defenseman, a free pass for all his reckless play, but then hold the forwards to a higher standard.

this is my exact confusion. Steve highlighting Finley (I like the prospect!) as a + for being 'near puck perfect' in some sheltered defensive role vs Nazar ( who is still working out line chemistry, getting going in the tournament early on etc) clearly attempting and executing some high level plays most players can't on the regular AND being rewarded on the scoresheet for it. im sure the tracking is great, but the interpretation of the data..... im very skeptical of lol.

 

[57special]

One of the big misconceptions on this site, is World Junior statistical success, or non-statistical success is even a better example… Equating into how good a player is, or isn’t, based on statistics mainly. We all do it to an extent too, but we probably shouldn’t.

Just look at Canada’s roster. There’s 3 players specifically, and a couple others somewhat, who are absolute pros already, even though they’re not lighting up Junior hockey, or even this tournament. it’s one of the major things a scout looks for these days too.

Watch Minten, Poitras and Danielson specifically for a few shifts. They’re constantly a step ahead of their Teammates, because they “think the game” so well. At an NHL level. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen Poitras and Danielson, making a pass, and immediately finding space and putting themselves in a shooting position, just to never get the puck back, because whoever it was the pass went to, isn’t “thinking the game” at such a high level.

That’s just a very basic type of example, but watch Poitras and Danielson without the puck next game. They’re far ahead of some other players who may look flashier, but still depend too much on their individual skill, rather than what it’s going to take, to play in the NHL.

It’s by far, one of the major differences between NHL players, and other pro leagues. Do they “think the game” better than most. Exactly why those 3 looked so well, playing with NHL players.

That's what a guy I know(played some AHL) always went out of his way to stress about higher levels of hockey. Not only were the bigger, stronger, and faster, but they played smarter.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Hum let me doubt about that.

There have been 20 games played so far * 5 hours AVG per game = Approx. 100 hours of video watching. The tournament is 6 days old. That mean you would have spent 16+ hours per day to watch every shift.

You don't need to exagerate things to get your point valuable..

I never said I track every team. This year, it’s only Canada, U.S., Sweden, and Finland, plus a dozen draft prospects. And yes, I spend 16-18 hours a day watching film during the WJC and have done so every year since 2016. Sorry it seems inconceivable to you, but I find it quite easy and enjoyable.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

I've watched every shift. Hutson's poor coverage, inopportune giveaways, and weak 1-1 defending have caused significant issues. He's also overextended on shifts causing goals against, like he did vs Czechia. He's played extremely selfish hockey for much of the tournament. To suggest I'm taking cues from that joke of a broadcast crew is laughable.


Playing mistake free hockey isn't the goal, especially for offensive players. The goal is to outscore the opponent, which sometimes means making high risk plays to create offense. It's odd that you seem to give Hutson, a defenseman, a free pass for all his reckless play, but then hold the forwards to a higher standard.


I couldn't disagree more. Hutson's play has been selfish, his coverage has been poor, and he's made tons of low IQ plays.

Never said Hutson was perfect and he’s had bad moments, but the U.S. defense has been so sloppy throughout, it makes it easy to single him out. Rinzel has been the cleanest of all defensemen managing the puck but isn’t creating offense on Hutson’s level. If you think Hutson has been bad overall by his BU standards, fine by me.

But there’s simply no way the others have been better. Not a chance. And that was my point. Buium, Chesley, Casey, and Fortescue made more egregious mistakes based on all their puck/coverage decisions, and breakout success favors Hutson by a wide margin. Hutson also created the equalizer against the Czechs, which was the most important play of the entire preliminary round considering the U.S. were trailing later in a game than before.

That’s why I think he’s their MVP — the U.S. defense corps was horrid in four straight games counting the Canada exhibition and Hutson was by far their best option and as an American, I trust him with the puck in crunch time more than anyone else, Leonard included.

And again, my list doesnt give a shit about stats or medals. I don’t care who wins; I don’t care who leads in scoring. I care about execution over everything else, and nearly EVERY prospect on Team USA has executed below their league-play standard. Of course, my post came before the U.S. played their best game as a group against Slovakia, which is when you responded.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Keep trackin buddy. Keep trackin. Might want to consider a new hobby or line of work though.

Since you’re so smart, tell me your line of work and maybe I’ll consider switching to it.

 

[SvechneJerk]

The little guy Reinhard on Switzerland, Ciernik on Slovakia, and Finley on the U.S. have been dancing out of trouble all tournament. Expert stickhandling. Obviously the same goes for Hutson.

Melovsky and Hrabal the most impressive from the Czechs beyond Kulich and Sale. Kmec has been strong for Slovakia.

Vesterheim has been phenomenal in every facet and one of the best players on either team in every first period in every game. He eventually runs out of gas like the rest of the Norwegians, but with Mora he's more energetic in later stages. Solberg was brutal today but looked gassed and still had enough energy to mash people on his final shift. Lot of risk there. The double-overager Koch has been tough in the corners and in front of the net.

Unger has been Sweden's best forward with Ostlund and Bystedt close behind. The entire defense except Salomonsson has been exceptional.

Celebrini is Canada's best forward by a mile. Rehkopf has been good in limited time. Mateychuk-Lamoureux pairing has been near perfect.

Hutson is Team USA's MVP. The rest of the team outside the fourth line has underperformed and played sloppy.

Hemming has been one of the few bright spots for Finland, albeit from the fourth line. Lassila the only other guy playing with heart and hustling. Maybe Mannisto as well. Helenius has been flashy in spurts but not enough.

