It’s the most wonderful time of the year: World Juniors season!
We hope you all had a happy holiday. If you’re reading this from Buffalo, we hope you’re staying safe and warm.
This special edition of The Charge will be focused on previewing the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships.
I’ll be breaking down each team at the tournament, focusing on some players to watch, detailing the Sabres’ prospects on their respective national teams, and predicting where each team will finish in their groups.
The full tournament schedule can be found here.
Let’s jump into it:
Group A
#1. Canada 🇨🇦
Is there really any other choice here?
Canada is bringing a roster that features a boatload of top prospects, including the potential top two picks for 2023 in Connor Bedard and Adam Fantilli.
The storyline of this tournament: who can take down Canada?
Canada is going for the offensive-minded top six and two-way bottom six for this tournament. They are also going for defense pairs with one offensive-minded defenseman and one defensive-minded defenseman. I call this the yin and yang approach.
Would they have been better off going all in on skill? It probably does not even matter, the top of this group is so far ahead of their competition that they would still be the favorites to win this tournament regardless of their bottom-of-the-lineup roster decisions.
Player to Watch: Connor Bedard
The future 1st overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft is having an absolutely bonkers season in the WHL. He is riding a 27-game point streak, the last time he went pointless in a game was September 23rd. His 2.29 point-per-game scoring rate tops the WHL. Oh and he is doing all of this at just 17 years old.
The obvious player he will be compared to in his draft year season is the other Connor: Connor McDavid. He produced at a 2.55 point-per-game rate in his draft year in the WHL, he also had 11 points in 7 games at the 2015 WJC. Can Bedard top his WJC performance? It’s absolutely possible.
#2 Sweden 🇸🇪
Sweden is bringing a roster to the World Juniors that has a great deal of 1st round talent in their forward group.
Their defense corps have been plagued with injuries and the Detroit Red Wings opted to not loan Simon Edvinsson to the tournament, hurting their defense even more.
It is a bit of a down year in terms of goaltending prospects at this tournament, but Sweden is bringing arguably the best one at the WJC in Carl Lindbom. He has posted a very impressive .936 SV% in 21 games in the second tier of Swedish pro hockey this season. This Sweden team has the pieces to go on a nice little run.
Players to Watch: Noah Östlund and Isak Rosén
The Sabres have two 1st-round picks that will be playing on Sweden’s roster.
Noah Östlund is joined by his two club hockey linemates (and fellow 2022 1st round picks) in Liam Öhgren and Jonathan Lekkerimäki. Östlund is expected to be centering those two and provide a secondary scoring threat on one of the tournament’s best teams. Östlund is a smart, creative forward who should be fun to watch against his peers.
Isak Rosén is absolutely a player to watch during this tournament. Showing off in pre-tournament play with 3 points in 2 games, expect him to get a top-line role on the wing and PP1 minutes on the flank for Sweden. He’s added some dimensions to his game in the AHL (strong forechecking, less perimeter play), so this tournament will be a good measuring stick of his progress against his age group.
#3 Czechia 🇨🇿
Looking at the other teams in this group and, yeah, I think Czechia is probably a lock for the #3 spot unless they can pull off a victory over Sweden and/or Canada in the group stage.
This team will be highlighted by 2022 1st-round-picks, David Jiricek and Jiri Kulich, and future 2023 1st-round-pick, Eduard Sale. They bring a roster with a decent amount of mid-round NHL draft picks, they just lack that extra bit of talent that will allow them to compete with the top teams.
Player to Watch: Jiri Kulich
I am going to highlight another Sabres prospect here, but he would likely be the prospect I would highlight even if he wasn’t property of the Sabres. The last of the Sabres’ 2022 1st-round picks has been having a very solid season in the AHL as an 18-year-old with 16 points in 24 games.
Kulich has had a great track record in international tournaments for Czechia.
He recorded 8 points in 7 games for them at the last WJC and recorded 11 points in 6 games for them at the U18s last spring. Speed, shooting ability, he brings it all to the table and Czechia will really rely upon him for offense this tournament.
#4 Germany 🇩🇪
Will Germany and Austria finish in the bottom two of this group? Yes. I think Germany has the slight edge over Austria despite losing a good chunk of their roster from the August tournament. They have a bit more pro experience in their lineup and that should give them the slight edge.
Player to Watch: Julian Lutz
The Coyotes 2022 2nd-round pick was injured for a good chunk of 2021/22, so he did not get much time to build the hype. He’s just a great offensive forward who is able to create positive opportunities for both himself and his teammates. He will be relied upon big time in this tournament.
#5 Austria 🇦🇹
Austria’s tournament will essentially be getting crushed by Canada, Sweden, and Czechia while hoping to beat Germany to avoid the relegation round. It’s really as simple as that. They have two potential NHLers on their roster, but just not a lot of depth.
