Watching the Prospects

Apparently the Stanley Cup triumph of the Detroit Red Wings is still reverberating throughout the hockey world.

You may recall that the Wings won the Cup with a team loaded with Swedish talent, including captain Nicklas Lidstrom, centre Henrik Zetterberg, winger Johan Franzen, winger Mikael Samuelsson, winger Tomas Holmstrom and defenceman NIklas Kronwall. No team had ever won an NHL championship with so many Swedish-born players or a European captain, let alone a Swedish one.

Today, the NHL came out with its mid-term rankings, which are still divided into North American and European lists for reasons no one can quite explain since they all go into the same draft.

The North American version, predictably, had John Tavares at the top, while the Euro list predictably had Swedish defenceman Victor Hedman rated first.

No surprises there.

What was surprising, however, is that on the Euro list, the next seven highest rated players are also Swedes, including speedy winger Magnus Svensson Paajarvi, a star on the Swedish national junior team at the recent world junior championships and a player seen as superior to Hedman in some quarters.

That's unprecedented for one country. In all, 11 of the top 15 European prospects are Swedes, and 16 of the top 25. The top Euro goalie is also from Sweden.

It's a domination of European prospects list that's even greater than Canada's domination of the North American list, a remarkable accomplishment given that Swedish hockey had seemingly been downgraded in the minds of NHL talent hunters over the past decade. Since the Sedin twins went second and third in the 1999 draft, Swedish teenagers had been largely absent from the top 10 draft NHL draft picks every year, with only a couple of exceptions.

Last year, there were no Swedes drafted until defenceman Erik Karlsson went 15th to Ottawa - Senators fans should be happy with that one, because Karlsson looks like a beaut - and only three in the first round.

"I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're obviously doing something right," said Canadian Olympic executive director Steve Yzerman in assessing the Swedish junior team at the world juniors.

Maybe this is just a blip year for the Swedes, and certainly, there will be no shortage of those who will note that the Swedish juniors were no match for Team Canada in the world junior final. But while the Russians, Czechs and Finns seem to be less attractive in the eyes of NHL Central Scouting this year, and Switzerland and Germany have all but dropped off the radar screen altogether as far as NHL prospects, the Swedes are all the rage. Perhaps others are starting to see what the Red Wings have been seeing, and benefiting from, for years.

Going for It All

OTTAWA--To beat the champ, you've gotta knock him out, the old maxim goes.

The Swedish national junior team, however, seemed to think it could walk into a Canadian rink and win a split decision with jabs and footwork, and that proved not even close to enough in a 5-1 loss to Canada in the gold medal game tonight.

Dustin Tokarski, the Canadian goalie so many slagged in recent days, stopped 39 shots in a terrific performance. John Tavares was named tournament MVP, and a Canadian team that couldn't defend in earlier games played a very solid defensive game to easily take the gold.

Former Maple Leaf coach Pat Quinn has now secured himself an impressive chapter in Canada's international hockey history by winning gold at the Olympics, the world under-18s and now the world juniors as well.

If the rampant speculation in this town proves correct, it might also land him a job very soon with the Ottawa Senators.

Canada's 2-0 lead after 40 periods expanded to 3-0 early in the second on a power play goal, and that was about it. Two empty-netters salted it away, and an expected confrontation between the two best NHL draft eligible players, Tavares and Sweden's Victor Hedman, simply didn't emerge. Hedman, really, wasn't much of a force on the Swedish blueline.

That's now five golds in a row for Canada at the world juniors, with two of the next three events also to be held in Canada.

Canada went 6-0 at this year's event, and will go for six golds in a row next winter in Saskatoon and Regina.

Surprisingly Nasty

OTTAWA--Certainly more nastiness in this gold medal clash than your garden variety Canada-Sweden game, wouldn't you say?

Both Swedish goalie Jacob Markstrom and defenceman Victor Hedman are being showered with boos, Markstrom for his Dominik Hasek-like theatrics and Hedman for coming to the rescue of Markstrom after a collision with Angelo Esposito and mugging the Canadian without being penalized.