Locmelis has been a star for Latvia. The coach seems to give Vilmanis or Bukards the business on the bench for a dumb pass or slow read, but Locmellis is his golden boy for good reason. He would be an MVP candidate with better support.

I like Elias and Kechter way more than Lutz for Germany. Lutz has been off, but at least he tries. Kechter has been dancing and delivering great setups while playing a two-way game.

What makes you say this? Don't get me wrong, as a Canes fan, I love hearing it. Just curious as to what jumps out at you that separates him from the others. I know he's still got a huge amount of developing to do, but, watching him gives me deja vu about watching a young Aho.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

What makes you say this? Don't get me wrong, as a Canes fan, I love hearing it. Just curious as to what jumps out at you that separates him from the others. I know he's still got a huge amount of developing to do, but, watching him gives me deja vu about watching a young Aho.

Vision, poise, skating, passing, just overall IQ and decision making. He’s a top-line guy 10000 percent next WJC. FWIW, my methodology is pretty simple — a plus for a good play on offense and a check for when on defense; a minus for a bad play on offense and an X for defense. Based on three games (havent watched yesterday’s game yet), Unger-Sorun has has 26 positive plays and only two in the negative, which is is highest differential of any Swede (Ostlund, Lekkerimaki, Bystedt all close by).

 

[HabsAddict]

Just for the record...

Out of couriosity I've gone through stats of World Juniors. There are obviously a lot of players who lit up the Juniors and went on to stellar NHL carrers.

There are also a lot of top scoring players who went nowhere in the NHL.

I'm too lazy to compile a top 5 scoring to NHL career chart, but for anyone who does, it would be interesting.

 

[Eegs]

Watch Minten, Poitras and Danielson specifically for a few shifts. They’re constantly a step ahead of their Teammates, because they “think the game” so well. At an NHL level. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen Poitras and Danielson, making a pass, and immediately finding space and putting themselves in a shooting position, just to never get the puck back, because whoever it was the pass went to, isn’t “thinking the game” at such a high level.

That’s just a very basic type of example, but watch Poitras and Danielson without the puck next game. They’re far ahead of some other players who may look flashier, but still depend too much on their individual skill, rather than what it’s going to take, to play in the NHL.

It’s by far, one of the major differences between NHL players, and other pro leagues. Do they “think the game” better than most. Exactly why those 3 looked so well, playing with NHL players.

Some great points here, especially regarding Poitras, who's taken a lot of heat from many posters on here. I have liked pretty much everything i've seen from him. He won't wow you with any obvious elite skills, but he already plays a very "pro game". Smart, efficient and great positionally with and without the puck.

 

[Goldenhands]

Brindley is not really a surprise to me since I had him 12th OV on my list last draft. Otto Stenberg is having a really solid tournament as well, had him ranked 8th OV over Will Smith. Strbak is having a fantastic tournament, I spotted him at the U18 before his draft year, loved him game, ended up ranking him 19th, kid was a surefire top 4 D for me.

Unger-Sorum has impressed me, he should have been a 1st rounder IMO, wasnt really on my radar last year.

HF Habs: - 2023 NHL Draft part 2

Love Leonard but anyone that had him over Benson is just a bandwagon fan thats watched a few u18s games. You think for sure Benson is a better NHLer than Leonard?

forums.hfboards.com

 

[Steve Kournianos]

NHL scouts who go to the games to watch their prospects care very little about production. They know scoring and numbers make the player feel good about himself and relieve any outside pressure from fans and media. But at the same time, these players already have been through the development side at the NHL level and are instructed/coached on what they need to improve and how to implement any adjustments into their game. That's what the GMs, player dev. staff, video coaches, and scouts are looking for -- trends, habits, smarts, body language, etc. They would rather a star player go pointless if it meant a great defensive game or clean puck management and decision-making.

No player is perfect over a full 60 minutes. But every shift tells a story and in a back-and-forth game like hockey, there's usually at least one hero and at least one goat behind every change in possession.

This time of year always gets fans bent out of shape because everyone expects their prospects to do great things and represent the sweater with God-like play just so they can brag about it online. Ironically, most of these kids usually play their worst hockey of the season at this very tournament because there's barely any chemistry and the desire to be more individualistic is too hard to control.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

NHL scouts who go to the games to watch their prospects care very little about production. They know scoring and numbers make the player feel good about himself and relieve any outside pressure from fans and media. But at the same time, these players already have been through the development side at the NHL level and are instructed/coached on what they need to improve and how to implement any adjustments into their game. That's what the GMs, player dev. staff, video coaches, and scouts are looking for -- trends, habits, smarts, body language, etc. They would rather a star player go pointless if it meant a great defensive game or clean puck management and decision-making.

No player is perfect over a full 60 minutes. But every shift tells a story and in a back-and-forth game like hockey, there's usually at least one hero and at least one goat behind every change in possession.

This time of year always gets fans bent out of shape because everyone expects their prospects to do great things and represent the sweater with God-like play just so they can brag about it online. Ironically, most of these kids usually play their worst hockey of the season at this very tournament because there's barely any chemistry and the desire to be more individualistic is too hard to control.

Production is still important Steve. There's a reason why Tyler Toffoli made it and Christian Thomas didn't. Toffoli's production exploded in his D+1 and stayed high in his D+2, whereas Thomas had a similar D+1 but cratered in his D+2. And whaddya know, Toffoli played a role in the Kings beating the Rangers in the 2014 Final; many forget he had the primary assist on the Martinez OT Cup winner.