WJC: Disappointing players at the World Junior Championship so far

[Captain3rdLine]

What you're failing to realize thoguh is how many people use the WJC as the metric for whether a player will rise/fall in a draft or if their D+1 is somehow in question.

There’s a middle ground in all this. Some people take way too much weight and write players off based on these international events but then there’s the flip side where people completely dismiss international events.

It’s best on best of 18 and 19 year olds and a good tournament to evaluate players against their peers. But it’s short and not nearly big enough of a sample and there’s a lot of factors such as unevenness of teams and unfamiliarity that can skew how a player does.
With that actual production should be a very small part of evaluating and comparing the prospects. Something you can get a decent feel of is individual skills such as skating. You can watch a player for 7 games against his peers and get a pretty good feel for his skating. Probably a better feel and comparison than comparing some European kid playing in the SHL and some kid playing in the CHL or NCAA.

In Fantilli’s case he’s had a disappointing tournament so far and hasn’t been able to make much happen but it really shouldn’t carry too much weight. We know he’s very skilled and talented.
But at the same time watching him, his skating doesn’t look quite as good as I expected it to. That’s worth noting. Carlsson looks like a better skater. But that might’ve been harder to determine just comparing them in their respective leagues where Fantilli’s playing on a stacked college team while Carlsson is playing in a strong and faster paced men’s league.

Another example. Slafkovsky last year struggled to do much offensively in LIIGA. But he was playing in a very structured defensive oriented system that probably didn’t put him in the best position to show his offensive skills. Then in international tournament’s where there was much less structure, you could consistently see his high-end skill. It wasn’t as much about the production (although it helped) as it was about the skills he was able to display.
Sometimes these tournaments can give you a better looks at the raw skills and talent players possess. Those skills don’t equal or always translate to NHL success but they’re a factor.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I was under the impression that Clarke was a better skater then he has shown so far. He hasn't been bad or anything...but not what I was hoping he would look like at this level.

 

[Drops of Jupiter]

To small a sample size.

To Kill a Mockingbird

 

[Nevins]

After a disappointing first match, Filip Mesar recovered well. He and Dvorsky were Slovakia's best players. A little disappointed with Simon Nemec's performance.

 

[Svedu]

Heimosalmi, Lambert, Salin, Malinen, Ruotsalainen, Ervasti, Vilén. In that exact order.

Kemell is lightly worth mentioning too, I expect a whole lot more.

 

[Nevins]

Heimosalmi, Lambert, Salin, Malinen, Ruotsalainen, Ervasti, Vilén. In that exact order.

Kemell is lightly worth mentioning too, I expect a whole lot more.

Lambert is almost invisible.

 

[Svedu]

Lambert is almost invisible.

Fully agreed, shockingly so. Complete ghost.

Have to be honest, haven't watched Sweden enough but Bystedts numbers in the SHL are quite good but I do think he gives an impression of lacking in awareness in this game. When the game has an intense tempo.
If it's because of his size-age and that he needs time to grow into it or not, who knows. But I'm not impressed.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Adam Fantilli has been mostly useless. The guy can't stick handle any puck and loses them so easily.

 

[Finnflash]

I’m used to seeing team Finland with cohesiveness. Not much this year.

 

[Nevins]

Fully agreed, shockingly so. Complete ghost.

Have to be honest, haven't watched Sweden enough but Bystedts numbers in the SHL are quite good but I do think he gives an impression of lacking in awareness in this game. When the game has an intense tempo.
If it's because of his size-age and that he needs time to grow into it or not, who knows. But I'm not impressed.

About Bystedtd,i would say rather lazy. But when he's in his game, He is impressive.His skating is excellent as well as his puck handling .

Adam Fantilli has been mostly useless. The guy can't stick handle any puck and loses them so easily.

I expected more from Fantilli and I think he will go down in the draft rankings…maybe around 10…

 

[heretik27]

Imagine being Shane Wright and thinking you deserved to go first overall last draft, and then comes along a 17 year old undrafted phenom who triples your point totals in the same tournament. It's got to be a bit of a humbling experience you'd think?

 

[ORRFForever]

....Fantilli... I think he will go down in the draft rankings…maybe around 10…

Imagine being Shane Wright and thinking you deserved to go first overall last draft, and then comes along a 17 year old undrafted phenom who triples your point totals in the same tournament. It's got to be a bit of a humbling experience you'd think?

We all expected more.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

I’ve been very dissapointed in Luca Hauf and Bennet Rossmy’s games so far. Expected more out of Rossmy specifically given how good he was in the summer.

