Aleksander "Sasha" Barkov Jr
No need to tell about
Aleksander Barkov Jr. After a 1g 2a performance against the USA, Barkov later
said on interview that he wasn’t satisfied with his playing and that he should
play better in the tournament. That says a lot about the kid’s willingness to
perform and win. The Finns are early favorites to win it this year. With a
great performance at this year’s WJC, he should cement his stock as a lottery
prospect.
Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Ristolainen is a puck
moving defenseman that had the chance to play at last year’s tournament, where
he put up 3 assists in 7 games as Finland lost to Canada in the bronze medal
game. This year, he will play a more important role in this year’s squad, who
went 2-0 in pretournament game vs Canada and the USA.
Elias Lindholm
Some consider Lindholm as the
best Swedish prospect since Nicklas Backstrom, some consider him as the next
Peter Forsberg. One thing is for sure, Lindholm is playing tremendous hockey
with Brynas in the Elisterien this year and he will be a major contributor to
the Swedish team.
Alexander Wennberg
With Zibanejad forced to stay in the AHL,
Wennberg will have his chance to play in the top 6 alongside Elias Lindholm and
Sebastian Collberg. Wennberg put up major points in the last Ivan Hlinka
tournament with 9 points in 6 games for the Silver medal winning Swedish team.
Nick Sorensen
Patrick Roy decided to keep Sorensen
instead of Kucherov as his 2nd CHL Import player and the results are
there. Sorensen is learning to be a good 2-way player and with Roy’s coaching,
he will be a threat with team Sweden. He will be playing on the 4th
line with Jacob de la Rose, another Swedish top prospect.
Jacob de la Rose
What we can say is that Sweden is filled
with top prospect just like in any draft. Jacob de la Rose is another Swede to
watch for. During the 2 pretournament games, we saw how de la Rose is used on
the PK for coach Roger Rönnberg and he is surprisingly very effective.
Valeri Nichushkin
A draft is not a draft if there’s not
this prototypical flashy Russian hockey player, and this year, he ain’t nobody,
he’s Valeri Nichushkin. Nichushkin is gifted offensively with speed and
extremely good hands. He will be an offensive threat for team Russia along with
the Yakupov, Grigorenko and Khokholahev.
Nathan MacKinnon
Well well, here is the 2013 NHL Draft top
prospect: Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon, along with Halifax linemate Jonathan
Drouin are the only 17 years old to make team Canada with the NHL lockout since
Crosby made it as a 16 years old. MacKinnon will be playing 4th line
duties but it won’t be a surprise if he is to join his linemate Drouin on the 2nd
line along with Strome when the tournament will be on its way.
Jonathan Drouin
At this exact same date last year, Drouin
has just join the Mooseheads in the QMJHL as he has decided to start the year
with the Lac Saint-Louis Lions of the Quebec Midget AAA. One year later, he is
now consider a top 5 prospect for next year’s draft, and some may say he could
take over the top spot from MacKinnon and Jones when it’s all said and done.
One thing is for sure, Drouin has hands and vision like no other prospect in
the draft, and his work ethic is second to none.
Seth Jones
Son of former NBA player Popeye Jones,
Seth Jones is gifted with great athleticism and his talent in hockey are
undeniable. He is considered the next great defenseman and he lets his playing
on the ice show it. During the pretournament interviews, Seth wasn’t scare to
show off his confidence towards his team as he mentioned that team USA is the
best team of the WJC. Playing his real first WJC, Jones was given great trust
by his coach and teammates, as he will wear the “A” in his sweater.
Jakub Vrana (2014 Eligible)
Here is
Czech’s 16 years old phenom to watch for: Jakub Vrana. Linköping of the
Elisterien has called Vrana up this year where he scored his 1st
goal in preseason as a 16 years old. He was tearing up the Linköping J20 team
with 23 points in only 15 games. This year, on international stage, he will be
competing on the Czech 2nd line alongside Faksa, the Dallas Stars 1st
rounder in the 2012 NHL Draft.
Leon Draisaitl (2014 Eligible)
Drafted 2nd
overall in the 2011 CHL Importa Draft, Leon Draisaitl is finally making his WJC
debut and was very anticipated in North America as he was stellar back in the Mannheimer ERC U16 team in Germany where
he completely destroyed the league as a 15 years old with 97 goals and 192
points in just 29 games! The kid is playing this year for the Prince Albert
Raiders of the WHL where he’s putting great numbers for a 17 years old with a
production of 28 points in 33 games. Draisaitl plays with a lot of speed and
has a great vision.
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