2020 World Juniors Group B Preview: It's An Absolute Buzzsaw But The Americans Are A Wagon
Since 2001 there have only been 5 countries to play in the gold medal game at the World Juniors (Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, and Russia). The same thing goes for the entire history of the U18 World Juniors, which started in 1999. So with that being the case, that means that there is always going to be one group that ends up with 2 of those teams and the other group is going to get fucked with a 3rd.
This year its Group B which has USA, Canada and Russia on this side of the bracket. And to make it even more of a gauntlet for Group B, they'll also have the host nation Czech Republic, so you know that they're going to be a pain in the ass for everybody in front of the home crowd. So yeah, Group B is pretty much fucked right from the get go. The other team in this group is Germany, who comes in to the main tournament after winning the Division 1 tournament last year.
There are 4 big time matchups in the preliminary round of this year's tournament and 3 of them are in Group B so let's talk about it.
Big Games To Watch:
USA vs Canada | December 26th @ 1pm
I mentioned this before but whoever came up with the schedule for this year's tournament deserves to be thrown in jail. To put USA vs Canada as an opening day matchup is a tragedy. These two teams deserve to play themselves into a rhythm before they play each other. They also deserve to have more on the line before they play each other. USA vs Canada should always be a New Years Eve game if they're in the same group. But instead, it'll pass by before we're even 24 hours into the tournament. Either way, we didn't get a chance to see USA vs Canada at all in last year's WJC so I'll take it.
Now most of these kids all played at the U18 WJC last year. And in that tournament, USA beat Canada 5-2 in the bronze medal game. I know that the teams aren't completely the same this go around with some guys either not playing in that tournament last year, or not on the roster this year. But that's probably the best we have to go off of heading into this game. I like Team USA getting off to a greasy start of the tournament with a 1-goal win.
Canada vs Russia | December 28th @ 1pm
Last year Russia went undefeated in the preliminary round after beating Canada 2-1 on New Years Eve. I'm trying to figure out who lost more from last year's team compared to this year. I mean Russia no longer has Klim Kostin or Vitali Kravtsov. But Canada lost their goalie Michael DiPietro, Morgan Frost, Evan Bouchard, Cody Glass and Owen Tippett. Also Russia gets to add the best goalie they've had in a generation for this year's tournament so on paper I think I'd actually give the edge to the Russians here.
But I feel like after not medaling at all last year on their home ice, Canada is going to have a little more pressure on them this year and this team is talented enough to handle that pressure. Especially if they're coming off a loss to USA. So I'll take Canada here. At least for now.
USA vs Russia | December 29th @ 1pm
For as much as the schedule sucks in general, it actually works out pretty well for Team USA. They get to start off with a major test right away against Canada. Then the next day they get to feast against Germany and they'll be able to build up some chemistry in that game. Then they have a day off, and then they play Russia after Russia had just played Team Canada the day before. So this is a schedule win for Team USA.
With that being said, it's a revenge game for both teams here. Like I said, Russia went undefeated through the preliminary rounds last year and probably felt pretty good about their chances of playing for gold. But then they lost 2-1 to Team USA in the semifinals before winning bronze at the 2019 WJC.
Then we get to the 2019 U18 WJC. Team USA was an absolute force that tournament. They beat the shit out of everybody in the preliminary rounds. 6-1 win over Sweden. 12-5 win over Slovakia. 7-1 win over Latvia. A 6-3 win over Russia. And oh yeah, they smacked Finland 6-0 in the quarterfinals. So this was a team that should have walked their way to a U18 gold medal, but then they lost to Russia in a shootout in the semifinal. I know it's cliche but this game will come down to Spencer Knight and/or Yaroslav Askarov in net.
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I know I just mentioned all of Team USA's game there but here it is again for all you noble Patriots out there.
- 12/26 @ 1pm vs Canada
- 12/27 @ 1pm vs Germany
- 12/28 @ 1pm vs Russia
- 12/30 @ 1pm vs Czech Republic
Squad Up
Team USA
This year Team USA returns 5 players who were on last year's silver medal winning team. Oliver Wahlstrom, Mattias Samuelsson, Jack Drury (nephew of Chris Drury), K'Andre Miller and Spencer Knight. But the entire roster besides Parker Ford (Providence) has already been drafted. So unfortunately if you end up falling in love with any of these players on Team USA, chances are another team already has the rights to them. Here are the forwards.
