Photo: IIHF
Even though the main tournament for the U18 level will only come in a couple of days, it is worth a notice that many promising guys have already played their Worlds. Slovakia, Norway, France, Kazakhstan, Denmark, and Japan took a part in the U18 World Championship of the second-highest division. And there were many players who caught my eyes prior to the 2022 NHL Draft.
Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Team Russia and Team Belarus won’t play in 2022 and it looks like the 2023 U18 Worlds as well so the two best teams from this tournament would have been promoted. As expected, Slovakia won every single game and even though they could have played better, they outscored their opponents 27:11 in five games. Norway only lost to Slovakia as they secured second place just ahead of France, Kazakhstan, Denmark, and Japan, which has been relegated.
But we’re here for the names.
Martin Johnsen
Seriously, we need to talk about Martin Johnsen as one of the best-hidden gems for the 2022 NHL Draft. He was pretty much destroying junior competition in Norway as a 15-year-old so he moved to Sweden a year later and he was the same guy.
In Färjestad there was not a better underaged player on the U20 team and he truly deserved a chance to play in SHL in a few games. In there, he was not good not terrible but what happened at U18 Worlds, was mind-blowing.
I was just asking myself, why I was not talking about him every day. He deserves it. Of course, the level of competition was not superb, but still, there were a couple of high-end talents. He was the best one.
He was centering the first line and you can clearly see why. His vision is outstanding, his greatest weapon is to lure the opposing players to him, delay the action a bit, and then either make a deke, take a shot, or find a completely alone teammate. And that’s how he easily picks up assists (8 in 5 games just at this tournament).
You can see it especially on the power play, where he’s dominant.
But it’s not only about excellence on the power play, it’s about how great he is in the offensive zone. For me, this is probably the best play I have seen this season from the 2022-draft-eligible player. He shows he’s not soft, he stays on his feet after the hit, dekes around another opponent, fakes move, and shoots and scores.
If he’s somehow being overlooked at the draft, I may prosecute all 32 NHL teams for not doing their job properly.
Mats Bakke Olsen
When I speak about Johnsen, I also have to mention his fellow teammate Mats Bakke Olsen. The chemistry of these two reminds me a bit of the connection between Noah Östlund and Jonathan Lekkerimäki, especially from the beginning of the season. Johnsen being the creator (Östlund), Bakke Olsen as the finisher (Lekkerimäki).
The body language of Bakke Olsen is spectacular for a goal-scorer. He’s always facing the goal crease, he’s watching the goalie where he stands and how he moves 24/7. He’s just doing everything he can to put as many pucks to the net as he can.
He wants to be engaged, has a sense of place, and has one of the better one-timers in this class. He scored a lot of goals on the power play whereas a right-handed forward simply belongs to the left circle like Alexander Ovechkin. But he’s not static, he moves up and down to find the best possible spot for scoring a goal.
Adam Sýkora
Yes, Sýkora played only one game at this tournament but he still deserves a mention in this article. He performed in front of more than 60 NHL scouts in a game against Norway and did very well. He scored by a deflection of a shot from Šimon Nemec and also picked up one secondary assist for two points in total.
But more important was his overall game. It was clear he’s pretty mature among his peers from the very first shift. He was strong on the puck, he was not rushing the plays, and was included in every important moment for his team.
Yes, defensively was not that solid but I don’t think it’s a huge obstacle to being drafted. Actually, in my opinion, Sýkora has the biggest probability of being selected among these three players mentioned earlier. Šimon Nemec helped him a lot at the beginning of the season because a lot of scouts visited Nitra just because they wanted to see Nemec but I bet Sýkora caught their eyes pretty quickly and they were making trips to Slovakia not only because of Nemec but also because of Sýkora.
Others
Of course, there were many other players who were successfully trying to impress. If I would name a few names…
Rastislav Eliaš was definitely the best goalie from this class and also was voted as the best goalie of the tournament. Yes, he played for the strongest team but he did look very decent in every game he played in. Sadly, his transition to North America did not go well at all so no safety he will be drafted.
Also, when I mentioned Bakke Olsen and Johnsen earlier, it’s necessary to speak about Kasper Magnussen at least in the part of the honorable mentions. Maybe he has a bigger chance to be selected than Bakke Olsen just because of the country he plays in. Norway could have three drafted players into the NHL in the same year for the third time after 2008 and 1990.