I had written two articles (here and here) in March 2020 looking at the players that I considered the core three for each of the Western teams. I thought it would be interesting to look back at each of these players and see how they did during the World Junior Championships or if they even played in them and maybe gauge the importance of the tournament in these players’ development. In reading back my articles, things have changed in Minnesota with Kirill Kaprizov coming over and in St. Louis and Vegas with Alex Pietrangelo signing.

Anaheim

Cam Fowler (USA) – Fowler played in the 2010 tournament and had two assists in seven games when the USA won gold with the thrilling 6-5 overtime victory over Canada when John Carlson broke the hearts of the Canadians. Other defensemen on that gold-winning team were Matt Donovan, John Ramage, Jake Gardiner, Brian Lashoff and David Warsofsky. Fowler went on to win the Memorial Cup that year with the Windsor Spitfires along with teammates Taylor Hall, Adam Henrique and Philipp Grubauer, so it was quite a year for him.

Trevor Zegras (USA) – Zegras played in the 2020 tournament and led his country in scoring with nine assists in five games before the USA was eliminated by Finland in the quarter-finals. Other top scorers that year for the USA were Shane Pinto, Arthur Kaliyev, Nick Robertson and Oliver Wahlstrom. Zegras will return in 2021 which is a scary thought for the opposition.

John Gibson (USA) – Gibson saw two tournaments, first in 2012 where he played one game backing up Jack Campbell where the USA didn't even make it to the quarterfinals. 2013 saw an entirely different result as the USA won gold with Gibson backstopping them over seven games with a 1.36 GAA and a 95.5 save percentage. Top scorers for the USA that year were Johnny Gaudreau, Jacob Trouba, J.T. Miller, Alex Galchenyuk and Seth Jones.

Arizona

Clayton Keller (USA) – Keller played in the 2017 tournament and led his country in scoring with three goals and eight assists in seven games, where the USA beat Canada 5-4 in a shootout in the final to win the gold medal. Interesting to note that the leading goal-scorer that year was Kirill Kaprizov with nine goals in seven games. Other top scorers from the USA roster that year were Colin White, Jordan Greenway, Troy Terry (who scored the winning shootout goal) and Charlie McAvoy.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Sweden) – Shocker but Sweden went undefeated in the round-robin this year only to lose to the USA in the semi-finals. Ekman-Larsson had two goals and three assists in six games and other defensemen on the team that year were, David Rundblad, Adam Larsson, Tim Erixon, Peter Andersson, Mattias Ekholm and Lukas Kilstrom. Andre Petersson led the team in goals with eight and Jacob Markstrom was the starter in net.

Barrett Hayton (Canada) – Hayton played in 2019 and 2020 for Canada. 2019 saw the Canadians lose in the quarter-finals with Hayton getting four assists in five games on a team led by Morgan Frost, Maxime Comtois, Cody Glass, Ian Mitchell, Ty Smith, Evan Bouchard and Mike DiPietro in the net. In 2020, Hayton led Canada in scoring with 12 points in seven games leading Canada to the gold medal, along with Alexis Lafreniere, Dylan Cozens, Calen Addison, Connor McMichael and Joel Hofer in goal.

Calgary

Matthew Tkachuk (USA) – Tkachuk played in the 2016 tournament where the USA lost to Russia in the semi-finals. Tkachuk co-led the team in scoring with Auston Matthews while putting up four goals and seven assists in seven games. Other top scorers for the USA that year were Zach Werenski, Christian Dvorak, Nick Schmaltz, Sonny Milano and Colin White with Alex Nedeljkovic starting in six games and posting a 1.66 GAA with a 94.3 save percentage. Tkachuk did go on and win the Memorial Cup that year with the London Knights led by fellow teammates Mitch Marner, Christian Dvorak, Olli Juolevi and Tyler Parsons in goal.

Sean Monahan (Canada) – Monahan surprisingly never played in the tournament as he was cut in 2012 and then the Flames wouldn't release him in 2013 because Monahan was in his rookie year in the NHL.

