WJCs and the West

By Kevin Wickersham

Following the late-game, underdog heroics of two Western Conference prospects, Tyler Steenbergen (Arizona) and Conor Timmins (Colorado) to bring the WJC title back to Canada, another World Junior Championships is in the books. This one was accompanied by some unsightly organizational warts and blemishes in Buffalo that hopefully history doesn’t focus on rather than the inspired play of gold-winning Canada, runners-up Sweden, and a ton of impressive individual performances. Several other Western Conference prospects showed well, likely improving their status in scouts’ and the public’s opinion including:

Jordan Kyrou (Canada) – St. Louis

Registering the most points of any Western Conference prospect or Team Canada skater (3 G, 7 A) the Sarnia Sting star left wing showcased his elite hands, fast and shifty skating prowess, puck handling mastery, and ability to exert relentless pressure upon opponents. In particular, his early-tourney stunner against Slovakia in a 6-0 drubbing drew attention to Kyrou’s deceptive, slippery game around the net. He’ll now head back to Sarnia, where he’s the league’s third-leading scorer in spite of not playing for the OHL West’s second-place Sting in nearly a month.

Sam Steel (Canada) – Anaheim

Kyrou’s pivot, last year’s WHL scoring champ and Regina Pats’ captain Steel continued to prove he’s a heady and offensively-creative talent who uses his impressive speed and playmaking skills masterfully. A possible Olympic squad member for the Pyeongchang games, Steel produced well on the big stage (4 G, 5 A). His work in Canada’s semi-final contest against the Czech Republic was stellar, including a rifle-shot, power play one-timer after a brisk feed from LA Kings’ draftee Kale Clague to get his squad’s scoring rolling in their 7-2 rout.

Klim Kostin (Russia) – St. Louis

There’s another reason why the Blues should be pleased about the WJC – 18-year-old power forward Kostin and his dangerous presence near the net led Team Russia with eight points (5 G, 3 A) in five contests, including two goals in their preliminary 5-2 win against Belarus. His totals are even more impressive when you consider that final round participants Canada, Sweden, USA, and the Czech Republic, featuring nearly all of the tournament’s top scorers, each played two more games than Russia. Having spent much of his draft year injured, Kostin went lower in the 2017 Entry Draft (last selection in the first round) than his physical, effectively intimidating talent warranted. Currently the second youngest AHL player, Kostin will continue post-tournament to cut his professional teeth with the San Antonio Rampage, thus far tallying two goals and nine assists with an impressive 47 PIM in 27 contests.

Cale Makar (Canada) – Colorado

Makar, the fourth overall NHL Entry Draft selection last summer continued to highlight his smooth skating, smarts, deft puck-moving, and playmaking abilities with a three-goal, five-assist effort, tying for tourney points leader among blueliners. The oft-maligned Avalanche defense saw much promise in Team Canada’s rearguard corps with Timmins and Makar’s strong showings, particularly on the offensive end where Makar excelled despite limited minutes. While his opening goal in the outdoor tilt vs. the USA will likely garner the most video replays, Makar’s goal and two assists as Canada shellacked the Swiss 8-2 in their quarterfinals contest was his most productive performance, capping off the former Alberta Junior Hockey League star’s three-game goal streak.

Elias Pettersson (Sweden) – Vancouver

Pettersson’s six goals and an assist tied fellow Swedes Lias Andersson and Alex Nylander for the squad’s scoring lead. His high water mark may have been two third-period goals and an earlier assist in a 7-2 drubbing of Switzerland. While the first involved some puck luck, as an attempted pass to Lias Andersson deflected into the net off a Swiss defenseman, Petterson’s second was a mind-blower in which he charged in from the blue line, faked one defender out of his skates, sliced east-to-west between another defender and the goalie and, diving though the crease he horizontally forced the puck in the net. Petterson’s having a great year overall, scoring at the second highest clip ever for a Swedish Hockey League player younger than 20, as his 11 goals and 26 assists in 24 Vaxjo contests put him at 1.34 points-per-game pace. His 37-point total is also currently good for third-most overall this SHL campaign.

Eeli Tolvanen (Finland) – Nashville

Impressing mainly as a distributor in the WJCs, Tolvanen had a productive trip back to North America from Jokerit where his 17 goals, 15 assists and 32 points leads the KHL club in each category. A prolific goal scorer known as shifty and quick on skates with a blistering, accurate shot, he instead dished helpers to Jets’ uber-prospect Kristian Vesalainen, future Blackhawk blueliner Henri Jokiharju, and three to his former USHL teammate and Oilers’ draftee Aapeli Rasanen .Despite 12 shots on goal against Denmark and nine versus the Czech Republic, Tolvanen’s lone goal came on the power play during Finland’s dramatic New Year’s Eve comeback effort versus the USA in an eventual 5-4 loss.

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