What I thought of the top four draft prospects at the World Juniors

OTTAWA | At the start of the tournament, we asked ourselves the following question: will the identity of the first overall pick in the next draft be decided at the World Junior Championship?

The answer, after 12 days of competition: no.

An injury to Matthew Schaefer and questionable usage of Porter Martone failed to unravel all the big mysteries.

Here is what I remember from the tournament of the four main prospects present: Schaefer, Martone, James Hagens and Victor Eklund.

Matthew Schaefer (Canada)

Schaefer looked like the future star many see in him in the first game against the Finns, finishing with a goal and an assist. His skills on skates are simply elite.

Then, he was injured in the first moments of the match against Latvia and, coincidence or not, the ECJ train began to derail almost.

“It changed a lot of things,” said Hockey Canada vice-president of national teams, Scott Salmond. In my opinion, he was possibly our best defender. […] I believe that his offensive and defensive skills and his skating could have made the difference for us.

It’s not nothing. At 17, Schaefer was considered the best defenseman on Junior Team Canada, and the one the team wanted to count on to win the gold medal.

That says it all.

His injury, a broken collarbone which will cause him to miss three months of activity, will not change the opinion of recruiters.

It should therefore not be surprising if he climbs onto the podium at the very top of the next draft, next June.

James Hagens (United States)

The American forward was without a shadow of a doubt the best prospect eligible for the next draft at this World Juniors. He was also the one who got the best opportunities to show off, let’s face it.

Placed at the center of the trio that he also completes this season at Boston College with Ryan Leonard and Gabriel Perreault, he demonstrated what makes him a top prospect and possibly one of the two best for the next draft.

He is fast, dynamic and creates things on the ice. Perreault also felt that he looked a lot like their former center Will Smith, who graduated to the NHL this season with the San Jose Sharks.

One of the big question marks about him remains, however: will he be able to play effectively as a center in the NHL at 5’11” and 179 lbs?

It was more difficult for him in the semi-final but he was excellent with his two trio partners during the final match. He also scored his team’s first goal and was the Americans’ most used attacker with an impressive total of 25 min 16 s of playing time.

Another criticism of him this season: his lack of finishing. In 16 games at Boston College, he only scored five goals. One thing is certain, he reassured many during the tournament, since he finished with five goals and nine points in seven games.

Schaefer remains ahead, but he shouldn’t be ruled out of the fight for the No. 1 overall pick.

Porter Martone (Canada)

Here is one who was a direct victim of certain controversial decisions by Canadian head coach Dave Cameron. After playing the first two matches of the competition in a secondary role, he watched the last two matches of the preliminary stage from the bridge.

Then, Cameron reinserted him into the lineup for the quarterfinal match against the Czech Republic, where he scored a very important power play goal that reduced the Czechs’ lead to 3-2 late in the second period. .

We would have liked to see more of Martone, we would have liked Cameron to try at least once to make him play with Carson Rehkopf, his partner in the Brampton Steelheads, with whom he plays rain and shine in Ontario.

But that was not the case.

Scouts continue to ask questions about Martone’s ability to play with speed and rhythm in the NHL. But one thing that can’t be taken away from him: his offensive skills are excellent.

Ultimately, he finished with one goal in three games. Did he lose points at the World Juniors? It would be ungrateful to say yes, considering the dubious use that has been made of it.

Did he win any? Certainly not.

Victor Eklund (Sweden)

I was pleasantly surprised by Eklund’s play during the World Juniors. He’s not big, at 6′ and 163 lbs, but he works constantly.

“He has energy, he is intelligent and he gets through his opponents,” Sweden head coach Magnus Havelid described him during the tournament.

With good reason.

But Eklund, William’s brother, who plays for the San Jose Sharks, is not only a ball of energy, he also has offensive skills which have allowed him to be used in all sauces by the Swedish head coach.

He concluded the competition with a production of six points, including two goals, in seven games.

Colleague Scott Wheeler, from The Athleticone of the references in terms of prospects, believes that he will undoubtedly be selected among the first 10 in the next draft.

Will he be an elite offensive player in the NHL? Probably not. And this is nothing against him, but rather more proof that this vintage is perhaps not the strongest in history, apart from the first four, who seem cast in concrete: Schaefer, Martone, Hagens and Michael Misa.