Johnny Gaudreau (USA) – Gaudreau led his country in 2013 with seven goals in seven games on the way to their gold medal that season. Gaudreau was named to the All-Star team for the tournament as well.

Chicago

Patrick Kane (USA) – Kane played in the 2007 tournament where the Americans were beaten by Canada in the semi-finals. Kane led the USA with five goals in seven games but was out-pointed by teammate Erik Johnson who had 10 points. Not too shabby when a team can dress two 1st overall picks on their junior roster, but the depth hurt them a little this year as other top scorers were Peter Mueller, Taylor Chorney, Jack Skille, Nathan Gerber, Jack Johnson and the starter in net was Jeff Frazee.

Jonathan Toews (Canada) – Toews played in the 2006 and 2007 tournaments where he had the rare accomplishment of winning the gold medal twice. In 2006 he had two assists in six games and the team was led by Blake Comeau, Dustin Boyd, Cam Barker, Luc Bourdon, Kyle Chipchura, Dave Bolland and Justin Pogge was the starter. In 2007, Toews led the team in scoring with seven points in six games and was joined by Kris Russell, Kris Letang, fellow returnee Bourdon and Carey Price in goal who posted a 1.14 GAA with a 96.1 save percentage. Toews is also one of only 29 players that belong to the Triple Gold Club (Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal and World Championship gold medal), along with his three Stanley Cups and two world junior gold medals.

Kirby Dach (Canada) – Dach was not let go by the Blackhawks last year for the tournament as he was becoming a regular in the NHL. He will be playing on Canada this year in 2021 and should be one of the main players that the country will need to play well to repeat their gold medal performance from 2020.

Colorado

Nathan MacKinnon (Canada) – It is tough to criticize the 2013 roster, but Canada did lose in the semi-finals to the USA this year with MacKinnon playing on the third or fourth line for most of the tournament and only managing one point in six games. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (another 1st overall pick) had 15 points in six games and Mark Scheifele had five goals and eight points in six games while Ryan Strome and Philip Danault all saw time more than MacKinnon. It was surely a disappointing performance by him and clearly, he has put it in the past.

Cale Makar (Canada) – Makar played in the 2018 tournament where Canada beat Sweden 3-1 in the finals to win the gold medal. Makar was named to the All-Star team after his three goals and eight points in seven games. Jordan Kyrou led Canada with 10 points while Drake Batherson led with seven goals while Carter Hart posted a 1.81 GAA and a 93.0 save percentage in his six games.

Mikko Rantanen (Finland) – Rantanen played in the 2015 and 2016 tournaments for Finland where he had four goals in five games in 2015 and led the team in goals and points. In 2016 he was the captain and had five points in seven games but was outscored by the fabulous trio of Jesse Puljujarvi (17 points in seven games), Sebastian Aho (14 points) and Patrick Laine (seven goals and 13 points). In 2015 Finland was beaten by Sweden in the quarter-finals but came back in 2016 on home ice and won gold by beating Russia 4-3 in the finals. Rantanen had a big goal in the finals to put Finland up 3-2 with only 2:09 remaining in the third only to see the Russians tie the game with six seconds left. Kasperi Kapanen was the hero in overtime while Kaapo Kahkonen was the winning goalie for Finland.

Dallas

Jamie Benn (Canada) – Benn was in the 2009 tournament that Canada beat Sweden 5-1 in the finals to win the gold medal. Benn had four goals and six points in six games but was a 2nd or 3rd line player while Cody Hodgson (16 points in six games), John Tavares (15 points), Jordan Eberle (13 points) and P.K. Subban (nine points) were the stars of the tournament. It is no wonder Canada won this tournament with players like Benn, Evander Kane, Alex Pietrangelo and Ryan Ellis filling out support roles.