The home ice advantage is surely playing a role, but the bad news for Team Canada is that for most of the second period it seemed to egg them on into taking a bunch of dumb penalties. Only a weirdly passive Swedish power play that seemed more inclined to rag the puck than score and some excellent work by Canadian goalie Dustin Tokarski kept the Swedes off the scoreboard.

Stefan Della Rovere, identified as a potential problem in the first period, seems unlikely to see any ice the rest of the way after taking yet another in a long series of stupid penalties, this one for obviously interfering with Markstrom as the Swedish goalie headed to the bench on a delayed penalty call to Canada.

Esposito, meanwhile, is clearly feeling it. He made it 2-0 at 4:06 of the second with another pretty solo effort, this time fighting his way past Swedish defenceman David Rundblad out of the corner before lifting a backhand over Markstrom's glove.

No Canadian, its fair to say, has elevated his reputation more in this tournament from where it was before the event started as much as Esposito.

The on-ice trash-talking visibly increased in that period, with the Swedes determined not to be bullied by the Canadians. While his teammates were taking five straight penalties, Tokarski made a series of excellent stops. Desperate to get something going, Swedish forward David Ullstrom resorted to slamming on the brakes in the Canadian crease and showering Tokarski with ice chips in the final minute of play.

Swedish forward Mikael Backlund, meanwhile, took his second dumb penalty of the game as time expired, an interference foul on Esposito far away from the play that will give Canada a power play going into the third.

Talk to you when it's all over.

Canadians Very Strong in the First

OTTAWA--Maybe another goal. Or two.

Otherwise, Pat Quinn couldn't have asked for a better first period from his Team Canada juniors tonight.

The shots were 13 for Canada to 12 for Sweden, but that misrepresents what actually happened. Canada scored at the 38 second mark and had conservatively six other very good scoring chances.

The Swedes? Maybe one, a wrist shot from Magnus Svensson Paajarvi from the mid-slot. Otherwise, Dustin Tokarski simply needed to be solid in the Canadian net and control his rebounds, which he did very well. The yellow-clad squad had lots of offensive zone time, but that didn't translate into top-flight opportunities. In all, the Canadian defensive positioning was much stronger than it was against the Russians, its puck support was improved and in general the Canadians weren't allowing the Swedes to open up the ice quite as much.

Swedish goalie Jacob Markstrom, meanwhile, had to have an outstanding first period. Canada led 1-0 after 20 minutes after P.K. Subban shovelled in a loose puck in the blue paint, a shot Markstrom didn't really have a chance on. Otherwise, he didn't a terrific job, although he looked rather silly taking a dramatic flop in his crease after he was contacted by his own player, Sebastien Erixon.

Angelo Esposito might have been Canada's best forward in the first, and from the beginning of the tournament until tonight has probably been the team's most improved skater. John Tavares, Esposito's linemate, drew the roughing penalty on Swedish centre Mikael Backlund with only 22 seconds gone in the first and was in general much more of a presence in the first period than he'd been against Russia on Saturday night.

Stefan Della Rovere, meanwhile, landed a couple of good hits, but again found himself in the penalty box with an unnecessary high-sticking penalty. How can Quinn keep playing this kid if the game stays close?

Getting Ready

OTTAWA--The AC/DC music is pounding, the warmup is ongoing with Team Canada in brilliant red and Sweden in its traditional yellow and, oh yes, John Tavares is going to try to play a gold medal game while putting the fact the Oshawa Generals have apparently traded him to London out of his mind.

Nice. They couldn't stop this leaking out for one more day? The OHL trade deadline, after all, isn't until Friday. This is not the way it was supposed to work when rules were changed after goalie Steve Mason learned last year on the morning of a semifinal game at the world junior championships that he'd been dealt from one OHL team to another.

Some might say this shouldn't distract a player when he's about to play in probably the biggest game of his young life.

But these are teenagers, not hardened vets. Any way you cut it, Tavares has to be thinking about all the little details he has to take care of to pull up stakes from the junior town he's called home for almost four years.

