12.27.2012

2013 IIHF World Junior Championship - Prospect Watch













Aleksander "Sasha" Barkov Jr



No need to tell about Aleksander Barkov Jr. After a 1g 2a performance against the USA, Barkov later said on interview that he wasn’t satisfied with his playing and that he should play better in the tournament. That says a lot about the kid’s willingness to perform and win. The Finns are early favorites to win it this year. With a great performance at this year’s WJC, he should cement his stock as a lottery prospect.



Rasmus Ristolainen

Rasmus Ristolainen is a puck moving defenseman that had the chance to play at last year’s tournament, where he put up 3 assists in 7 games as Finland lost to Canada in the bronze medal game. This year, he will play a more important role in this year’s squad, who went 2-0 in pretournament game vs Canada and the USA.











Elias Lindholm

Some consider Lindholm as the best Swedish prospect since Nicklas Backstrom, some consider him as the next Peter Forsberg. One thing is for sure, Lindholm is playing tremendous hockey with Brynas in the Elisterien this year and he will be a major contributor to the Swedish team.


Alexander Wennberg

With Zibanejad forced to stay in the AHL, Wennberg will have his chance to play in the top 6 alongside Elias Lindholm and Sebastian Collberg. Wennberg put up major points in the last Ivan Hlinka tournament with 9 points in 6 games for the Silver medal winning Swedish team.

Nick Sorensen

Patrick Roy decided to keep Sorensen instead of Kucherov as his 2nd CHL Import player and the results are there. Sorensen is learning to be a good 2-way player and with Roy’s coaching, he will be a threat with team Sweden. He will be playing on the 4th line with Jacob de la Rose, another Swedish top prospect.

Jacob de la Rose

What we can say is that Sweden is filled with top prospect just like in any draft. Jacob de la Rose is another Swede to watch for. During the 2 pretournament games, we saw how de la Rose is used on the PK for coach Roger Rönnberg and he is surprisingly very effective.











Valeri Nichushkin

A draft is not a draft if there’s not this prototypical flashy Russian hockey player, and this year, he ain’t nobody, he’s Valeri Nichushkin. Nichushkin is gifted offensively with speed and extremely good hands. He will be an offensive threat for team Russia along with the Yakupov, Grigorenko and Khokholahev.












Nathan MacKinnon



Well well, here is the 2013 NHL Draft top prospect: Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon, along with Halifax linemate Jonathan Drouin are the only 17 years old to make team Canada with the NHL lockout since Crosby made it as a 16 years old. MacKinnon will be playing 4th line duties but it won’t be a surprise if he is to join his linemate Drouin on the 2nd line along with Strome when the tournament will be on its way.

Jonathan Drouin

At this exact same date last year, Drouin has just join the Mooseheads in the QMJHL as he has decided to start the year with the Lac Saint-Louis Lions of the Quebec Midget AAA. One year later, he is now consider a top 5 prospect for next year’s draft, and some may say he could take over the top spot from MacKinnon and Jones when it’s all said and done. One thing is for sure, Drouin has hands and vision like no other prospect in the draft, and his work ethic is second to none.













Seth Jones

Son of former NBA player Popeye Jones, Seth Jones is gifted with great athleticism and his talent in hockey are undeniable. He is considered the next great defenseman and he lets his playing on the ice show it. During the pretournament interviews, Seth wasn’t scare to show off his confidence towards his team as he mentioned that team USA is the best team of the WJC. Playing his real first WJC, Jones was given great trust by his coach and teammates, as he will wear the “A” in his sweater.













Jakub Vrana (2014 Eligible)

Here is Czech’s 16 years old phenom to watch for: Jakub Vrana. Linköping of the Elisterien has called Vrana up this year where he scored his 1st goal in preseason as a 16 years old. He was tearing up the Linköping J20 team with 23 points in only 15 games. This year, on international stage, he will be competing on the Czech 2nd line alongside Faksa, the Dallas Stars 1st rounder in the 2012 NHL Draft.










Leon Draisaitl (2014 Eligible)

Drafted 2nd overall in the 2011 CHL Importa Draft, Leon Draisaitl is finally making his WJC debut and was very anticipated in North America as he was  stellar back in the Mannheimer ERC U16 team in Germany where he completely destroyed the league as a 15 years old with 97 goals and 192 points in just 29 games! The kid is playing this year for the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL where he’s putting great numbers for a 17 years old with a production of 28 points in 33 games. Draisaitl plays with a lot of speed and has a great vision.


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