While some might question the utility of the World Junior Summer Showcase for evaluating prospective players, it is nice to have a little dose of hockey in the middle of summer. It鈥檚 particularly nice to get a longer look at Canucks prospects.
On Friday, goaltender Michael DiPietro and winger Kole Lind suited up for Team Canada against Elias Pettersson and Sweden. A strong performance from the Canadian juniors led to a 7-4 win, as Sweden played a little too loose, making a number of sloppy mistakes.
DiPietro started the game for Canada and made 14 saves on 16 shots through the first half of the game before being replaced by Carter Hart. He wasn鈥檛 called upon to make any outstanding saves, but he was positionally sound and kept himself square to the shooter, presenting minimal holes for Swedish shooters to exploit.
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Michael DiPietro finishes with 14 saves on 16 shots. prospect was solid & showed good, compact positioning. Looked very calm.
鈥� Grady Sas (@GradySas)
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That in itself might be the most encouraging takeaway for Canucks fans, as no one questions DiPietro鈥檚 athleticism and compete level, but his foundational positioning has been called into question. The only two goals that beat him were clearly not his fault: one was a point shot past multiple screens that went just under the bar that he never had a chance to see, while the other came off a perfect power play pass.
DiPietro will face some stiff competition to make the team 鈥� Carter Wells has looked particularly good in his appearances at this tournament 鈥� but he has certainly given Hockey Canada no reason to discount him.
Kole Lind had a quiet game to go with a quiet tournament. The right winger was a late addition to Team Canada and saw limited ice time in this game as his team regularly switched up their lines.
Lind got a bit of use on the penalty kill as well, where he was regrettably victimized for one of Sweden鈥檚 goals.
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Lias Andersson redirects Erik Brannstrom's sho to cut Canada's lead to 3-2. prospect continues to pad his goal totals.
鈥� Grady Sas (@GradySas)
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You can鈥檛 see Lind in that gif and that鈥檚 the problem. He got caught out of position and couldn鈥檛 close down on Erik Brannstrom and take away his shooting or passing lanes. That left him wide open to set up Lias Andersson at the side of the net.
Lind had a similar gaffe in defensive coverage earlier in the game at even-strength, following the puck carrier, who wasn鈥檛 his man, instead of staying with his check at the point. That led to a good scoring chance. To Lind鈥檚 credit, he did get to the rebound first and clear it away.
Overall, it鈥檚 been a tough tournament for Lind, who hasn鈥檛 created much offensively, though he hasn鈥檛 had much opportunity to do so. He鈥檚 looked decent in puck battles along the boards and made some solid passes, but he hasn鈥檛 separated himself from his peers in a way that would make Hockey Canada sit up and take notice.
Finally, there鈥檚 Pettersson, who saw some time at centre in this game for the first time in the tournament, in between Dallas Stars prospect Fredrick Karlstrom and New Jersey Devils prospect Jesper Bratt. As a result, he seemed to be a bit more involved overall, particularly defensively, where he played lower in the zone and used his excellent defensive awareness to get in shooting lanes, making a couple key shot blocks.
There were a couple times, in fact, where he ended up as the last man back, and went down to the ice to take away shooting and passing lanes to give his goaltender the best opportunity to make a save.
While Pettersson was on the ice for one goal against, it came off a turnover by Bratt, who took the puck right off Pettersson鈥檚 stick and gave it away.
Offensively, Pettersson came up short, though not for lack of effort. He had three shots on goal, but he couldn't beat DiPietro or Hart. Two of those shots were hard one-timers on the power play, where he set up as the quarterback on the right boards. He distributed the puck well from that position, but Sweden鈥檚 execution as a whole seemed off.
When Pettersson did have a chance on a 2-on-1, it was cut short by a high-stick to the face from Logan Stanley. And when his breakout pass led to a goal by Karlstrom, he wasn鈥檛 credited with an assist.
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Bratt () hits the post on the breakaway - Karlstrom () pokes it home
鈥� Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech)
Sweden up 4-3
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Overall, it was a solid, if unspectacular performance by Pettersson. You would certainly hope for a little more from him, but he certainly isn鈥檛 playing poorly. He even did well holding off defenders with his body positioning and you can tell that with a little more strength and size, he鈥檒l be tough to handle with his stickhandling and skating.
The most encouraging sign might have come from the commentary rather than his play on the ice. Gord Miller said at one point, 鈥淭alking to [Sweden head coach] Tomas Mont茅n yesterday, asking who the most skilled player on his team might be, without hesitation he said Pettersson.鈥�
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