S71 WJC Team Rankings

[Patrik Tallinder 1,073]

 

The World Juniors are a great tournament that showcases the top young talent from all over the globe. This season’s tournament includes many future stars in the VHL, and it will unite some incredible players who we may never get to see play together again. That said, although each team is made up of some amazing talent, certain teams appear to have the upper hand on paper. Let’s see who are the favourites to win it all, and who are the underdogs heading into the tournament.

 

 

1. Europe

 

Seemingly the favourites every season in recent memory, Europe has no problems churning out one elite prospect after another. This season is no different. Europe has a star-studded, deep roster that will be extremely hard for other teams to deal with.

 

Strength - Forwards and Goalies

As I previously mentioned, Team Europe will be very hard to contain for other teams, and that is mostly because of their star power up front, with their entire top 6 being VHL players. That is not to take away from the third line either, with them each being above 200 TPE as well. This group is deep, and they will be unbelievably difficult to defend over the course of a full game. Their depth at the goalie position is remarkable as well, with both goalies already at max TPA in the VHLM. Both Bruden and Sjostrom are more than reliable if called upon.

 

Weakness - Defensive Depth
While this defensive unit is by no means weak, it is the weakest link on the team. Davis and Zyrok12 are great pieces to have, but the second pair doesn’t come close to matching the element they bring to the ice. I do think they will hold their own though because although they are weaker in comparison to their own team, they aren’t too weak in comparison to most other teams’ second pairs that we will later touch on. All in all, there’s not much to dislike with this European team.

 

2. United States of America
 

S70’s champions, the Americans will look to take home gold with the same strengths and weaknesses as Europe, though their weaknesses may prove to be more glaring as the tournament progresses.

 

Strength - Forwards and Goalies
Similar to Europe, Team USA has two very capable goaltenders in Wolski and Crawford, who may just be able to mask their team’s flaws with their play. Up front, they have plenty of talent as well, much of it being some of the VHLM’s elite forwards. Gary Tarantino and Thomas Landry II are both in the VHL already and headline a very solid crew of forwards.
 

Weakness - Defense
Simply put, this defensive group is lacking star power and seems a step behind the rest of the team. With an average TPE count of 169, the goalies may have a bit more of a workload on their hands when considering some of the forward groups in the Worlds Juniors this year. That said, three of the four defensemen on this team are S72 players, so they could have more potential to grow as the tournament goes along, especially Chance Rust, who is still a very new player.

 

3. Canada

 

After being the underdogs last season, Canada put up a great performance and ended up losing to Team USA in the gold medal game. This season they see a boost up the power rankings, and only time will tell if they can finish what they started a season ago.

 

Strength - Star Power
Canada’s offence is headlined by prominent names such as Erik Killinger, SS Hornet and Daldo, who make up the team’s first line. Killinger and Daldo both play in the big league, for Toronto and Helsinki respectively. Hornet is undoubtedly one of the top players in the S72 draft, and should also be an important piece. On defence, Hugh Jass is their star defenseman, who will most likely carry a lot of the load for that group. There’s no disputing that Team Canada has some big pieces on board.
 

Weakness - Goalies and Depth
Although Woody McPine has emerged as a top goalie prospect since the S71 Draft, he is still considerably behind the top goalies in this tournament in terms of TPE. The depth behind him isn’t there for Team Canada, so he will be their go-to all tournament. After the stars I mentioned earlier, there isn’t much depth concerning skaters either. Depth could very well be an issue for this team, and the big names will have to prove their worth.
 

4. Asia

 

Not budging from last year’s power rankings is Asia, who look to be a team that will rely on their goaltending if they want to make a run for gold. This contrasts with last season’s team, whose biggest concern going into the tournament was goaltending.

 

Strength - Goalies
As explained above, Asia’s starter, Nicolas Fomba, looks to be a key piece for the team. The rest of the squad doesn’t have the skill of a top team and will turn to him to lock it down when they need it most. Sitting at 238 TPE, Fomba isn’t a superstar, but he is very much capable of being a rock in the crease for his team when they need it.
 

Weakness - Forwards
Now, don’t think that this forward group doesn’t have any good players. Kyl Oferson, last season’s first overall pick, could be a catalyst for Team Asia. Vladimir Shaposhnikov is another solid piece, and Richard Penisson, who leads the VHLM in points, rounds out the forwards above 200 TPE. Even with these three, this team still doesn’t offer much in terms of offensive potential. The third line has an average TPE of 107, which just doesn’t keep up with the depth of the top teams.
 

5. World

After failing to secure a medal in S70, Team World looks to be the biggest underdog in S71.

 

Strength - Forwards
With five forwards above 200 TPE, Team World’s offence really isn’t too bad. They could end up giving teams a run for their money with their scoring, but they don’t have much to fall back on if they struggle. Aleelee Kiak and Pengu are the biggest factors at play here, but they do have some quality support. There isn’t a VHL player in this whole team though, so that lack of star power could hurt them as well.
 

Weakness - Defense
The unit of forwards didn’t look out of place in this tournament at all, but that doesn’t apply to the defence. Half of the defence is below 100 TPE, and Bobby Wyman is just slightly over it. These aren’t bad prospects at all, they just haven’t developed to the level of their competition yet. However, Latrell Mitchell is a clear bright spot with 233 TPE, and impressive numbers in the VHLM this season. If he can do the heavy lifting on the back end, maybe Canada will do better than expected.

 

Good luck to each team, their general managers and their players. It will be an exciting tournament, so make sure to keep up as it progresses with daily updates here on VSN!

 

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[Lefty_S 91]

On 4/18/2020 at 8:22 PM, Patrik Tallinder said:

, and Bobby Wyman is just slightly over it.

What a bum...

[Pengu 87]

Antarctica reppin