World Juniors: Wild Prospects Shine in August.
The World Juniors has come and gone with Team Canada rolling to a gold medal at the Rogers Centre in Edmonton. The Canadiens posted a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory versus Team Finland in the tournament’s championship gold medal game.
This special summer version of the World Juniors was needed after Covid-19 delayed the tournament for eight months. Some of the best players from around the world (who are not in the NHL) were on display for 12 miraculous days in August.
Among these players are countless NHL draft picks suiting up for the likes of USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. In all, ten countries were invited to compete in the prestigious under-20 tournament. Within that group of elite prospects are eight Minnesota Wild draft picks. The group includes one of the top ranked goaltender prospects in the world, two offensive forwards, and five defensemen. Each player possesses the potential to find their way to the ice in St. Paul sometime in the future.
We are not claiming to be experts here at Pulltab Sports, but we will claim the ability to speculate at so many different levels. With that said, we decided to handout some grades for the tournament. We chose to rate the players on a 1 to 10 scale based on their performance.
Grading the Prospects
G – Jesper Wallstedt (SWE)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft First Round (#20 overall)
All Minnesota Wild fans should be excited about this 19-year-old. He carried Team Sweden on his back to capture the bronze medal. The Swedes offense was nonexistent, but Wallstedt’s game kept his club in every game regardless of its offensive futility. He voiced frustration with his own play in the preliminaries.
The Wild’s future in net was tested heavily by Team USA in the qualifying round. Despite stopping 38 shots, he suffered a 3-2 defeat that didn’t sit well.
“I think I betrayed the whole team, all the players, all the staff,” Wallstedt said after the game. “I disappointed a whole country with this loss, it’s all on me, on myself.”
How did he respond? He allowed one goal in a 2-1 victory over Latvia in the quarterfinals. His 12 saves didn’t seem like much, but Team Sweden was snake bit and struggled to score against a surprisingly stingy Latvian squad. Wallstedt’s timely saves gave his group confidence and the time they needed to secure the game-winning goal at 11:11 of the third.
He continued to display great poise, while making some saves look routine with his exceptional positioning. In the medal round, he posted three straight games with only one goal against. After the Latvian victory, Team Sweden fell in the semifinals 1-0 to Finland. Wallstedt stopped 27 of 28, while his team’s offense was completely shutdown by the Fins. In the bronze medal game, Wallstedt stymied Team Czechia, again stopping 27 of 28 and taking the 3-1 victory.
In his final three games, he stopped 66 of 69 when it mattered the most – a .957 save percentage. He showed he is a gamer and will hold himself highly accountable. This kid could be very good come springtime.
Not only did the IIHF agree, but the media also was a big fan of the Swedish netminder’s play. He was named the Best Goaltender by the IIHF Directorate. The media also voted Wallstedt to the All-Star team, along with teammate Emil Andrae.
GRADE: 9 out of 10
F – Liam Ohgren (SWE)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft First Round (#19 overall)
The 18-year-old left wing has great tools, but statistically he didn’t show much. In seven games, Ohgren set up one goal for his only point at World Juniors. A moment that stands out took place in Sweden’s quarterfinal matchup with Latvia.
Just 1:29 into the final period, Ohgren took possession of the puck along the left wing of the Latvian zone. Forward Martins Lavins caught Ohgren with his head down and flattened him. Lavins was issued a game misconduct for an illegal check to the head. After getting crushed along the boards, Oghren got up and made it back to the bench. Sweden followed up his incredible courage and squandered the major power play. They escaped an upset to Latvia with a goal at 11:11 of the third by Emil Andrae for the 2-1 win.
GRADE: 6 out of 10
To help understand the grades handed out for Wild prospects Ryan O’Rourke and Carson Lambos, first take into consideration how much ice time they each received. O’Rourke was limited, but at least he was dressed for the games, albeit a seventh defenseman. Lambos was used sparingly, literally. With these two getting limited time, it must speak wonders to the talent on the Team Canada’s backend. They won the gold, so you can’t really dispute the coaches thinking on this.