Tyler Seguin (Canada) – Seguin was cut from the Canada junior team in 2010 and the Boston Bruins wouldn't loan him to the program in 2011 because Seguin was playing in the NHL as a rookie and went on to win the Stanley Cup that year.

Miro Heiskanen (Finland) – Heiskanen played in 2017 and 2018 in the tournament, and the Finnish squad didn't get past the round-robin in either year which was disappointing for both team and player. Heiskanen only managed one assist in six games in 2017 and two assists in five games in 2018. The roster was not that deep in either year, so this is hardly an indictment of Heiskanen's performance there.

Edmonton

Connor McDavid (Canada) – McDavid was the rare 16-year old that participates in this tournament and did so in 2014 in a fairly sheltered role and came back in 2015 as a 17-year old. To be fair, his birthday is January 13th. In 2014 Canada lost in the semi-finals to Finland and McDavid had a disappointing tournament (for his standards) with only four points in six games on a team led by Anthony Mantha (11 points in seven games), Jonathan Drouin (nine points) and Curtis Lazar (seven points). In 2015, an older McDavid came back as an alternate captain and co-led the team in scoring (11 points) with Sam Reinhart and Nic Petan and more importantly the team won the gold medal. McDavid was expected to dominate the tournament and even though he didn't do that, he was still a vital member of the team.

Leon Draisaitl (Germany) – With a lack of depth in 2013, the German team was always going to be overmatched in most games outside of the relegation round, but Draisaitl did manage six points in six games (minus nine as well, the beginning of the Draisaitl hat-trick perhaps!). Tobias Rieder and Dominik Kahun were on this team as well. In 2014, Draisaitl put up another six points in six games but also posted 52 penalty minutes after two match penalties in separate games leading to him being suspended for one game. Dominik Kahun led the team in scoring in 2014 with seven points in seven games.

Evan Bouchard (Canada) – Bouchard played in the 2019 tournament for Canada as they were knocked out in the quarter-final by Finland in overtime on a goal by Canuck 5th round draft pick Toni Utunen who scores a goal every 100 games or so it seems. Bouchard managed three assists in five games and was a plus-six for a defensive group that only provided two goals all tournament.

Los Angeles

Anze Kopitar (Slovenia) – Kopitar played in three D1 (The main group is the Top Division, then teams are relegated to D1, D2 or D3) tournaments with Slovenia, starting when he was 16-years old in December 2003 where he played five games and had a goal and an assist. In 2004 as a 17-year old, Kopitar dominated with 10 goals and 13 points in five games and led the tournament in scoring. In his third kick at the can, Kopitar managed five goals in five games, but it wasn't enough to get Slovenia promoted to the top division.

Drew Doughty (Canada) – Doughty played in the 2008 tournament and won gold with Canada after posting four points in seven games. Canada beat Sweden in the finals 3-2 in overtime with Matt Halischuk scoring the winning goal. The leading scorers on Canada were Kyle Turris, Brad Marchand, Claude Giroux, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares. The leading scorer on defence was Josh Godfrey, not Doughty. Steve Mason was the starter that year for Canada and posted a 1.19 GAA with a 95.1 save percentage.

Alex Turcotte (USA) – Turcotte played in the 2020 tournament with the USA and his performance was a little underwhelming with only two assists in five games, which contributed to the team being knocked out in the quarter-finals. He will be back for the 2021 tournament and will be looking to provide much more offence.

Minnesota

Kevin Fiala (Switzerland) – Fiala has played in the 2014 and 2015 tournaments, where Switzerland lost in the quarter-finals to Canada in 2014 and never made it out of the round-robin in 2015. Fiala led his country in scoring in 2014 with five points in five games without much supporting cast. In 2015 he had four goals and five points in six games but also had Denis Malgin and Timo Meier on the roster who both outscored him with six points each.

