In part two of our look at the World Juniors (WJC) revisited for core three players, we will focus on San Jose, St. Louis, Vancouver, Vegas and Winnipeg.

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San Jose

Erik Karlsson (Sweden) – Surprisingly Karlsson only played in one WJC in 2009. He didn't disappoint as he led Sweden in scoring with nine points in six games on the way to Canada beating them 5-1 in the finals. Other top scorers for Sweden that year were Mikael Backlund (with five goals and seven points in six games), Magnus Paajarvi (seven points). Victor Hedman (two assists in six games) was on the roster as well as Jacob Markstrom in goal (1.61 GAA and 94.3 save percentage in five games). 

Logan Couture (Canada) – Even though Couture was the 9th overall pick in 2007 he was not even invited to the Canadian camp in either 2008 or 2009 so never took part in the tournament. Canada did win the gold medal in 2009 which is a testament to how deep Canada was that year.

Timo Meier (Switzerland) – Meier played in two tournaments in 2015 and 2016. In 2015 the Swiss team didn't make it out of the round-robin but managed to beat Germany in the relegation round to stay in the tournament. Meier had six points in six games on a team that also had future NHLers Denis Malgin (seven points), Kevin Fiala (four goals), Mirco Mueller and Jonas Seigenthaler. In 2016 Meier was team captain when Switzerland was forced to the relegation round once again but managed to beat Belarus to stay. Denis Malgin led the team with nine points in six games and Meier had five points.

St. Louis

Vladimir Tarasenko (Russia) – The Russians were stunned in the quarterfinals in 2010 by Switzerland and were knocked out earlier than they hoped. Tarasenko had four goals and five points in six games, while Kirill Petrov led the team with four goals and 10 points while Nikita Filatov had six points. Tarasenko returned in 2011 as team captain and co-led the team in scoring with four goals and 11 points along with Evgeni Kuznetsov. The team beat Canada 5-3 in the finals to win gold on a roster with Dmitri Orlov (nine points), Artemi Panarin (five points) and Maxim Kitsyn who led the team with five goals.

Ryan O'Reilly (Canada) – When O'Reilly surprisingly made the roster with Colorado at the beginning of the 2009-10 season, he stuck for the whole season and was not made available to Canada for the WJC in 2010.

Alex Pietrangelo (Canada) – Now a Vegas Golden Knight, Pietrangelo played twice in 2009 and 2010 for Canada. In 2009, he managed three points in six games on a team loaded on the backend with P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis, Thomas Hickey and Tyler Myers on their way to a gold medal. He had a great tournament in 2010 with three goals and nine assists in six games in a year where the USA beat Canada 6-5 in overtime in the Finals.

Vancouver

Quinn Hughes (USA) – Hughes was on both the 2018 and the 2019 junior teams for the USA where the team lost to Sweden in the semi-finals in Buffalo in 2018 when Hughes had three assists in seven games. Casey Mittelstadt led the team with 11 points, while Kieffer Bellows led the team with nine goals. Other defenders that year were Adam Fox, Dylan Samberg, Scott Perunovich, Andrew Peeke, Mikey Anderson and Ryan Lindgren. Returning in 2019, Hughes and his teammates lost to Finland 3-2 in the finals that took place in Vancouver his future home and had to settle for the silver medal. Hughes had a bit of a disappointing tournament with only two assists in seven games while Mikey Anderson was the only defenceman to score a goal (he had two). Other defenders that year were returnee Dylan Samberg, K'Andre Miller, Philip Kemp, Mattias Samuelsson and Jack St. Ivany. The offense did not come easy for this American team as Ryan Poehling led the team with eight points while Cayden Primeau played well with a 1.61 GAA and a 93.6 save percentage.