The whole thing stinks. And its not just Tavares. Winger Chris DiDomenico will be officially dealt from Saint John to Drummondville tomorrow, a much greater geographical move than Tavares is facing.

These are CHL teams making these moves, teams that, at least in theory, should be doing all they can to support the national junior team. Yes, they already do by loaning their players to Team Canada for a month, but having these kids forced to process this info while they should be allowed to concentrate for just one more day on winning gold is really unfortunate.

We'll see how it plays out. This much is clear; after giving up five goals in the first period of the past two games, Canada must get out to a more consistent, smarter start tonight against the Swedes.

See you after the first period.

Big Night

OTTAWA

Through three years of disappointment, Angelo Esposito never gave up on himself or the hockey dreams of his country.

"I'm always rooting for Canada," he said today, referring to being cut three times from the national junior team before making this year. “I always wanted to be here. Now I am.”

“Here,” of course, is at the world junior hockey championships playing for gold tonight against Sweden at Scotiabank Plaza before another crowd of 20,000 customers or more desperately hoping to see Canada win for the fifth straight year. Esposito scored a spectacular shorthanded goal in the semifinal shootout victory over Russia, and the Canadians will need those kinds of big plays from their skilled players to emerge victorious tonight.

“It think we’ve been building up all tournament,” said Esposito. “Tonight’s the final step.”

It was low-key in the Canadian camp this morning, with the only news, really, being that winger Zach Boychuk again missed practice with his wonky ankle. Still, Boychuk is expected to play, much-criticized Dustin Tokarski will be in net and the unbeaten Swedes, at least in Pat Quinn’s mind, are the favourites.

“Going in, everyone said the Swedes were the team to beat,” said Quinn, who took over the team in August after Benoit Groulx stepped down. “Well, we’re standing there right with them.”

Canada’s Olympic executive director, Steve Yzerman, dropped by the Canadian dressing room this morning and sat in on post-practice meetings with Quinn.

“In Game 7s, or Stanley Cup finals, or tournament finals, the key is to find a way to be calm and relaxed,” said Yzerman, who played on a badly injured knee to help Canada win gold at the Salt Lake Olympics seven years ago.

He doubted whether being at home with be a difference-maker for Canada.

“In general, I’ve found in these situations there’s not a lot to home-ice advantage,” he said.

The Swedes have been favoured to win in Canada before and failed. Back in 1999, the Sedin brothers were supposed to lift Sweden to gold and instead the Swedes lost the bronze medal game to Slovakia.

Still, this is a strong, experienced Swedish team that received help from the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings before the tournament when winger Oscar Moller was permitted to play by GM Dean Lombardi. Moller is the Swedish captain, a feisty, dogged presence up front, while Mattias Tedenby, Magnus Svensson Paajarvi and Mikael Backlund are shifty one-on-one players.

The Swedes have given up only six goals in the tournament. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom, a Florida draft pick, has been excellent, and its worth remembering that when Canada beat the Swedes 4-2 in a pre-tourney game, backup goalie Mark Owuya was in goal for Tre Kronor.

“The team that makes the fewest errors will win,” said Quinn. “You don’t win this game in the afternoon nap, and you don’t win it in the warmup. You win it by playing all night long. So save your energy for that.”

Dumb Traditions

It was interesting how the bench incident in the Canada-U.S. game on New Year's Eve just sort of disappeared.

Canada, knowing Chris DiDomenico was taunting the U.S. bench after a goal just as Jimmy Hayes had done the same to the Canadian bench earlier, certainly didn't want any investigation, one that might have got Stefan Della Rovere suspended for his actions.

The U.S. meanwhile, didn't want tournament officials trying to figure out with American player on the bench stuck his stick in DiDomenico's face. That player might also have been suspended.

So both countries chose silence, and the tournament directorate just let it vanish. Fair enough, I suppose. Rick Nash was once able to hook a referee with his stick in an IIHF tournament and get away with it.

But here's one issue worth exploring. Where in the world did this dopey tradition of a parade to the bench for high fives all around after every goal begin?

It's childish. Watching NHL players do it like they were peewee players is laughable. What ever happened to the great tradition of the game in which a goal was scored, there would be a celebration near the net, and then they'd just line up and drop the puck again?