Ryan Suter (USA) – Suter played in three tournaments for the USA in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In 2003 the team lost in the semi-finals to Canada and Suter had two goals and three points in seven games, on a roster that included Zach Parise (eight points), Ryan Kesler (seven points), Chris Higgins, Ryan Whitney and Dustin Brown with Jimmy Howard backing up Bobby Goepfert. In 2004 the USA won the gold medal while Suter had two assists in six games led by Zach Parise again (11 points in six games), Patrick Eaves, James Wisniewski and Ryan Kesler with Al Montoya posting a 1.33 GAA and 94.4 save percentage. For Suter's third time at the tournament in 2005, he was named captain but the USA was beaten in the semi-finals by Russia. Suter did have better production this year with eight points in seven games with Drew Stafford leading the team with nine points, and other leading scorers being Patrick O'Sullivan (eight), Dan Fritsche (seven), Phil Kessel (six) and Rob Schremp (five). Al Montoya was the starter and was backed up by Cory Schneider.

Jared Spurgeon (Canada) – Spurgeon was invited to the Canadian junior camp in 2009 but was cut. Canada won gold that year so it would be tough to criticize the choices ahead of him on defence, which were, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis, Alex Pietrangelo, Tyler Myers, Thomas Hickey, Keith Aulie, Cody Goloubef and Colten Teubert.

Nashville

Roman Josi (Switzerland) – Josi was 16-years old when he first played in the tournament in 2007 and he dressed for all six games but was held off the scoresheet in a year that Switzerland had to win the relegation round to stay in the top tournament. In 2008, Josi returned and had one assist in six games where Switzerland was demoted to D1. Yannick Weber was the star of the team with six points in six games that year. In Josi's third year back in 2009, the team won promotion back to the top tier while Josi had three goals and five points in five games. Not many players make it to four years at the WJC but Josi did exactly that in 2010 when Switzerland upset Russia in the quarter-finals only to lose to Canada in the semi-finals that year. Nino Niederreiter led the team in scoring with 10 points in seven games.

Ryan Ellis (Canada) – Ellis played three times from 2009 through 2011 and in 2009 he won the gold medal while putting up seven points in six games on a very deep team. Returning in 2010, Canada lost the heartbreaker in overtime to the USA in the final but Ellis had another strong showing and posted eight points in six games. In his third kick at the can in 2011, Canada lost again in the finals, but this time to Russia 5-3. Ellis was the team captain in 2011 and had three goals and ten points in six games. His career stats in the WJC were 19 games played, five goals, 20 assists and 25 points which is the most for a Canadian defenseman. 

Filip Forsberg (Sweden) – Forsberg played three times from 2012 through 2014 and was captain for both of the last two tournaments. Sweden won the gold medal in 2012 by defeating Russia 1-0 in the finals on an overtime goal by Mika Zibanejad at the Calgary Saddledome. Forsberg had one assist in six games on a team led by Max Friberg (nine goals and 11 points in six games), Sebastian Collberg (seven points) and a defence that boasted Patrik Nemeth, Jonas Brodin, John Klingberg and Oscar Klefbom. In 2013 Sweden was beaten 3-1 in the finals by the USA while Forsberg produced three goals and five points in his six games. Sebastian Collberg and Viktor Arvidsson led the Swedes with four goals each, while Collberg, Emil Molin and Rickard Rakell each posted six points to co-lead. In 2014, Forsberg was back for his third visit but the Swedes were foiled again in the finals losing to Finland 3-2 in overtime (scored by Rasmus Ristolainen). Forsberg led the team in scoring with 12 points in seven games, followed by Elias Lindholm with nine points and Lucas Wallmark with eight. Oscar Dansk was the goalie in 2014 and posted a 1.79 GAA with a 92.9 save percentage.

Looking at most of the top players on this list, the WJC tournament has proven to be an important stepping stone for them and it is easy to dismiss as just six or seven games that have no bearing on how good a player will be. The fact is that most of the top players had success there and this is an important measuring stick.

Next week we will look at the remaining teams in the West.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you want me to focus on any players or topics by messaging me below or following me on Twitter @gampbler15.