Elias Pettersson (Sweden) – Pettersson played a depth role in 2017 where he only managed one assist in six games in a year that Sweden was beaten 5-2 by Canada in the semi-finals. Alexander Nylander led the team with 12 points, while Joel Eriksson-Ek led with six goals and former Timra linemate, Jonathan Dahlen had five goals. The next year, Pettersson played a more prominent role with Sweden on their way to losing in the finals 3-1 to Canada. Pettersson had five goals and seven points in seven games, while Lias Andersson had six goals (he of the infamous silver medal throw into the stands). The roster in 2018 also boasted Alexander Nylander, Rasmus Dahlin, Erik Brannstrom and Timothy Liljegren with Filip Gustavsson in goal who posted a 1.81 GAA and a 92.4 save percentage.

J.T. Miller (USA) – Miller's first time at the WJC in 2012 resulted in the USA not even making it out of the round-robin which forced them to play in the relegation round to make sure they were invited back in 2013, which they did. Miller had two goals and four points in six games on a team that had Austin Watson lead them in scoring. Jason Zucker, Nick Bjugstad, Brandon Saad, Jacob Trouba and Charlie Coyle were other prominent players that year with Jack Campbell the starter in net. In 2013, Miller was playing in the NHL but the NY Rangers allowed him to play and it turned out to be well worth it as the USA won gold in Russia by defeating Sweden 3-1 in the finals. Miller had nine points in seven games to co-lead the team with Johnny Gaudreau and Jacob Trouba while John Gibson was in net with a 1.36 GAA and 95.5 save percentage.

Vegas

Mark Stone (Canada) – In 2012 Canada lost to Russia 6-5 in the semi-finals where Stone led the team with seven goals and 10 points. Trailing Stone with nine points that year were Ryan Strome and Jonathan Huberdeau while Mark Visentin and Scott Wedgewood split the goaltending duties. Other notable teammates were Mark Scheifele, Brendan Gallagher, Dougie Hamilton, Tanner Pearson, Jaden Schwartz and Brett Connolly.

Shea Theodore (Canada) – He was part of the 2015 Canada team that beat Russia 5-4 in the finals to capture the gold medal. Theodore had a goal and an assist in seven games on a team led in scoring by Sam Reinhart, Nic Petan and Connor McDavid with 11 points. Other defenders were Josh Morrissey, Madison Bowey, Joe Hicketts, Darnell Nurse, Dillon Heatherington and Samuel Morin while Zach Furcale was in goal with a 1.20 GAA and a 93.9 save percentage.

Cody Glass (Canada) – In 2019 Canada was upset by Finland in the quarterfinals that were held in Vancouver. Glass had two goals and six points in five games, while Morgan Frost led the team with eight points and Maxime Comtois led with five goals.

Winnipeg

Mark Scheifele (Canada) – Scheifele was teammates with Mark Stone in 2012 and managed three goals and six points in six games where Canada lost in the semi-finals. Scheifele returned in 2013 to the WJC and Canada lost once again in the semi-finals, this time to the USA 5-1. He did have a good tournament in leading the team with five goals, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins led the team with 15 points. Malcolm Subban was the starter in net with Jordan Binnington his backup. His career stats were eight goals and 14 points in 12 games.

Kyle Connor (USA) – Connor wasn't even invited to the preliminary USA WJC in 2016 along with current teammate Jack Roslovic and Alex Tuch. The team lost in the semi-finals to Russia 2-1 so it would be easy to second guess, but this roster was stacked with forwards Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Nick Schmaltz, Christian Dvorak, Sonny Milano, Colin White, Brock Boeser, Ryan Donato, Anders Bjork and Alex Debrincat. This spoke to the depth of the USA program more than any mistakes made in the players picked.

Patrik Laine (Finland) – Finland beat Russia in overtime in the 2016 finals to win the gold medal. Laine was a big factor as he led the team with seven goals while Jesse Puljujarvi had 17 points and Sebastian Aho had 14 points just ahead of Laine's 13. Kaapo Kahkonen was in goal in the gold medal victory after taking over for Veini Vehvilainen midway through the 6-5 victory over Canada in the quarter-finals.

The skill level on display at this tournament seems to grow each year, which can only bode well for the players that will end up in the NHL shortly and more importantly for the fans watching.

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.