Aside from the juggernauts Hughes+Lafreniere, I'm really liking the play of Oliver Wahlstrom and Ty Smith. Also, not sure how they can say Ryan Merkley is legit 5-11, 170. Must be in skates, if not standing on a box. He looks like he's 5-8, 150 pounds on the ice. He's tiny - like a bantam player out there.
Really? What I like about Smith is how quickly he moves the puck when it's on his stick. He's showing decision making speed that you need in the NHL. Maybe that's the thing I'm most impressed with. He hasn't been an offensive stud or anything, but I like his positioning, poise and timing.
Scoring leaders at the U18 Worlds after the preliminary round.
SOG leaders at the U18 Worlds after the preliminary round.
Quarter-final match-ups are:
CAN/CZE
FIN/BLR
SWE/SVK
RUS/USA
the Wahlstrom kid looks big enough to handle the nhl right out of the draft
I'm going to ask what's probably a stupid question... ho is Maxim Cajkovic?? When is he draft eligible?
20tm UFA/RFA dynasty
Cats: G, A, SOG, STpts, +/-, hits/bs, GAA, Sv%, W+SO
24 Team H2H Pts Cap Dyn
4C 4LW 4RW 6D 1G 4B 27M
G (1) A (1) +/- (.25) PIM (.05) SOG (.05) PPP (.5) HIT (.05) BLK (.05) FOW (.01)
W (1.75) GA (-1) SV (.1) SO (3)
C: Seguin, Kuznetsov, Trocheck, Johansen, Kostin
LW: Benn, Lindblom, Dickinson, Kubalik
RW: Tuch, Fabbri, Bjorkstrand, Terry
D: Klingberg, Chabot, Girard, Spurgeon, C Miller, Theodore, Marino
G: Hellebuyck, Berdin
C: Elvenes, Vorobyev, Spacek, Jones, Eyssimont, Daviddson, Shvyrev
LW: Dorofyev, Koivula, Shalagin, Dugan, Cates, Ranta
RW: Volkov, Fortier, Evans, Blichfeld, Legare, Tieksola
D: Laaksonen, Gilbert, Pilut
G: Samsonov, Sorokin, Knight, Zagidulin
Comparing him to another Czech player who played in Sweden, David Pastrnak, it looks like they have similar point production there. It would probably depend who selects him in the CHL Import Draft, but Sweden seems like a good spot to stay.
*I have not seen Cajkovic play, so I don't know how he compares style-wise to Pasta*
24 Team H2H Pts Cap Dyn
4C 4LW 4RW 6D 1G 4B 27M
G (1) A (1) +/- (.25) PIM (.05) SOG (.05) PPP (.5) HIT (.05) BLK (.05) FOW (.01)
W (1.75) GA (-1) SV (.1) SO (3)
C: Seguin, Kuznetsov, Trocheck, Johansen, Kostin
LW: Benn, Lindblom, Dickinson, Kubalik
RW: Tuch, Fabbri, Bjorkstrand, Terry
D: Klingberg, Chabot, Girard, Spurgeon, C Miller, Theodore, Marino
G: Hellebuyck, Berdin
C: Elvenes, Vorobyev, Spacek, Jones, Eyssimont, Daviddson, Shvyrev
LW: Dorofyev, Koivula, Shalagin, Dugan, Cates, Ranta
RW: Volkov, Fortier, Evans, Blichfeld, Legare, Tieksola
D: Laaksonen, Gilbert, Pilut
G: Samsonov, Sorokin, Knight, Zagidulin
Dynamic offensive winger. I was very impressed by him in the game against Finland. I'm going to re-watch that game after the tournament and I might write some sort of article at DobberProspects about the U18s next week as well... Depending on my schedule, can't promise anything yet.
Obviously he scored 5 points against France which puts him at the top but he's had the other six points in games against Finland (2), Czech Republic (3) and Russia (1), so it's not like he's just scored against easy opponents either. Slovakia has been surprisingly good in this tournament, and Cajkovic is a big reason why. Hasn't been held pointless in any of the games.
I really hope he stays in Sweden next season so that I can watch him throughout the season.
24 Team H2H Pts Cap Dyn
4C 4LW 4RW 6D 1G 4B 27M
G (1) A (1) +/- (.25) PIM (.05) SOG (.05) PPP (.5) HIT (.05) BLK (.05) FOW (.01)
W (1.75) GA (-1) SV (.1) SO (3)
C: Seguin, Kuznetsov, Trocheck, Johansen, Kostin
LW: Benn, Lindblom, Dickinson, Kubalik
RW: Tuch, Fabbri, Bjorkstrand, Terry
D: Klingberg, Chabot, Girard, Spurgeon, C Miller, Theodore, Marino
G: Hellebuyck, Berdin
C: Elvenes, Vorobyev, Spacek, Jones, Eyssimont, Daviddson, Shvyrev
LW: Dorofyev, Koivula, Shalagin, Dugan, Cates, Ranta
RW: Volkov, Fortier, Evans, Blichfeld, Legare, Tieksola
D: Laaksonen, Gilbert, Pilut
G: Samsonov, Sorokin, Knight, Zagidulin