World Junior Hockey Championships Thread

[skatingtripods]

Since we've had a little college discussion, the US's best college-aged players are playing the World Juniors up in Calgary and Edmonton.

US currently up 9-2 end of 2 against Denmark. Play Finland at 3:30 on Wednesday, the Czechs at 3:30 on Friday, the Canadians at 8 on Saturday night. All games are being streamed live on NHL.com or can be watched on NHL Network.

Really great tournament. Lots of good hockey players. US has won gold and bronze the last two years and the Under-18 team, which has since graduated players to the Under-20 team, has won three straight golds. Lots of talented American-born players on display.

Check it out if you can. Well worth the watch.

[swerb]

I'm totally in on the WJC this year. Canada and USA lived up to their favorite statuses today, both looked great..

[skatingtripods]

US-Finland at 3:30. On NHL Network and streaming live on NHL.com.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Provided the knee injury isn't a catastrophic one, is Nail Yukupov worth the hype?

[skatingtripods]

Provided the knee injury isn't a catastrophic one, is Nail Yukupov worth the hype?

Based on what I've read, yes. He's the consensus #1 pick and should be NHL-ready like Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (the last 2 first overall picks) on day one.

Heavy shot, Russian skill set, but having played Canadian juniors makes him a more responsible defensive player than most Russians.

The ACL injury is an issue though. I don't think it'll scare the Jackets away, but it's definitely a concern.

I haven't really scouted the rest of the draft class, but this year's is supposed to be very deep with talent at every position but goaltender. Not 2003-esque, but somewhat close.