National Post (National Edition)
WORLD JUNIORS LACKING STAR POWER.
ONLY ONE DRAFT ELIGIBLE PLAYER IN TOP-10 SCORERS
From an attendance standpoint, this year’s world junior hockey championship has been a success.
Organizers may have struggled to fill the rinks in Buffalo, Toronto and Montreal in previous years, but that hasn’t been the case in B.C., where both Vancouver and Victoria have been close to capacity during the preliminary portion of the tournament. But while fans have been coming out in droves, the same cannot be said of the tournament’s top prospects.
From a scout’s perspective, this year’s world juniors have been a dud.
There hasn’t been a Connor Mcdavid or an Auston Matthews or even a Nico Hischier that’s pulled fans out of their seats or filled a scout’s notebook. There’s no Patrik Laine or Jesse Puljujarvi who have become household names and risen up the draft rankings after leading their team to unchartered territory. So far, there hasn’t a highlight that offers a glimpse of what’s to come.
Heading into the medal round, Canada’s Brett Leason was the only player in the top 10 in scoring who is eligible for the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Then again, as a 19-year-old who was passed over in the past two drafts, he isn’t a typical top prospect.
The projected top picks — the ones who are worth losing for — have either been hurt, held back by their coaches, or simply underperformed.
As Finland’s head coach Jussi Ahokas said of Kakko: “He’s going to be a great NHL player in a year or two.”
In other words, his time will come — later.
It’s a stark change from how the team was coached in 2016, when Finland’s Jukka Jalonen loosened the reins on his youngest players and was rewarded for doing so when Laine and Puljujarvi combined for 12 goals and 25 points in seven games en route to winning gold. But after finishing in ninth in 2017 and then losing in the quarter-finals in last year’s tournament, the approach has become more conservative. The team isn’t coaching to win. It’s coaching not to lose.
“Two years ago, they had seven coaches — seven!” Stubb said. “Now you’re talking about over-coaching.”
It’s not just Finland that is leaning on older players to get the job done.
While Lafrenière became only the ninth player to make Canada’s roster as a 17-year-old, he hasn’t been given the opportunity to showcase the ability that led to him scoring 54 points in 31 games with the Rimouski Oceanic this season. A similar set of circumstances limited Kakko’s ice time during the round robin.
As a result, we haven’t had a chance to see just how good a player who compares his game to Matthews and Mikko Rantanen can be.
“I think he has all the tools to be a star,” said Stubb. “Whether he becomes a superstar I don’t know.”
“For my first world juniors, I think I’ve played well,” Kakko said through a translator. “I would have hoped to have more points in the earlier games. It’s a huge tournament. Everybody in Finland loves this tournament. Everybody watches it, so it has a big spotlight.”