Golden Knights will be closely watching at World Junior Hockey Championships
For the next 11 days, the future of hockey will be on display in Toronto and Montreal. If you’re one of the NHL’s 31 teams, that means paying close attention.
The World Junior Hockey Championship, which begins Monday at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre and Montreal’s Bell Centre and features the top under-20 players from 10 countries, has become the must-watch event for NHL teams as well as their fans. For the expansion Golden Knights, there will be a number of draft-eligible players competing.
McPhee, assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon, assistant director of player personnel Bob Lowes, director of amateur scouting Scott Luce, director of hockey operations Misha Danskov and amateur scouts Erin Ginnell and Raphael Pouliot will be in the stands watching and meeting daily to discuss what they’ve seen as they prepare for the NHL Entry Draft, scheduled for June 23 and 24 in Chicago.
“It’s in our backyard,” McPhee said of the event being held in Canada. “We want as many sets of eyes as we can watching the games.”
McPhee said while the best versus best competition can produce some dramatic results, the Knights are looking at how the individual players will project playing in the NHL.
“We obviously will be watching the draft-eligibles,” McPhee said. “But we’ll also be watching the players already drafted to see what kind of progress they’ve made and where they project.”
Will the Knights’ first-ever draft pick on June 23 come from this tournament? McPhee couldn’t say with any certainty that it will.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “It depends on how many draft eligibles are playing and what they show. These countries are trying to win the tournament so some younger players may not get as much ice time here as they get when they play for their regular team.
“Sometimes you’re better off watching them play against players their own age.”
Canada, which is the host country and has several NHL first-round draft picks from 2016 on its roster, will be favored to win. The United States is loaded offensively and has good goaltending. Finland, the defending champion, has a wealth of young talent, particularly on defense, while Sweden and Russia are experienced and capable of getting hot in a short stretch and making a run at the gold medal come Jan. 5 in Montreal.
“People who watch the tournament for the first time will be impressed by the speed and the skill of the players,” McCrimmon said. “But if you follow it closely, you’ll see how much it matters to the country and wanting to win the gold medal. The games can get very intense, especially when you get to the medal round.”
One player who won’t be on display is Nolan Patrick of the Brandon Wheat Kings, the junior team McCrimmon owns. The center has been out since October with an upper body injury and he was not medically cleared to play for Canada.
McCrimmon said for many of these players, it is the biggest stage they’ve performed on in their young careers.
“You want to watch to see how they handle the pressure of playing in a big event like this,” he said. “Some kids thrive in it, some don’t. You also want to watch how players adjust their individual games to fit in with their teams.”
McPhee and McCrimmon didn’t tip their hands as to who, specifically, they will watch. But they or someone from the team will be at every game from start to finish.
“It’s an opportunity to see a lot of very good players in a high-level tournament,” McCrimmon said.
Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.
