WJC Players To Watch

The 2009 World Junior Championship gets underway today with 4 games, unfortunately not all are televised and those that are may or may not be available to YOU depending on where you live. I know the USA games are being carried by the NHL Network south of the border but up here at the same time we get to watch documetaries instead of actual games. Go figure.

Anyway, I decided to throw together a list of players who I have an interest in following in this year's tournament. Some on the list will be players you've heard of, some won't be. I've seen several lists from the mainstream media this week proclaiming John Tavares and Victor Hedman as "players of note" to which I say "Um... gee, thanks?"

Dean and I were proclaiming those two as players to watch LAST YEAR. It doesn't take a genius to point out that the top two rated players for 2009 are "players of note".

With that said, here's who I'm watching for this year.

Andrej Nestrasil (CZE) - He's playing in Victoriaville (QMJHL) and leads his team in scoring with 30 points in 36 games. He's only got 10 goals so far but still, he's a 6'2 195 lb 17-year-old that is enjoying a lot of success in North America already. Central Scouting and ISS consider him one of the top 2 or 3 draft eligible players from the Q but I haven't seen anyone listing him in the top 20 yet... and I'm wondering why not.

Tomas Vincour (CZE) - I see him a lot here in Edmonton but like Robin Figren last year, the Oil Kings aren't exactly top heavy when it comes to skill. I want to see what Vincour does when he's surrounded by it at the WJC. He was considered a first rounder in the summer but now seems to be appearing in the second round on most lists I've seen. A strong tournament might turn that around for him. (photo courtesy Andy Devlin/Edmonton Oil Kings)

Juha Metsola (FIN) - Frankly I'm surprised that he's not property of a NHL team already and that he was passed over twice in the NHL draft. I can understand it in his draft year because he barely played but last year he was very good for Lethbridge especially in the second half of the season and in the playoffs. He's not big but he's capable of making those spectacular athletic saves like he did against Canada in their exhibition tune up game last week. (not sure if this link will work but try here).

Harri Sateri (FIN) - If Metsola doesn't start then I assume that job will fall to the San Jose Sharks prospect. Sateri is the anti-Metsola... much bigger and more of the stereotypical technical goalie. For some reason he dropped all the way to the 4th round last year. Maybe there is a reason or maybe it was good fortune for San Jose?

Teemu Hartikainen (FIN) - "Poor man's Thomas Holmstrom", that's how Oiler scouts described him to me after the draft. That's setting the bar pretty high though so it will be interesting to see if that comparison makes any sense after watching Hartikainen play with the best in the world in his age group. He's having a decent year in the top finnish league though.

Vitaly Karamnov (RUS) - He was considered a 1st round talent in 2007 but was passed over by NHL teams because he apparently had no interest in playing in North America. Oddly enough, two months later he was skating for the Everett Silvertips. Karamnov didn't get drafted again though in 2008, one NHL exec told me that "there was no progress in his development" during his WHL season. Karamnov went back to Russia and is now playing a small role with Moscow Dynamo in the KHL. (photo courtesy Everett Silvertips)

Sweden (SWE) - Honestly... with so many 2009 eligible players on the team as well as already drafted guys like Jacob Markstrom, Erik Karlsson and Mikael Backlund to check out, Sweden's games will be Must-See-TV.



Danny Kristo (USA) - He's the second youngest American in the tournament (and Schroeder is an obvious viewing target too) but his play at the 2008 WJAC in Camrose has me wanting to see Kristo on this bigger stage. He's already drafted (MTL, 2nd Round in 2008) and will head to North Dakota next year but, like with Vincour, I want to see him perform when he's surrounded by players who are as good or better than him.

The rest of the USA squad and Canadian team are packed full of intriguing players but most of them have already received the appropriate level of hype so I'll pass on adding to it.

One thing Dean pointed out to me about the USA team that I find really interesting: When was the last time that both goalies and the team captain were CHL players? With Thomas McCollum (Guelph) and Josh Unice (Kitchener) in net and Jonathon Blum (Vancouver) wearing the C... it's hard to make an argument this year that CHL players were victims of conspiracy. There are a total of 8 CHL players on the team compared to one NCAA player on the Canadian side (Cody Goloubef).