I already mentioned Cole Caufield (MTL '19) and Oliver Wahlstrom (NYI '18) in my Top 10 Players To Watch list so I won't talk more about them here. Obviously they're going to be 2 guys that USA relies on big time to throw some pucks in the net. But helping them out will be guys like Arthur Kaliyev (LAK '19) who currently leads the OHL with 62 points in 33 games. 31 goals and 31 assists. He's a complete player who will know how to get to the right spots on the ice if he's out on a line with studs like Caufield and future Kings teammate Alex Turcotte (LAK '19). Turcotte plays at Wisconsin with Caufield so if they can keep that line together, that would be huge.
Another player to watch out for on Team USA is John Beecher (BOS '19). Beecher had a big summer which upped his value and now it looks like the B's got a steal with him still hanging around at pick #30. He hasn't done a ton so far this season at Michigan but 5 goals and 4 assists in 16 games isn't bad as a freshman. I think he'll end up being a real solid intangibles guy for this team. Oh, and Bobby Brink (PHI '19) just has a fuckin' sweet name to say.
On the back end you obviously have Spencer Knight in cage, who I also wrote about in my Top 10 Players To Watch list. 2 of the most important guys who will be playing in front of Knight will be K'Andre Miller (NYR '18) and Cam York (PHI '19). If I'm being perfectly honest here, I NEED Cam York to have a huge tournament because I already know that Cole Caufield is going to tear it up and the Flyers took York one pick ahead of him. I just don't want to end up being salty about that. But Cam York is a stud and as a freshman defenseman, he has 4 goals and 5 assists in 14 games with Michigan this year. Including this beauty.
K'Andre Miller was on the 2018 team that won silver at the U18 WJC, and then was on the team last year that won Silver at the U20 World Juniors. So he needs to add a little gold to his collection. He's also on that Wisconsin team with Caufield and Turcotte. It's crazy that team has so much talent but they're only 7-10-1. Hopefully these guys are just more focused on the World Juniors this year than college.
Team Canada
This year Team Canada has 5 players returning from last year's roster. Barrett Hayton, Alexis Lafreniere, Ty Smith, Joe Veleno and Jared McIsaac. Unfortunately for them, they probably have the most pressure on them heading into this year's tournament after they finished 6th last year. They also lost a ton of studs from last year's roster, and will come into this tournament with 5 players in the 2020 Draft class. 2 of those guys could potentially be the top 2 names picked in June but still. The roster just doesn't punch you in the face the way a Team Canada WJC roster typically does. Let's look at the forwards though, because there's a ton of talent there.
I mentioned Alexis Lafreniere (2020 Draft), Quinton Byfield (2020 Draft) and Barrett Hayton (ARI '18) in my Top 10 Players To Watch list so we don't need to talk about them anymore here. But…I mean…how can you talk about this roster and not talk about Lafreniere? He's been pegged as the next great so let's look at some greats of the past. Sidney Crosby put up 6 goals and 3 assists in 6 games at the WJC during his draft year and they won gold. Alex Ovechkin put up 5 goals and 2 assists in 6 games at the WJC during his draft year, and also got to put up 7 goals and 4 assists the next year thanks to the lockout. He won gold in 2003. McDavid put up 3 goals and 7 assists in 7 games at the WJC during his draft year. He won gold in 2015. And Matthews put up 7 goals and 4 assists in 7 games at the WJC during his draft year. They won bronze that year.
Fact of the matter is that those are the 4 guys who had as much hype of Lafreniere heading into their drafts and all of them put up big numbers at the World Juniors that year. Most of them won a gold medal at some point. So far Alexis Lafreniere has 1 goal and a 6th place finish at the World Juniors. This is a massive tournament for him.
Outside of Lafreniere and the other guys already mentioned, Dylan Cozens (BUF '19) is probably the name to watch out for. He's currently 4th in the WHL right now with 46 points (20, 26) in just 30 games. This is his 3rd year in the WHL and he had an 84-point season last year. I'll also be interested in Nolan Foote (TBL '19) but mostly because he's the son of Adam Foote.
I'm not sure where Nico Daws (2020 Draft) is projected to go in June but what I do know is that he currently leads the OHL in both GAA and Sv% with a 2.06 and .939 respectively. He also won an OHL Championship last year with Guelph. Also, Joel Hofer (STL '18) is 2nd in the WHL (behind USA's Dustin Wolf) in Sv%, and leads the WHL in GAA with 1.81. He also won a WHL Championship in 2018. So Canada is pretty set between the pipes this year.