Having teams skate right in front of the opponents bench after a goal is simply taunting on a team-wide scale. Moreover, in a heated game, you're just asking for trouble. Basically, you're allowing teams to celebrate twice - once in a little hug session, once with a fly-by for high fives at their bench.

It's the dumbest tradition in hockey, and hockey doesn't need this stupidity. Bobby Orr never did it. The great Oiler teams of the 1980s never it. Where it came from isn't clear, but I wish it would disappear as fast as it came.

Yet Another One-Sided Result

In a world junior tournament decided by one lopsided result after another, we've come to expect some ugly scores.

But nobody expected the usually powerful Russians to be at the wrong end of one.

The Swedes pounded the Russians 5-0 today at the Ottawa Civic Centre, opening up a 4-0 lead in the first period and coasting to an easy win, clinching first place in Pool B in the process and earning a bye into one of Saturday's semfinals.

The Russians received awful first period goaltending from Danila Alistratov, who coughed up four goals on 11 shots before being replaced by Vadim Zhelobnyuk. The Russians came into the tournament carrying the tragedy of playing without forward Alexei Cherepanov, who died tragically in a KHL game in the fall, and looked spiritless and non-competitive on the day.

Nikita Filatov, dangerous earlier in the tourney, had a chance to score early but otherwise was held in check by the Swedes, who got a 31-save performance from goalie Jacob Markstrom, a Florida Panthers draft pick, for the win.

The lone sour note for the Swedes on the day was an apparent shoulder injury suffered by captain Oscar Moller. The Los Angeles Kings prospect was crunched into the end boards early in the second, left the ice hunched over in pain and did not return.

The Swedes, losers in last year's gold medal game to Canada, appear to be good bets to return to the final. They dropped a 4-2 result to Canada in an exhibition tilt last month, but have been finding their feet on North American soil ever since.

Mr. Harper Goes to Scotiabank Plaza

Canada’s No. 1 hockey fan? Or an embattled politician who knows when it’s a good idea to rub shoulders with increasingly famous teenage hockey players?

You be the judge. Prime Minister Stephen Harper did visit with members of Canada’s national junior team this morning before practice amidst a forest of Blackberrys, guys and gals talking into their sleeves, pistol-packing security types and even a bomb-sniffing dog. Harper gave the team a puck with his signature on it along with a five-minute chat, while the junior nats gave him a red Team Canada jersey with his name along the shoulders.

Pretty standard stuff.

Can’t tell you what the PM thought about all of this as there was more furtiveness to his visit than even Mats Sundin’s Garbo-like arrival in Vancouver yesterday. Harper was barely seen and certainly not heard from, so his thoughts on the Canadian goalkeeping situation or whether Angelo Esposito should stay on John Tavares’ line were not available.

But you can look for pictures of a smiling Harper with Tavares, Cody Hodgson and the boys. That’s what this was all about. Don’t think the junior nats needed the pep talk.

Other questions from this week’s WJC goings-on:

Q: Damien,

Can you please explain why goal differential is so important? I don’t understand how it can be when there are no ties in the round robin portion of the tournament.

Dave Mooradian

A: There are no ties in the game, but you could have had three-way ties in the standings, although that’s no longer possible. That’s when goal differential could have kicked in.

Q: Hey Damien,

I am just curious, what's the knock on Taylor Hall? He wasn't selected for Team Canada juniors. Is it because of his age?

Mike Shelley, Moffat

A: Doubt there’s any knock at all. This is a tournament for 19-year-olds, and the competition for spots this year was fierce, even with eight eligible players in the NHL. It may have simply been that the skillfull Hall didn’t offer an element the Canadian team lacked with players like John Tavares, Cody Hodgson, Jordan Eberle, etc. Hall will undoubtedly get his shot next year.

Q: Mr. Cox,

Two parts:

1) Why doesn't the Junior tourney just clip down to a four team tournament? Maybe with some sort of qualifying tournament or games some months before the big show. It seems pointless to invite filler to get demolished by the top four.

