Skilled defensemen and 2018 draft eligibles shine.
Jimmy Hamrin attended the U18 5-Nations tournament in Sundsvall, Sweden and provides notes.
Josh Norris scores in overtime versus Russia in the U18 Five Nations tournament. Photo courtesy of USNTDP Madeléne Grahn, Pucksnack.com
SUNDSVALL. Sweden hosted Finland, Czech Republic, Russia and USA in a preparing tournament for the U18 WJC in April.
The host team brought a squad that was close to their best available, only missing Rasmus Dahlin and Emil Bemstrom. Sweden played some nice hockey and 2018 draft eligibles such as Isac Lundestrom, Jacob Olofsson and Lukas Wernblom started the tournament impressively. Olofsson (born 2000) took nicely to the role of a big two way center and Wernblom (2000), a smallish but gritty and really smart sniper, showed some flashes of elite talent. The latter scored a highlight reel goal in the first game against Czech Republic. Lundestrom is probably the most skilled and offensively gifted Swedish forward in his age group (1999). He already plays in the SHL and should be a first round candidate next year. Most of the best skilled Swedish ‘99-forwards lack either the speed or the size to be considered elite talents. Rickard Hugg had four points and worked hard in all three zones. He is a good two-way player that played on both power play and penalty kill units but does not possess the standout skills to be a top prospect for the upcoming draft, projecting as more of a mid to late round selection. Forwards Fabian Zetterlund and Lucas Elvenes were the offensive leaders for Sweden’s team. They are both creative in the offensive zone but lacking elite potential in their skating. Elvenes is good at travelling with the puck at this level but the short strides in his skating puts the question mark on his skating potential against better players. By the end of the tournament it was highly touted defensemen Timothy Liljegren, Filip Westerlund and most of all Erik Brannstrom that impressed the most. Brannstrom was tremendous with great skating, balance and high end skills. He dominated on the Swedish power play and was instrumental in the last two games for his country. He could be a big riser in the draft this June. Perhaps his modest size scares off some scouts but if you look at his speed and skills combined with the strength he has to withstand hits and his movement along the boards with the puck and in tight situations, the size no longer seems as much of an issue.
Finland left most of their top guys at home with a lot of them playing in North America. Top ranked goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had a tough tournament letting in 14 goals in two games. The big goalie showed some flashes of promise but he did not have much help in front of him in those two games. Joni Ikonen was by far the most dangerous Finnish player in the event. He carried their offensive play and he led most of the Finnish rushes and showed some finishing ability to boot. Ikonen is a sniper with some nice hands and good skating. He showed good offensive vision and the ability to create chances as well, most prevalent when he led the power play. Ikonen played with the Finland captain Aarne Talvitie. Talvitie also performaned well in the tournament. He is a strong player with a decent shot. He worked hard, both offensively and defensively. The more highly ranked talent Jesse Koskenkorva showed some smartness and skills but lacks the speed to suggest NHL potential in his game. He was not on the top line and had trouble in getting his offensive game going.
The Czech Republic was a fun team to watch. I was most impressed by Filip Zadina (2018 draft eligible), a creative forward with a great wrist shot. He showed a skillset suggestive of an early first rounder in the 2018 draft. Highly ranked for 2017, Martin Necas was good and sometimes gave off the impression that he could do anything he wanted on the ice. He has such great speed and skill. Unfortunately for him, the thing is that he did not end up doing all that much. He did not prevail as much I would like to see at this level. He played too much in the perimeter areas to be truly effective. The Czechs had good goaltending by both Jiri Patera and Tomas Vomacka. In their defensive group, Jakub Galvas showed some good puck-movement skills at times. Center Filip Chytil looks to be a solid NHL prospect as well. He is a smart player with nice vision with good enough marks in every area of his game.
Sadly, the high ranked Russian forward Klim Kostin is out for the season and did not play in this tournament. Instead, a defenseman by the name of Veniamin Baranov impressed me the most, a steady defenseman who played a really tough and sacrificing game. He also showed good puck skills, a good first pass and great puck control. The team did not play an entertaining style of play, unfortunately. As a team, they almost never forechecked their opponent and just tried to create traps in the neutral zone to create turnovers. They had a lot of speedy forwards but none of them really stood out as elite talents for me. I liked Mikhail Bitsadze (2018 eligible). He has smooth hands and showed some flash in his game. The best scorer for Russia in the tournament was Pavel Shen. He demonstrated a good hockey IQ and was opportunistic in the offensive zone. Kirill Slepets also was among the most active forwards on the team. He is a speedy winger with good hands and a promising overall skillset.
Brady Tkachuk, USNTDP Photo by Rena Laverty/USA Hockey
Team USA, which ultimately won the tournament after a six-round shootout win over Sweden in the final, had a defenseman who really shined as well. Quinn Hughes (2018 draft eligible) was at times mesmerizing to watch. The 5-9” defenseman could fly on the ice and played a strong offensive game and was great in carrying the play. He was probably the best player in the whole tournament, scoring three goals and adding three helpers as well. Hughes skates fast with ease and control without seemingly needing to use much energy in doing so. The number one clutch player in the tournament was Joshua Norris. He scored a late game winner against Russia, he tied the final against Sweden with three seconds left in regulation and scored the game winning shootout goal in that game as well. He had some nice help from both Brady Tkachuk (2018 draft eligible) and Grant Mismash. This younger Tkachuk brother looks to play a style of hockey much like his brother, now starring with the Calgary Flames. He showed some grittiness but also great puck skills for a big player. He had some impressive set ups including a behind the back assist on Norris’ late game winner against Russia. Mismash, a center with smooth hands and good hockey IQ, was also among the very best players in the tournament.
Grant Mismash, USNTDP. Photo by Rena Laverty/USA Hockey
Mismash showed shades of elite talent in his puck skills and smarts and looks like an interesting player for a late first round or second round pick in the upcoming draft. Another forward that showed some promise in his game was Scott Reedy. He had some nice feeds on the power play and looked to be a creative player. He is also close to an elite skater. USA also had some hard defensive defensemen that played a good physical game. Phil Kemp, Tommy Miller and Tyler Inamoto all played hard and could move the puck as well. USA is the only team that train together all year and played a fast game and the team’s passing game was very impressive and a pleasure to watch. With that in mind it is difficult to say how some of the players would have fit in to a team that did not click.
To sum it up, by the looks of this tournament the modern hockey game will continue to give us talented puck moving defensemen as a big part of the future of the sport. Most of the standout players truly were defensemen in this event. We might even see a change in more smallish defensemen stepping in to the big league in the future although good size will always provide an advantage. The tournament in general had some great games played at a high pace. Many of the 2018 eligibles really took advantage of their opportunity to showcase themselves as interesting players moving forward after this summer’s draft.