WJC 2021: Five things we have learned after five days in Red Deer

4. Byfield & Canada a force

It has been quite the few months for Quinton Byfield who was taken with the No. 2 overall pick at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft by the LA Kings, before heading to Edmonton to help Team Canada in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships.

And, after failing to record a single goal at last year’s tournament, Byfield is back with a vengeance this year with two goals already and looking like he could really take over this tournament for Canada.

With seven points (2 G, 5 A) in three games in total – which is good for third among all players in the tournament – Byfield looks a different player than he was last year and that is both good news for Team Canada and the LA Kings.

He looks bigger, stronger, more powerful and he’s also playing with a real maturity to his game, while we are starting to see that clinical edge shine through.

Putting up two goals and four assists for six points in Team Canada’s 10-0 shutout against Switzerland on Tuesday, Byfield showed how deadly he can be and that he has what it takes to seize control of a game by himself.

Boasting size and skill, Byfield has an incredibly high ceiling and LA Kings fans should be very excited watching their most exciting prospect cause some damage on the biggest stage.

It helps too that Byfield is on what is an incredibly talented and stacked Team Canada roster, one that has three players that make up the top four scoring leaders, including Byfield, and the first nine plus / minus leaders are all Canadian too.

Having won three straight games with 29 goals for and just three allowed, Team Canada look every inch the juggernaut they were supposed to be and they look a very, very good bet to win Gold for the second straight year.