Goalies I'm watching for: Metsola/Sateri (FIN), Timo Pielmeier (GER), Jacob Markstrom (SWE). The team that wins the gold usually receives the best goaltending but although I've predicted Canada to place on top and I'm on record saying Dustin Tokarski and Chet Pickard
are stellar goalies... I won't be suprised if one of the above gets some press over the next few weeks.

Top 5 Goalies for 2008

To me they are the big wildcard every year because you can never really be sure that a team is going to take a goalie. I've talked to some NHL scouts who are of the opinion that in the cap era you don't need to draft a goalie at all because there will always be ones available. I've also talked to scouts who say that the only way you'll get an elite goalie is to draft and develop one yourself.

In a conversation that the Edmonton Journal's Jim Matheson and I had with New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello right before Christmas he told us "I think today you have a better chance of finding someone than you did yesterday because of the rules regarding the CBA and free agency with the number of games goalies have to play compared to forwards. We would always prefer to, if we can, draft our own and develop our own and have him come along that way."

With that in mind I don't know that we can positively say that team X will take a goalie or that team Y positively will not draft one or when or where in the draft a goalie selection makes more or less sense.

Here are The Pipeline Show's top 5 goalies for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft... and yes, I know I'm actually listing 6... That's just how we do things around here. The links are to the bio pages for each keeper and the extra little tidbits or comments made here are our thoughts and remarks.

#1 Chet Pickard - Tri City Americans

He's a Manitoba kid so obviously Millard has him already slated as a future Hall of Famer. Pickard was fantastic all year for the Americans but even better than that in the playoffs where he had a 1.78 GAA, .937 SV % and 11-3-2 record. The Canadian prominently features Captain America on his mask, a design submitted by a kid in a local contest. I like his size at 6'2 and 210 lbs because he's tall but not so tall where he becomes awkward. Oh and the correct pronunciation of the last name is PICK-erd not Pi-CARD.

#2 Thomas McCollum - Guelph Storm

Dean has McCollum second on his list but he actually comes 3rd on my own. I thought McCollum was the best of the four goalies at the Top prospects game but quite honestly, none of them really played very well. His numbers were actually a bit worse in each category than in 2006-07 but still pretty good. Also has good size at 6'2 and 205 lbs so really there might not be much to seperate he and Pickard in that sense.

#3 Jacob Markstrom - Brynas & Sweden U18

I have the Swede in the second spot on my list but Deano has him like this, at number 3. Scouts I talked to had nothing but outstanding things to say about his performance at the U18 tournament in April. I personally won't be stunned if Markstrom turns out to be the first goalie chosen although both Millard and I have only 1 goalie going in round 1 in our mock (and it isn't this guy). He's 6'3 and 180 lbs so room to fill out still but has great height already. Could be the guy for Sweden at the next World Junior Championship in Ottawa now that Enstrom is too old (if I got that right).

#4 Jake Allen - St. John's & Canada U18

He kind of came out of nowhere at the U18 tournament but his 8-0 shutout of the Russians in the gold medal game and his play even before that has him high on many mock drafts. Allen is a New Brunswick native and is another 6'2 keeper available this year. We had Jake on as a guest back on May 6th and you can hear that interview here. After playing back up all year we expect Allen to have a breakout year with the Montreal Juniors next season.

#5 Dustin Tokarski - Spokane Chiefs

We mentioned how strong Pickard's stats were in the playoffs but even they pale in comparison to what Tokarski put together. A 1.38 GAA and .944 save percentage during the WHL playoffs and then his stellar performance at the Memorial Cup that earned him the award as tournament MVP. So what's the downside? He's smaller at 5'11 and 185 lbs and he played on a defensively strong team so some scouts believe he and his stats were more of a product of that than he was. 'Tick' was also a guest on TPS on May 27th.

Honorable Mention: Harri Sateri - Tappara & Finland U18

How can you have a draft without a notable netminder from Finland? You can't because the Scandinavian country has been a goalie factory for the last decade and a half and still churns more out every year. This year the best Finn available is Sateri who has solid size at 6'1 and 190 lbs. He was much higher on most lists earlier in the year but if he's lost ground in the rankings it's more to do with the rise of others than his own performance dropping off much. The catchy rhyming name is a marketing campaign waiting to happen... how long before he's called Harri "Carrey" Sateri?

Wedensday we will unveil our Top 5 Overage Players who should get serious consideration this year after going undrafted through a previous draft.