The two defenseman to watch this year are going to be Bowen Byram (COL '19) and Jamie Drysdale (2020 Draft). Byram was the 4th pick in last year's draft and could easily end up on Colorado's roster next year to go along with Cale Makar. He has 16 assists in 27 games this year in the WHL and had the most playoff points in the WHL last year. He's a weapon for sure. And then Jamie Drysdale is only the 7th defenseman to make Team Canada as a 17-year-old. He's projected to be a top 10 pick in the draft this June, and currently has 25 assists in 29 games in the OHL with Erie. You get those two snapping the puck through the neutral zone to spring guys like Hayton and Lafreniere on a break? Game over.
Team Russia
I'll be totally honest here. I don't know a TON about the Russian team. That's because most of these guys play in the KHL and haven't been drafted. On the entire team, 11 of these guys have been drafted by an NHL team. That'll change to 12 for sure when Yaroslav Askarov (2020 Draft) gets picked up in June, and Maxim Groshev is also a 2020 Draft prospect. But for the most part, we don't hear about most of these guys. But out of the 7 players who are returning from last year's bronze medal team, the one that stands out the most is Grigori Denisenko (FLA '18).
Denisenko doesn't put up crazy numbers or anything in Russia, but he had 4 goals and 5 assists in last year's tournament, which was good enough to be tied for the most points at the 2019 WJC with Aleksi Heponiemi. So maybe it's going from playing in the KHL to playing against a bunch of guys his own age, but Denisenko turns it on at the World Juniors. There's also Alexander Khovanov (MIN '18) who is currently 3rd in the QMJHL with 53 points in 26 games with Montcon. And right behind him is Yegor Sokolov (Undrafted) who is 4th in the QMJHL with 51 points in 30 games with Cape Breton. So the guys who are over in North America are crushing it, I just don't know much about everybody else.
On the back end, I already talked about Yaroslav Askarov (2020 Draft) in my Top 10 Players To Watch list. He's a generational talent and the best goalie that Russia has had in a while. Outside of that…again, I just don't know of anybody here besides Yegor Zamula but that's only because he was signed by the Flyers as a free agent.
But this is a Russian team that won a silver medal at last year's U18 WJC and also a bronze medal at last year's U20 WJC. A Russian program that has won 1 gold medal, 3 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals during the 2010 decade. So even though you might not know a ton about them heading into the tournament, you'll find out soon enough. I'm just glad that they get to compete as Russia at the World Juniors instead of "Athletes From Russia", because it'll make it that much sweeter when USA beats them.
Team Czech Republic
The Czechs had a 4th place finish in 2018, but they haven't medaled at the WJC since a bronze in 2005. And even though they're hosting this year's tournament…well I don't think they'll finally be getting another medal this year. If there's one player on this roster to keep an eye on, it'll be Jan Mysak (2020 Draft)
He's been playing pro hockey in the Czech league since he was 16-years-old. Keep in mind that's the league that Jagr currently plays in. Here was his first Extraliga goal from last year, which shows that he clearly doesn't give a shit about playing against some grown men.
I'm sure there will be a lot of pressure on him playing in front of his home crowd during his draft year as one of the best Czech prospects in a while. But he should definitely be buzzing around out there.
There's also Jakub Lauko (BOS '18). This will be his 3rd World Juniors. He's currently playing with Providence in the AHL and spent last season in North America playing in the QMJHL. They actually have a decent amount of guys on the roster who are playing CHL this year so that'll help them against teams like USA and Canada. But not many names that stand out.
On the back end, Lukas Dostol (ANA '18) has a chance to be a real pain in the ass this tournament between the pipes. He's currently the 4th best goalie in the Liiga playing with Ilves. I'm not sure if he's their #1 or not but if you can get a streaky goalie in this tournament, it's at least going to make life miserable for the top teams.
Team Germany
Listen. There's really only one player on Germany worth mentioning and that's Moritz Seider (DET '19). He was the 6th overall pick in last year's draft and is currently playing in the AHL as an 18-year-old. He was the best player at the D1A World Juniors last year. He won the German pro league with Adler Mannheim and was the 2019 DEL Rookie of the Year. And he might have a chance to be German hockey royalty like Olaf Kölzig and Leon Draisaitl. So he'll be fun to watch, but Germany is gonna have a rough go at it in this group.
Predictions:
1. USA
2. Canada
3. Russia
4. Czech Republic
5. Germany
I'll see everybody on Monday for the Group A preview. We're almost there, you beauties.