Wilson Jr. talks prospects at world juniors
Scout director mostly liked what he saw
Without some extraordinarily bad luck, San Jose Sharks draft pick Thomas Bordeleau could have very well been one of the members of the United States team that captured the gold medal at the IIHF World Junior Championship earlier this week.
Bordeleau was left off of Team USA’s roster for the tournament in Edmonton, Alberta due to contact tracing protocols after his roommate at the American selection camp, Boston Bruins draft pick John Beecher, tested positive for the coronavirus. Beecher tested negative just hours later, but both players were still forced to stay home last month.
Sharks scouting director Doug Wilson Jr., who gave Bordeleau a call on Sunday to wish him a happy 19th birthday, said the Michigan freshman doesn’t hold any resentment over what happened.
“Knowing Thomas, he’s absolutely thrilled for his teammates and his boys that they had a huge game ( Tuesday) and won gold,” Wilson Jr. said. “That’s the good thing about Thomas. Throughout this whole process, he’s been cheering his team on, and that’s just kind of who he is.
“When he gets back playing, Michigan is going to be playing some pretty big games here, I think he’s going to be pretty motivated because he can still make the team for next season.”
Despite the absence of Bordeleau, who the Sharks took 38th overall at the NHL Draft in October, Wilson was happy with what he saw from the Sharks’ other prospects at the tournament.
Defenseman Sa nt er i Hatakka, selected 184th overall by the Sharks in 2019, helped Finland win a bronze medal. Defenseman Artemi Knyazev and forward Yegor Spiridonov, selected in the second and fourth rounds, respectively, in 2019, helped Russia finish fourth. Forward Adam Raska, a seventh round pick in 2020, was part of a Czech Republic team that finished seventh.
Hatakka had two points in the tournament and averaged close to 20 minutes of ice time in seven games. Knyazev had four points in seven games, Spridonov played in seven games and Raska had one assist in four games. He was also suspended for the Czech Republic’s first game for a pre-tournament hit from behind.
What’s next for these
players? Wilson said plans were still being finalized. A couple, he said, will be going back to Quebec, where the QMJHL hopes to resume play Jan. 21, with the others already back in Europe. Raska and Knyazev both played in the QMJHL last season. All four players were playing with European or Russian club teams before the world juniors began.
Wilson took time earlier this week with Bay Area News Group and went over how each player performed in the tournament.
WILSON ON HATAKKA >> “He reminds me of Marcus Ragnarsson and Niklas Hjalmarsson. He played top minutes, a defensive defensemen. I think Sharks fans appreciate good defensive defensemen when they see it. We’ve had a history with Marcus Ragnarsson, Scotty
Hannan and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, (Justin) Braun and now ( Mario) Ferraro. He’s just a guy who plays a ton of minutes. He had a real good tournament.”
ON HOW HATAKKA HAS DEVELOPED SINCE HE WAS DRAFTED >>“For his particular role, it’s really just experience and getting games. He’s played two seasons now in the top league in Finland, so he plays against men every night. But he’s just a really good skater, he closes plays very fast and he plays hard. He’s chipping in a little bit more offensively now. Finnish- style, they let their defensemen pinch down a lot. In the world juniors, you saw Hatakka on the forecheck a few times. It’s actually ver y similar to how Bob Boughner wants to play with letting the (defensemen) go all the way down in the play. With
Hatakka, he’s just a really solid defenseman. It’s just getting more experience.” WILSON ON KNYAZEV >> “He was on the power play and he was on the penalty kill. That was big because you can see Artemi can run a power play. His first shift running the Russian power play, he had a nice assist on a shot through that was tipped in. But he was also on their top penalty kill.
“He’s a really good skater. You noticed him a lot when he had the puck and he was skating with it pretty effortlessly from the d-zone to the neutral zone to get it out to get pucks north. We’re still working with him on some technique. How he holds his stick, what he does when he’s closing on plays, the routes that he takes, etc., and we’re working on some more technical stuff, because he’s just he’s so gifted with the puck. If ( Russia coach) Igor Larionov is putting you on the penalty kill, he trusts you. So for us, that was really good. Trending well. I think Tim Burke is going to do some wonders for him. When he does come here and start working with us, just little things we want him to work on his game. So far, so good.”
WILSON ON SPIRIDONOV >> Yegor’s game, how Russia used him is how he will probably be used going forward in his pro career. Coaches love Spiridonov, because they can trust them. In the Russian games, he took every important penalty kill face off, every important D-zone face off. He was out at the end of periods in important games to hold on to leads. He was also on the power play one as the bumper guy up top. He’s one of those guys who plays 12-13 minutes at night, but they’re all gthe important moments and both special teams.”
“We’re projecting him as a third line, right shot center. He’s 6-foot-2, he’s over 200 pounds. He’s a guy that coaches absolutely love. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him and Raska on a line together at some point in the future. But I’d say Spiridonov had a good tournament for what he’s going to do as a pro.”
WILSON ON RASKA >> He plays hard every single night, and he’s got a lot of energy. But people underestimate his shooting ability. He skill level is way higher than people give him credit for. He’s got just everything you’re looking for, for kind of a playoff-type agitator. He’s got skill a (good) shot, is extremely fast, gets under opponent’s skin. We’re not here to tame a tiger. He’ll toe the line now and we’ll rein him in when we need to, but now’s not that time.”