Prospect Info: Sharks at the 2025 World Juniors (Dickinson, Svoboda, Halttunen, Kirsch)

[The Nemesis]

He should have just said f*** it and played how he wanted even though I understand why he didnt

I saw some quotes on social media from players who once played under Dave Cameron, presumably in the OHL, who basically said that he's a self-important asshole and a blowhard who doesn't give a flying fig if his actions make things harder than they need to be on his players and who sees nothing wrong with being a total dick to the kids he's coaching. Sorta gives me some Babcock vibes.

If that's the case and the quotes from the Hockey Canada braintrust are to be believed as far as them thinking that there was nothing wrong with their work or the assembly of the team and its staff, and that they don't fault Cameron for what happened because he did his job (while both management and Cameron basically threw the players under the bus for the team's failures) then it's not unreasonable to assume that either Cameron comes back to coach the team next year or Hockey Canada operates on the same wavelength as they have the last 2 years and their coach picks come off similar.

In that sort of case if Dickinson were to tell the coaches to stick it so he can play his game against their wishes he'd probably find himself not getting an invite for next year's team and being stuck forever living with the specter of being a WJC "failure" as his only tournament experience.

 

[Hodge]

I don't understand why anyone takes this tournament seriously, especially since Russia was excluded leaving only two teams with more than 1-2 future NHLers on them. If I was running a team I would try to take advantage of organizations who put any kind of stock into World Juniors performances. Like if I'm the Islanders I'm absolutely selling high on Danny Nelson and Cole Eiserman to try and get Petey from Vancouver.

 

[one2gamble]

In that sort of case if Dickinson were to tell the coaches to stick it so he can play his game against their wishes he'd probably find himself not getting an invite for next year's team and being stuck forever living with the specter of being a WJC "failure" as his only tournament experience.

Hes getting lambasted anyway, what are the actual chances he would be invited back

 

[coooldude]

Given how many Canadian players got poor grades I'm willing to put the onus on the team and not the players individually.

If one player has a bad tournament, that player did poorly. If almost every player on a team had a bad tournament, it's likely that nothing any one player could've done would've made things better for themselves.

In particular Dickinson's evaluation seems a little unfair because it's mostly concerned with how poorly he adapted to his role, which is bad until you consider that

a) his role was not nearly the same at hte start of the tournament as it was by the end, and playing significantly out of your comfort zone at the beginning is not a recipe for a strong foundation to the tournament and b) Canada didn't practice. Like, at all, during the tournament. how was he supposed to get back into being a proper facilitator after the Schaefer injury if he never had the chance to learn about his new responsibilities and how to handle his teammates outside of needing to do it on the fly mid-game?

It's also worth remembering that scouting players based on their heroics or failures in short tournaments is usually a fool's errand and has little in common with that player's grander future if the results are not in keeping with what you might know about said player from their much larger sample size of play in their normal league or collections of other tournaments.

Yeah, FWIW, I don't blame Dick, although obviously would have been nice if he really stepped up. I think he showed what he is right now -- all tools, still building the toolbox, highly inconsistent in his decision-making and hockey IQ.

If I'm a betting man, I bet that this won't really change much, and that he'll be a high-event second pairing guy who wins you some games with extraordinary skill and vision, and loses you some games with some horrendous decision-making in all zones. Burns was also a high-event player, but I would gamble that Dickinson would be like that but not quite so high end. Happy, always as a fan, to be proven wrong. At any rate, his performance isn't driving me to seppuku.

Hes getting lambasted anyway, what are the actual chances he would be invited back

That's a good point. Given the politics and the names that didn't get an invite, and if Hockey Canada really is throwing the players under the bus, very decent chance he doesn't get invited back next year in lieu of other marquee names.

 

[Cas]

Yeah, FWIW, I don't blame Dick, although obviously would have been nice if he really stepped up. I think he showed what he is right now -- all tools, still building the toolbox, highly inconsistent in his decision-making and hockey IQ.

If I'm a betting man, I bet that this won't really change much, and that he'll be a high-event second pairing guy who wins you some games with extraordinary skill and vision, and loses you some games with some horrendous decision-making in all zones. Burns was also a high-event player, but I would gamble that Dickinson would be like that but not quite so high end. Happy, always as a fan, to be proven wrong. At any rate, his performance isn't driving me to seppuku.

Getting a lesser Burns out of the #11 pick would be phenomenal. Yes, we're hoping for, what, Hedman, but that's not a realistic expectation for any prospect.

