World Junior Standouts you knew would be impact NHLers

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Bounces R Way

Registered User
Nov 18, 2013
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Who are some players that caught your eye in their WJC years that you thought would make good NHLers?

Just going to do recent ones for myself because I don't remember most of the 2000s.

Pastrnak I loved and thought he had the makings of a top 10 pick.

Teravainen I thought was very impressive, and he's recently started to vindicate that feeling.

Chabot and Barzal were both players I could tell were going to be special. Great skaters.

Adam Fox and Gaudreau I could see had some great offensive instincts at that age.

Really liked Kupari last year.

Any players that have jumped out at you over the years as being a little underrated before they make the NHL?
 
McAvoy, Chabot and Keller from the Gold Medal Game a few years back.

Nurse was great the year Canada won it.

Those are the ones that immediately come to mind.
 
Draisaitl in his draft -2 season. Men against boys, but just didn't have the linemates.

McAvoy is also a good shout. Kuznetsov as well. Seth Jones.
 
Pastrnak in 2015, didnt have much in terms of teammates but he had the puck on a string
 
Combo Tatar - Viedensky - Panik was very good. But only Tatar made it to real NHL player. With all respect to Panik, his NHL career isnt that, what we expected.

Jaroslav Janus and Denis Godla.

Ok, im turning this into WJC and NHL disappointments, so i will stop.
 
Aho
Kuznetsov
Makar
Svechnikov

Completely sold on these after the WJC. Felt pretty good about Alex Nylander after his first tournament too...

On the other hand, Galchenyuk is probably my least favorite top prospect of all time. Had a strong feeling he wouldn't become much better than the average NHL player.
 
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If only you youngsters were around to see Peter Forsberg dominate like no one before or since. 31 points in that single tournament in ‘93! His outing against Canada stands out to me as one of the most impactful single game efforts I’ve ever seen. There was little doubt that this guy was going to tear it up in the NHL.
 
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Iginla really carried Canada as an 18 year old in 1996. Dominant tournament for him.
 
Tarasenko, Kuznetsov. Didn't even think about Panarin back to then, ans he's turned out to be the best out of them.

I think, Kaprizov is going to be ok in the NHL.
 
Tarasenko, Kuznetsov. Didn't even think about Panarin back to then, ans he's turned out to be the best out of them.

I think, Kaprizov is going to be ok in the NHL.
Since when is Panarin the best of the three? Did I miss something? Your perspective is marred. Yes, he went undrafted, so in terms of underrated he is the biggest success story.
 
He’s definitely the highest scoring of all three and the most consistent.
Not a stretch at all to say he’s the best of the three.
He is not the highest scoring. Unless you start cherry picking the last couple of seasons for no reason and even then he just scored a couple more points. At the time when Panarin was still developing and had his real breakout in 2013-14 the other two were outscoring him easilz in the KHL and in the NHL already.

Tarasenko's career might be in jeopardy with all the shoulder injuries and he might never again score similar numbers, but that does not belong into the discussion of who is the better player. Injuries happen.

Also if we are talking playoffs. Both Kuznetsov and Tarasenko won their rings. Kuznetsov also being an absolute monster in that Cup run. Panarin still has some work to do until he reaches that level, while he is obviously close and not a distant third in the trio.
 
He is not the highest scoring. Unless you start cherry picking the last couple of seasons for no reason and even then he just scored a couple more points. At the time when Panarin was still developing and had his real breakout in 2013-14 the other two were outscoring him easilz in the KHL and in the NHL already.

Tarasenko's career might be in jeopardy with all the shoulder injuries and he might never again score similar numbers, but that does not belong into the discussion of who is the better player. Injuries happen.

Also if we are talking playoffs. Both Kuznetsov and Tarasenko won their rings. Kuznetsov also being an absolute monster in that Cup run. Panarin still has some work to do until he reaches that level, while he is obviously close and not a distant third in the trio.
I’m talking about right now.
Since Panarin entered the league in the 2015-16 season, he has scored 357pts in 352 games. Good for 7th overall in the league during that time frame.
Kuznetsov is 17th (322/349)
Tarasenko is 27th(293/328)

Since entering the league, Panarin has been statistically the best out of the three.
I don’t even think it’s a debate really. Panarin is objectivity the best of the three.

As for you telling the other user to “check up on his hockey knowledge”... I think you should take your own advice before throwing around accusations like that.
 
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Mark Stone, Cale Makar and Thomas Chabot just off the top of my head.
 

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