Vinzenz Rohrer has also disappointed me but he somewhat gets a pass - It’s more that Ian Scherzer looked So much better and more dangerous than him on The same team, the same line and he is a year younger and will likey be drafted after a Rohrer was.

I expected better from Sandis Vilmanis also - he was alright to an Extent but his skill was definitely surprised by the way the team was built. Still expected him to create more offence though.

Axel Sandin Pelikka has looked overwhelmed and doesn’t belong in this tournament yet. Bad defensively and didn’t make up for it with a can’t miss offensive game.

Most defenders on Czechia have been good but Hamara has been terrible. Their weakest link in my opinion.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

You gotta feel for Wright - the media threw sky high expectations on him and the fans fell for them.

Its not his fault he isn’t living up to The expectations that YOU put on him based on “Exceptional Status”.

If you watch him play and the smart little plays he makes all over the ice, whether that be his back checking, his strength in the corners or his fantastic positioning.

He is a smart two way centre that is going to do the little things WRIGHT to win games. He‘s not the highest of scoring players in the world - and never will be. Think Ryan Nugent Hopkins with better defensive habits.

 

[Statsy]

So as a former Canucks fan I recall the team drafting a few WJC studs, almost superstars for their production at their position really. Those players were Hodgson, Schroeder and Juolevi. How'd that work out?

But then they also drafted WJC busts in Pettersson and Horvat.

Almost...almost as though basing the future potential of a player based on a 2 week tournament isn't the metric for success people think it is

We drafted Hodgson BEFORE his big WJC. Juolevi was also on the Mem Cup All-Star team, so it's not like he was just drafted based on the WJC.

You gotta feel for Wright - the media threw sky high expectations on him and the fans fell for them.

Its not his fault he isn’t living up to The expectations that YOU put on him based on “Exceptional Status”.

If you watch him play and the smart little plays he makes all over the ice, whether that be his back checking, his strength in the corners or his fantastic positioning.

He is a smart two way centre that is going to do the little things WRIGHT to win games. He‘s not the highest of scoring players in the world - and never will be. Think Ryan Nugent Hopkins with better defensive habits.

Wright's been solid, in my opinion. I wasn't expecting crazy production out of him like some were, however.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Wright had his best game of the tournament tonight. Labeling him as a disappointment because he happened to be born a year before one of the best prospects ever is just silly. Everyone looks bad compared to Bedard. It also likely isn't awkward for him, he probably is f***ing loving having him on the team lol

 

[czechcanadian]

I’ve been very dissapointed in Luca Hauf and Bennet Rossmy’s games so far. Expected more out of Rossmy specifically given how good he was in the summer.

Vinzenz Rohrer has also disappointed me but he somewhat gets a pass - It’s more that Ian Scherzer looked So much better and more dangerous than him on The same team, the same line and he is a year younger and will likey be drafted after a Rohrer was.

I expected better from Sandis Vilmanis also - he was alright to an Extent but his skill was definitely surprised by the way the team was built. Still expected him to create more offence though.

Axel Sandin Pelikka has looked overwhelmed and doesn’t belong in this tournament yet. Bad defensively and didn’t make up for it with a can’t miss offensive game.

Most defenders on Czechia have been good but Hamara has been terrible. Their weakest link in my opinion.

Sadly, I have to agree. He doesn’t look comfortable at all. I think he is having a very hard time transitioning to small ice surface.

 

[MrHeiskanen]

Imagine being Shane Wright and thinking you deserved to go first overall last draft, and then comes along a 17 year old undrafted phenom who triples your point totals in the same tournament. It's got to be a bit of a humbling experience you'd think?

I mean, everyone going into the tournament knew Bedard and Stankoven were better than Wright it shouldn't be surprising.

 

[Go Wings]

I was under the impression that Clarke was a better skater then he has shown so far. He hasn't been bad or anything...but not what I was hoping he would look like at this level.

He's not, that was one of the criticisms of him during his draft year. He is a very average to slighty below average skater.

 

[ORRFForever]

Wright's been solid, in my opinion. I wasn't expecting crazy production out of him like some were, however.

Wright's playing a solid, physical, 200 foot game and his leadership is evident.

We (myself included) need to cut him a break.

 

[Nevins]

Imagine being Shane Wright and thinking you deserved to go first overall last draft, and then comes along a 17 year old undrafted phenom who triples your point totals in the same tournament. It's got to be a bit of a humbling experience you'd think?

Lol