2) Why would Canada run up the score to 15 against a hapless opponent? I remember tourney's and games I was in, even at the Junior level, where the coach would tell us to make the extra pass, and hold off a little when destroying a team. In some instances, the scorekeeper would stop putting the goals up on the board. The point was to show some class, and give the opponent some dignity.

Ian Donnelly, Toronto

A: With four teams, you’d have a hard time putting together a decent schedule for television, and TV numbers and revenue helps drive this event. It’s barely a tournament at that number. Eight teams seems to be the number that makes the most sense. Don’t forget, there is a B Pool tournament in the fall/early winter in which teams not currently in the A Pool can qualify for next year.

In terms of running up the score, well, at that point they had to because of the silly goal differential rule. Best suggestion I’ve heard is to only allow teams to add a maximum five goals, so getting to 15 would be pointless. That said, you’ve got to play the games, and having Team Canada try not to score would have been more boring than watching them try to score as many as possible against the hapless Kazakhs.

Q: Hi Damien,

If you were the Leafs and picking first and the draft was tomorrow, who do you take and why? From a Leafs perspective (yes, I dare to dream). I'd say Tavares. He looks really good and we already have our rock on defence Schenn. Or would you take Victor Hedman for a twin towers on defence? That's tempting too.

Jason Johnson, Toronto

A: I wouldn’t base the choice on what the Leafs have now, that’s for sure. You take the best player, regardless of position, and besides, the Leafs lack depth at either position. Right now, I couldn’t say which would be the better pick. Both look like big-time players that would play on your roster for years to come. A much tougher choice will come at No. 3, with a host of players competing to be the player taken after Tavares and Hedman.

I’m not trying to be evasive. But I just don’t have a strong preference between Tavares and Hedman at this point. The only thing I would say is that 6-foot-6 defenceman who can skate and move the puck are rare indeed.

Q: Damien,

Lots of positive words about Pat Quinn's "stabilizing influence" with the Juniors. I still feel that although he is an excellent coach, that the head coach of the Junior team should be seen as a developmental position. A young coach who shows the abilities to pull together groups on a short schedule and win gold in this tournament, and then go on to have success in the pros would be a logical Olympic head coach candidate. I hope this does not begin a trend of brining in older out-of-work NHL coaches for the junior team instead of treating this tournament for what it should be - an opportunity to develop people who can contribute to National success at the highest level.

How do you weigh in on this topic?

John B., Brampton

A: The job of the Canadian junior coach isn’t to develop players in a two-week window. It’s too win the gold, period. You bring in the coach that gives you the best chance to win, and in this case, with Benoit Groulx quitting the job late in August, Quinn was probably the best choice given his success with the under-18 program. But I don’t think this is the start of a tread – it was more of any emergency situation.

Q: Hi Damien,

James Van Riemsdyk of the U.S. jr's looks like a player with a real good NHL career ahead of him. I understand he's a Philly prospect. I know the Flyers were willing to give up a rather large package for Tomas Kaberle last year. Do you think they'd still be interested in Kaberle for Van Riemsdyk and a first rounder? Any idea if Kaberle is ready to waive that no trade, or if this is a Burke style trade? Am I dreaming in technicolour when I picture the Leafs actually gaining these type of young promising players (as they obviously seem dead set against getting a shot at either of the two great ones available in the draft).

Bradley Meldrew, Toronto

A: I think Van Riemsdyk is precisely the kind of prospect the Leafs would love to land in exchange for Kaberle, Nik Antropov or one of their veteran players. Whether they can pull that off depends on a variety of factors, and you can ask the same about whether Minnesota might be willing to sacrifice Colton Gillies to get a veteran or whether Montreal would consider dealing away P.K. Subban if they could enhance their Stanley Cup chances. I believe Kaberle and Pavel Kubina will waive their no-trades, and Burke’s ability to translate those players into assets for the future will be his first major test as Leaf hockey boss.

Instead of his regular Thursday hockey mail bag, Damien Cox is taking your questions and comments about junior hockey and will answer a selection all week in his blog. Whether it relates to the Maple Leafs, Team Canada, or any European hotshots, send a note to Damien and check back every day for the answers. Click here to send Damien a question.

