RealGM

It's that time of the year again, my personal favourite time of the year to be honest. Let's make this the World Junior Championships thread. I'll get it started...


I was at the Canada/Sweden game tonight, and it was a doozy. Here are some thoughts:

- Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson can down right fly. He's got wheels on him, and looks like an elite prospect. Definite top 10 pick.

- Hedman is incredible. He's just so steady, has some jump to his step and loves to jump in offensively. He was so impressive to watch tonight. He had a couple mistakes, but looks rock solid on the blueline.

- Tavares was Tavares. He has so much offensive upside to him, but his speed is still questionable.

- Oscar Moller looks almost NHL ready. He'll be on the Kings roster this time next year. Look for him to put up big numbers throughout the tournament.

- Ryan Ellis looked like a little kid, but his offensive play back on the blueline was impressive. He created quite a few scoring chances. His size will absolutely scare teams away.

Ellis is overrated simply because he puts up alot of points and has good offensive skills. In the three exhibition games hes been exposed many times already 5 on 5 and hes so tiny. The Rafalski comparisons keep coming up but unless he gets drafted by the Devils and masters the defensive side of the game he looks like he will have a Kris Russel/Tobias Enstrom like career. I wouldnt use a top 10-15 pick on a guy whos the one dimensional.

USA's roster is stacked and they really beat up on Russia. Vanrymsdiek, Wilson and Schroeder are going to dominate this tournament and unfortunately win gold imo.