Now that the World Juniors are over, it’s time to see who opened eyes more with their play in the prestigious tournament. Which lesser known picks look more like steals from their draft year?
The IIHF U-20 Championships, otherwise known as the World Juniors, is a highly prestigious tournament for the best hockey players in the world below the age of 20. This tournament is one of the best platforms for a young prospect to open the eyes of scouts and show the world their talent on a big stage.
Big performances at this tournament have been known to vault draft stocks for lesser known players, as well as prove value to the team that already drafted them. It also offers these players something to build off of when returning to their junior team or college.
In this article, we will go through who really improved their status over the course of the tournament and year so far. A recent example of this is Nico Hischier, who started his draft year as a mid-first round projection, but with a strong tournament and stronger second half in his junior year, he elevated his draft status as high as it goes, going first overall in 2017. That may not happen this year, as Jack Hughes seems to have grabbed that status for himself long ago, but you never know.
There are several players who were taken mid first round or later that may have been undervalued, some extremely so.
It should be said that we aren’t looking at top draft picks, because they’re expected to really dominate this tournament if they are eligible. So if you’re expecting to see players like Jack or Quinn Hughes, Vitaly Kravstov, or Kaapo Kakko, you won’t find them here.
These guys may turn into extreme value picks for their franchise, and the World Juniors is where they have just began to emerge.