 

[Jargon]

I don't understand why anyone takes this tournament seriously, especially since Russia was excluded leaving only two teams with more than 1-2 future NHLers on them. If I was running a team I would try to take advantage of organizations who put any kind of stock into World Juniors performances. Like if I'm the Islanders I'm absolutely selling high on Danny Nelson and Cole Eiserman to try and get Petey from Vancouver.

Weren't you literally mocking guys who didn't make these teams? So, I know at least one person who takes this tournament seriously...

 

[Munnyro]

Getting a lesser Burns out of the #11 pick would be phenomenal. Yes, we're hoping for, what, Hedman, but that's not a realistic expectation for any prospect.

His comparables are Ekblad, Keith, Hanifan, and Chychrun.

 

[Hodge]

Weren't you literally mocking guys who didn't make these teams? So, I know at least one person who takes this tournament seriously...

The only remotely meaningful part of this entire tournament is the roster selection since that gives us an idea of how HC/USA Hockey view these players. Their actual performance over a 4-game sample is utterly meaningless.

 

[tiburon12]

Because he’s a smurf offenseman who can’t skate or defend.

Smurf alert! so we can confirm you are over 6', yea?

I don't understand why anyone takes this tournament seriously, especially since Russia was excluded leaving only two teams with more than 1-2 future NHLers on them. If I was running a team I would try to take advantage of organizations who put any kind of stock into World Juniors performances. Like if I'm the Islanders I'm absolutely selling high on Danny Nelson and Cole Eiserman to try and get Petey from Vancouver.

I'm right there with you on this. It's a fun tournament to watch and does provide some data to draw analyses from, but it's too short, too incomplete, and has far too much variance to make any sweeping conclusions.

Marek mused about this today, and while it sounded like a Canadian trying to waive away failure, he had a good point that segued into commentary about the OHL stunting development with their contract restrictions.

 

[The Nemesis]

Scott Wheeler's WJC notebook, Shark Prospect Highlights:

Sam Dickinson (D, San Jose Sharks): They didn’t seem to trust him early and he didn’t seem to quite look like himself early (it appeared like he’d been told not to play the free-wheeling style he plays in the OHL). They finally moved him into the prominent role a player of his caliber likely warranted on this blue line after the Schaefer injury and he played mostly well the rest of the way and had a couple of good games and a couple of so-so ones. Some bad reads/panicked moments under pressure in the D-zone, which is the area of his game that needs the most attention if he’s going to reach his significant NHL potential. Power play immediately looked better after moving him onto it and sliding Bonk to the bumps, and so did he. Needs to pivot and set his gaps earlier at times. But he’s a big kid who can really skate and involve himself when he’s feeling like himself and I expect him to be a big part of next year’s team if he’s not in the NHL. Still one of the top D prospects in hockey.

Brandon Svoboda (F, San Jose Sharks): In front of the net. Physical. Good on the wall/forecheck. Choppy hands but I was never expecting him to offer more than that and bring offense. Thought A.J. Spellacy (Blackhawks) would have been the better selection for that role but Svoboda did what he was asked to do.

Kasper Halttunen (F, San Jose Sharks): I wanted to see a little more out of him. He does a really nice job for a big man handling pucks in his feet and pulling them around opposing players and into space. Struggled to get free for that big shot of his and crack open a game like he’s capable of. Pace an issue at times.

Christian Kirsch (G, San Jose Sharks): Starter. Got lit up by USA in the quarters and yanked but played better in the tournament than his .878 save percentage indicated. Made some big saves using his feet. Good size and mobility, just needs to harness it and maintain control and habits a little better.

2025 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 2025 World Juniors.

www.nytimes.com

So in conclusion, everything sucks.

 

[The Nemesis]

Hes getting lambasted anyway, what are the actual chances he would be invited back

Decent. It's a 19-year-old's tournament and as long as he gets back on his feet this season and looks good next season he'll have a shot.

The key will be whether next year's team lets him play the role he's good at or whether they try to jam his square peg into another round hole and we get a repeat of this year's debacle.

 

[coooldude]

Getting a lesser Burns out of the #11 pick would be phenomenal. Yes, we're hoping for, what, Hedman, but that's not a realistic expectation for any prospect.

To be fair, when I said lesser Burns, I really meant, like, greater Liljegren, who was also highly touted. I don't have enough of an encyclopedic knowledge of today's middle pair D men, but I don't think he's going to be a lesser Burns in any real sense. Like an okay to strong middle pair guy who can fill in on top pair, but not a top pair guy on a cup contending team.

 

[Sendhelplease]

Hearing about Dickinson's strengths and weaknesses reminds me of Mike Matheson. Both are 6-2 great skaters who seem to have lower hockey IQs. Is that a reasonable comparison?