Let's go USA!

Who are some players to look out for

For the USA: Matty Beniers, Logan Cooley, Luke Hughes and Jake Sanderson probably lead the way.

Overall, Canada probably has the most exciting team with the likes of Shane Wright, Connor Bedard and Owen Power, not to mention Mason McTavish, Dylan Guenther, Kent Johnson and Cole Perfetti.
Also will be fun to watch William Eklund and Alexander Holtz for Sweden.

WWWWWW

And Michkov from Russia

Matthew Knies during that preseason game just looked like a monster amongst kids lul.

Reminded me so much of Hyman especially when he battled for the puck


Hirovinen and Niemela also looked pretty good. Niemela at times made some simple defensive mistakes but when your doing most of the work what can you do.

My knowledge of non-NHL players outside of the US and Canada is extremely limited, I didn't even know Kaprizov until he entered the league

https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/539230

My WJC Predictions Thread

Top 10 Forwards By NHLe

1. William Eklund
2. Joakim Kemell
3. Jake Neighbours
4. Nikita Chibrikov
5. Cole Perfetti
6. Alexander Holtz
7. Matvei Michkov
8. Marat Khusnutdinov
9. Danila Yurov
10. Ville Koivunen

Top 10 D By NHLe
1. Topi Niemela
2. Simon Edvinsson
3. Emil Andrae
4. Joel Nystrom
5. Jake Sanderson
6. Owen Power
7. Helge Grans
8. Scott Morrow
9. Luke Hughes
10. Olen Zellweger

Goalies in no order
Dylan Garand/Sebastian Cossa
Jesper Wallstedt
Yaroslav Askarov

Let’s go Canada, I’ll be keeping an eye on Team Canada, then also CBJ, Habs prospects, Jack Peart and Luca Munzenberger

Since the 1st game starts in a couple of hours, here's the link to the WJC site in case any of you want to follow the game but not watch it https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/wm20

Future Islander Brad Lambert is having himself a day

The flying Finns are back! Samuel Helenius gets right into the net to pick up a nice pass from Brad Lambert and widens @leijonat's lead by 2. #WorldJuniors #FINGER pic.twitter.com/4ZgWTKYM1E

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 26, 2021

First dub of many for the Finns

Road to gold has begun

I was impressed by Kasper Puutio on Finland, he moved the puck well and was an offensive force

Niemela was super slick, I could see him in a Leafs jersey in two years, after he spends one with the Marlies getting acclimated

And yes, being on a line with Stutzle and Peterka definitely helped Florian Elias, he's still a pretty good player. If I were a NHL GM, I'd take a late round flier on him next draft. Surprised no one did last draft

This tournament is going to open some eyes for people who think Lambert's stock is plummeting because the points haven't been there. Easily the best player on the ice today.

More impressive I think is how strong Germany continues to be despite losing key players/ less star power.

But Lambert was super solid.

Lines for Russia vs. Sweden. Puck drop at 4:30 PM ET. #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/gRsD4nqSHw

— Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisTHN) December 26, 2021

#Oilers 2021 pick Luca Munzenberger gets the Germans on the board vs. Finland! 🚨#WorldJuniors  | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/adawjFh6mQ

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) December 26, 2021

Why are they scratching Lysell?

While I agree with your first point, he was definitely not the best player on the ice, not by a long shot. Puutio and Niemela shone from the back end and Hirvonen, Simontaival were the best forwards imo. The players I noticed the most were the previously mentioned defencemen as well as Simontaival. While Lambert had a solid game, and picked up some points, I don't think he was as dynamic as some of his teammates

Also lol at everyone who slept on Edvinsson and the GMs who passed on him, he's probably the best player on the ice. The poise is unbelievable

Pavel Tyutnev is having one hell of a game, he has this undeniable skill of sneaking through the defence and finding soft ice, if he had some puck luck he'd have 2 goals

https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/world-juniors/2021/12/26/22853915/2022-world-juniors-czechia-canada-preview-time-schedule-online-live-stream-roster-lines-lineups

Looks like Stankoven and O'Rourke are the only healthy scratches for skaters. Too bad, I was looking forward to watching Stankoven

On a bright note, Cameron kept the Johnson-McTavish-Bourque line that lit up the Russians last night

Michkov is a f*cking legend.

Scoring two goals in the first game of the WJCs.
- First one of them didn't actually cross the line.
- Second one was scored from a negative angle.

Absolute unit.

Still can’t believe Russia omitted players like Gushchin - Kuznetsov for politics or whatever the NA reason was..

Not even regarding the game just feel like they should regret not picking Russian players from NA.