Get Ready For Another Senseless Slaughter

If this was women's international hockey, there would be no shortage of opinions this morning that it was a joke, that the scores and the nature of competition was making a mockery of the sport, that only a few of the teams involved really have a change to win it all and so the entire competition should be scrapped.

Watching Canada romp to victories of 8-1 and 15-0 in its first two games at the world junior championships over the weekend has been, to be charitable, anything but interesting. You can expect more of the same tonight against the Germans, with a New Year's Eve tilt against the Americans likely to be Canada's first confrontation with a meaningful opponent.

Throw in the three pre-tourney games Canada captured by a combined score of 18-5 over Sweden, Finland and Slovakia, and you have a gap between the world's top junior teams and the lesser countries that appears to be growing.

Not unlike the women's game.

Really, we're back to where we were about 15-20 years ago with the world juniors. Back then, it was countries like Switzerland and Germany taking one-sided beatings at the hands of Canada, Russia and Sweden. Both those countries got better, and the Swiss even captured a bronze medal a decade ago in Helsinki.

But now the Swiss aren't even in the A Pool any more, and the Germans don't seem to be making signficant progress. Ditto for Slovakia, which appeared a few years ago to be a country on the verge of joining the top echelon of teams, and now the Czech program seems to have dipped since last winning gold in 2001. The notion that former Soviet republics like Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine would quickly develop into modern hockey powers based seems to have been ill-founded.

Instead of his regular Thursday hockey mail bag, Damien Cox is taking your questions and comments about junior hockey and will answer a selection all week in his blog. Whether it relates to the Maple Leafs, Team Canada, or any European hotshots, send a note to Damien and check back every day for the answers. Click here to send Damien a question.

Canada or Russia (in its various forms) have won 16 of the past 20 world junior tournaments, which some might argue makes essentially this a two-team competition. That said, both Sweden and the U.S. appear to have gold medal-worthy squads in Ottawa this year, and the Swedes were in the final last year, so a four-team competition is probably more accurate. By the time this competition gets to the playoff round, it should still be well worth watching.

Sadly, the advent of under-17 and under-18 world championships, rather than helping other nations become more competitive with the major world powers, has instead had the unintended effect of making the better nations even better.

It's time for Canada, and the IIHF, to start figuring out some answers to this problem. In fact, with the tournament not set to return to Europe at all until 2013, there's a danger that this competition will lose its lustre as an international event - in some countries it never had it - and instead come to be seen as a tournament that can only be sold in Canada or U.S. cities bordering on Canada and is filled with lopsided scores and uneven competition.

This much seems clear. Expanding to 12 teams from the current format of 10 teams is not the answer. Can't imagine the folks who bought tickets for yesterday's 15-0 demolition of Kazakhstan feel like they got their money's worth.

Since the Open Ice Summit of 1999, Canada has re-focused its hockey efforts on skill and skill development, and the results have been impressive. A decade ago, Canadian junior organizers would never have dreamed of icing a team like this year's that has little size and few bangers but is dominated by smaller, faster and highly skilled players. Where once Canada was all about the dump-and-chase, it's clear Canadian teams have as much skill as any other country now that the game has been able to breathe a bit in this country.

The dinosaurs aren't gone, of course. But they're a little less dominant, although now you can hear them beating their chests, saying that critics who ever said there was anything lacking in Canada's approach to the sport have been proven wrong.

Nonsense. The Open Ice Summit marked a change in Canada's attitude to the game, and now we're developing more high-end skilled players than ever before. NHL teams looking for players to run their power play no longer have to hunt down a group of Europeans - Canadians can do the job nicely. Junior teams around the country are less reliant on imports for skilled players than was once the case.

Changes in the sport and its rules have also opened the doors for a different approach to the game, and Canada, by being willing to admit 10 years ago that it needed to rethink its approach, has benefitted enormously, particularly at the junior level.

Problem is, what the world junior championships did not need, really, was for Canada to get better. It needed a bunch of other countries to catch up, and that's just not happening.