Player to Watch: David Reinbacher
Are we talking about a future Buffalo Sabre here? The 6’4” right-handed defenseman has been extremely impressive in the Swiss pro league at just 18 years old. He has 14 points in 28 games and has shown promise on both sides of the puck. Look for him to push toward being a lottery pick as the season progresses.
Group B
#1 United States 🇺🇸
This group may not carry the same level of hype that the past teams that USA Hockey have brought to this event have carried. But they do have the high draft picks in Logan Cooley, Cutter Gauthier, and Luke Hughes. Their depth may be lacking on paper, but they have a handful of players with great production in their respective leagues.
The defense is chock-full of fun offensive players who have been putting up great numbers in the NCAA. Their offense is full of high-energy forwards with a sneaky amount of skill. I think they are going to have a very fun and likable team and it helps that they have some of my favorite non-1st round picks of the past few drafts.
Player to Watch: Jackson Blake
I am going to go a little bit off the beaten path here and highlight a prospect I have really liked since his high school hockey days. Son of former NHLer Jason Blake, the Hurricanes draft pick has been having an outstanding freshman season at the University of North Dakota with 21 points in 19 games.
He has an electric set of hands and is always willing to cut toward the middle of the ice. He has a plus shot that allows him to be a dual threat in the offensive zone. Oh, and he also has some of the best celebrations in hockey. I think he could put his name on the map after this tournament if given the opportunities.
#2 Finland 🇫🇮
Here’s the thing about Finland international hockey teams: never underestimate them. Even though they may not always have the best rosters on paper, they will find ways to win.
Their team may not be as talented as past Finnish teams on paper, but they still have some high NHL draft picks and their forward group should have enough depth to run a few good lines. They only return one defender from the 2022 WJC, Aleksi Heimosalmi, who should be a fun offensive piece, but the depth is not there. The goaltending may be a bit of a question mark as well.
Player to Watch: Brad Lambert
There may not be a more polarizing NHL prospect than the Winnipeg Jets’ winger Brad Lambert. Once considered to be a top 10 talent, he fell all the way to the 30th overall pick in 2022.
In a vacuum, his individual skills are equivalent to those of a top 3 pick. It has just been his overall game that has left things to be desired. He is a player who scouts may be hesitant to acquire, but one a development coach would love to have. He has not been too great for Finland at the international level, but his talent has to breakthrough at some point.
#3 Slovakia 🇸🇰
Picking the projected order of teams in these groups seems simple. Almost too simple. Which usually means something crazy will happen. Slovakia finds themselves in the “much better than #4 and #5” but “maybe not good enough for #1 and #2 territory,” so #3 it is.
This Slovakia team does have the talent to make some noise in 2023. They have that #1 all-purpose defenseman in 2nd overall pick Simon Nemec. They have some very fun offensive pieces in Filip Mesar, Dalibor Dvorsky, Adam Sykora, Alex Ciernik, Samuel Honzek, and Servac Petrovsky. If goaltending is up to par, they can be a sleeper team for a medal.
Player to Watch: Dalibor Dvorsky
Dvorsky will be pushing toward a top-10 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. He is yet another piece of Slovakia’s incredible re-emergence in hockey talent production. He has the intelligence and skill to be a solid two-way forward, but the pace and feet are in question. This tournament will show us how he looks against some of his (slightly older) peers and may adjust his 2023 NHL Draft ranking a bit.
#4 Switzerland 🇨🇭
Switzerland has a hockey team and will be at this tournament. That’s about it. They will definitely be in that #4 or #5 mix in Group B. Their tournament pretty much comes down to their game against Latvia. They have a few interesting pieces and some decent depth that may push them past Latvia, but nothing to break into the top 3.
Player to Watch: Lian Bichsel
The 2022 18th overall pick is just a giant, physical, old school defenseman. He’s very good at being that old school type of defenseman as well. On a Switzerland team that will be spending a lot of time in the defensive zone, we will be seeing a lot of Bichsel.
#5 Latvia 🇱🇻
I was very tempted to put this Latvia team at #4 because they are a team that always puts up a good fight regardless of their competition. They may be outmatched talent-wise, but they won’t let their opponents get by easily. They even beat a decent Czechia team in the 2022 WJC.
Player to Watch: Dans Locmelis
The Bruins 2022 4th-round pick is a player whose whole is greater than the sum of his parts. What he lacks in skill, he makes up for with his fantastic habits on both sides of the puck. I think he will play a big role on this Latvia team that could use some strong two-way play to stay afloat.
Medal Predictions
🥇 Gold: Canada
🥈 Silver: United States
🥉 Bronze: Sweden