I'll never understand how anyone can badmouth the World Championship for "not being best on best" and then go on about how great the World Juniors are. For one, they aren't best on best either, as they clearly lack the most talented players, because those are in the NHL already.
In addition to that, most of the WJC players aren't nearly as good as those on the WCH. They are junior players, they would get their rears handed to them by most seniors. A few are already good enough to be comparable to very good to great seniors, another few might be as good or better once they hit their primes, and a large part of them will never be good enough to represent their countries even at the WCH.
Haha this is a pretty clueless argument.
People don't want the best players at a WJC, it's a prospect evaluation tournament. You get all the kids on a big stage and watch the players pegged as your team's future and make predictions and calls from your couch. The juniors already in the NHL are proven commodities, no one needs to see them anymore. HFboards itself is a testament to how much people love to play scout, 987 pages of long, extensive threads just on the prospects section alone and then each NHL section has it's own individual prospect threads. NHL scouts also use the WJC as a scouting ground and we know that and that adds value to it.
There's nothing to see at the WCH. There's no draw. It's not best on best. It's not a prospect tournament either, the players there aren't getting any better. Last year's tournament actually drew bigger fanfare than the years before, why, because Patrik Laine and Auston Matthews were there so we all got to put on our little amateur scout caps to see it. Regularly, about 3 guys, often less, from the WCH end up receiving NHL deals at the end of it and they usually just turn out to be trash. Even if their play is better, their potential is maximized, there's no illusion of hope, and if you've ever know fans the illusion of hope is one of the strongest driving forces to a fan's heart. And the illusion isn't that intensely far from reality, most stars in the NHL have at some point played in the WJC.
So no, they're nothing alike and that's how you're trying to evaluate them, but if it comforts you then you can believe that. When the WJC comes around I'll be at my couch arguing with friends that Luke Kunin isn't Minnesota's answer because see screen, Dylan Strome is overrated see screen again, or be amazed at how good Nico Hischier is wow he must be so good in the future or talk about how Carter Hart is a franchise goalie and then get called out when he lets in a bad goal. You at the WCH will be saying "well I think Yohann Auvitu at 26 has the potential to be an NHL fourth liner, Pierre Eduoard Bellemare has fourth line potential, Andreas Marthinsen could be a fourth line goon in the NHL, Adam Vay could do below average in the ECHL" there's not even the illusion of hope. And hope is what excites fans, what brings value to the experience.
