Young Finns are a golden generation
World junior win in 2016 was just the start for star-studded cohort
Maxime Comtois, Owen Tippett and Morgan Frost have quickly become household names for Canada at the world junior championship.
But after the tournament wraps up Saturday — the teams had Tuesday off — when will we hear from them again?
It often takes some time before you see the great players from the tournament make an impact in the NHL.
Some do it right away, of course. Sidney Crosby, John Tavares and Connor McDavid are recent examples.
The gold standard for players from the tournament making an immediate impact in the NHL was the 2005 class, when the NHL was in a lockout and all the best junior-aged players were available: Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Getzlaf and others.
But the 2016 tournament in Helsinki has emerged as a close second, led by Finland’s remarkable gold-medal team.
“I knew some of the players would make it big time and some players would be good players, but I never expected the way everybody has been playing this year,” Leafs forward Kasperi Kapanen said. “It’s pretty special. Hopefully we can all keep it up.”
Kapanen, who was 19 at the time and an emerging star with the AHL Marlies, scored the overtime winner in the final against Russians. But he wasn’t the best player on that Finnish team. The top line included Patrik Laine, Sebastien Aho and Jesse Puljujarvi, the tournament’s scoring leader with 17 points. Laine, has 104 goals in 21⁄ NHL seasons, went second overall to Winnipeg in that summer’s draft; Puljujarvi went fourth to Edmonton. Aho, who leads Carolina in scoring, had gone 35th the previous year.
Kapanen played with Mikko Rantanen, the Finnish captain that year. A Colorado firstrounder in 2015, he led the NHL in scoring for much of the first half this season.
“That team is going to be one that we Finns will look at 20 years from now and think, ‘Wow,’ ” said Finnish hockey reporter Juha Hiitela. “I’m not surprised that so many are good NHL players but I never saw so many stars.”
It wasn’t just the Finns who would have an impact as soon as they made the NHL.
The American team that won bronze that year had forwards Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk and defenceman Zach Werenski. The Canadian team included forwards Mitch Marner and Mathew Barzal and defencemen Thomas Chabot and Travis Dermott. The Swedes had William Nylander, who suffered a concussion in the tournament, and were the favourites going in. “We knew they were good players, but we didn’t think this many would be superstars,” said Mark Seidel, director of scouting at North American Central Scouting. “In some ways, they’ve taken the NHL by storm.”
Regardless of when a player makes it, the world juniors is a breeding ground for future NHLers and can make their reputation. Kapanen, with his golden goal, became known as Big Goal Kappy for a while. He has scored a few big ones for the Leafs — one to help them clinch a playoff spot in 2017, one in overtime in the playoffs that year against Washington, and another last spring that gave the Leafs a brief lead in Game 7 against Boston.
“In some ways this tournament bring out the best in some people,” said Seidel. “For them, it’s the highlight of their year. The way that tournament has become so hyped and so popular, it’s really important to the players.
“They understand it’s a great situation to be evaluated. It’s a great opportunity for them to help themselves. It’s kind of best on best for 19-year-olds. It’s a mini-Olympics.”
Kapanen has emerged this year as a 200-foot player with the Leafs, a right winger who can score and kill penalties. But he doesn’t mind revisiting that goal three years ago.
“It’s a great feeling, having my dad and grandpa there, it was dream come true,” he said.
“The next couple of days were pretty fun, pretty rough. I got to stay home for a bit. The way it ended couldn’t have been any better.”