D – Ryan O’Rourke (CAN)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft Second Round (#39 overall)
O’Rourke pictured left.
Ryan O’Rourke suited up as the seventh defenseman for Team Canada throughout World Juniors. Having O’Rourke as your seventh defender on your depth chart is a luxury only someone like Team Canada can enjoy. Through seven games, he was a +2 with one assist. That’s efficiency!
GRADE: 7 out of 10
D – Carson Lambos (CAN)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft First Round (#26 overall)
Carson Lambos played in Canada’s qualifying game against Latvia, a 5-2 victory for his squad. He was paired up with Lukas Cormier on the team’s second “D” unit. A spot otherwise filled by Chicago prospect Ethan del Mastro.
Everyone knows reps are the key to success. Lambos is a good hockey player and will do some exciting things this season. His grade is based on a small sample size.
GRADE: 3 out of 10
D - Brock Faber (USA)
Drafted by LA Kings in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft Second Round (#45 overall)
In giving up Kevin Fiala this offseason, Minnesota scored a big win with Brock Faber. He captained Team USA to a 4-0 start through the qualifiers. In five outings, Faber was a +10. Keep in mind, Faber was paired with Luke Hughes as the top defense pairing for the Americans. The two were responsible for shutting down the top line of their opponents, as well as helping transition the offense. Unfortunately, Team USA laid an egg in their quarterfinal match with Czechia, losing 4-2.
Faber shows so much maturity for a someone that turns 20 in late August. The leadership quality is an excellent intangible. Not surprising he comes from an amazing Minnesota family that has endured some challenges of their own. The Maple Grove native has a younger sister with special needs, leading to an incredible bond between the two. These stories of adversity already make him a hero in my book. Watch this.
GRADE: 9 out of 10
D - Jack Peart (USA)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft Second Round (#54 overall)
In the same draft that Minnesota landed Jesper Wallstedt and Carson Lambos in the first round, the Wild scored Peart, a Grand Rapids, MN native with pick 54. The smooth skating defender set up two goals in four games with Team USA. The 2021 Minnesota Mr. Hockey recipient sat out Team USA’s 7-1 win over Switzerland.
GRADE: 6 out of 10
D – David Spacek (CZE)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft Fifth Round (#153 overall)
Some of the biggest news out of this tournament was Czechia’s upset win over Team USA in the quarterfinal round. Spacek was a big part of the defense core that frustrated Team USA and essentially contained the high-flying American offense. Spacek was paired up with Stanislav Svozil throughout the tournament as Czechia’s second defense battery.
He picked up one assist in seven games, helping Team Czechia to an appearance in the bronze medal game. He was named one of the top players for Czechia.
GRADE: 7 out of 10
F – Servac Petrovsky (SLV)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft Sixth Round (#185 overall)
This kid turned 18 on August 10 and finished with three points in four games for Team Slovakia. Which included a goal and an assist in Slovakia’s tournament-opening, 5-4 loss to Czechia. Did you know that Team Slovakia only has three NHL drafted players on its roster? Slovakia was outmatched basically before they dropped the puck. With plenty of ice time, it was good to see Petrovsky collect some points even though he played for a team that was outscored 27-11 in the preliminary round.
He was named one of his team’s best players in the tournament.
GRADE: 7 out of 10
There are two other Minnesota draft picks who were unable to play in the tournament. With the recent conflict in Ukraine, Team Russia was not invited to participate. That left Danila Yurov and Marat Khusnutdinov back home.
RW – Danila Yurov (Russia)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft First Round (#24 overall)
C – Marat Khusnutdinov (Russia)
Drafted by Minnesota in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft Second Round (#37 overall)
With that said, most NHL prospects will be reporting to NHL training camps across North America this September. Minnesota Wild fans should familiarize themselves with this talented group of players and get ready to watch them start their careers in the State of Hockey.
