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Why New Jersey Devils Fans Care About World Junior Championship

By Vincent Parise

VICTORIA , BC - DECEMBER 19: Ty Smith #24 of Team Canada skates with the puck versus Team Switzerland at the IIHF World Junior Championships at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on December 19, 2018 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Canada defeated Switzerland 5-3. (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images)"n"n"n"n
VICTORIA , BC - DECEMBER 19: Ty Smith #24 of Team Canada skates with the puck versus Team Switzerland at the IIHF World Junior Championships at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on December 19, 2018 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Canada defeated Switzerland 5-3. (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images)"n"n"n"n /
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Every year, the National Hockey League is off on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas. The positive though for hockey fans, is every year on December 26th the World Juniors Tournament begins. The worlds best players that are under 20 from all of the hockey power countries play a round robin tournament with a one game elimination playoff. That always includes some great New Jersey Devils prospects.

The tournament is divided into two groups of five teams, and your group is who you play in the round robin. Group A consists of Canada, Czech Republic, Russia, Denmark and Switzerland. Group B has Finland, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United States.

So what do Devils fans need to root for in this tournament? Well this tournament means a lot for every team in the NHL, but a young rebuilding team like New Jersey is likely more interested. The tournament is about half players who are already drafted, and half made up of players who have yet to be drafted. Sometimes we go in knowing who the number-one overall pick will be in the upcoming draft, and sometimes it is unclear.

In 2017 NHL World Juniors tournament, Nolan Patrick led the draft class as the consensus best player entering the draft, but an even younger version of Nico Hischier dominated the World Juniors and made the Swiss team overachieve a bit. He put more eyes on him and his Junior club team, the Halifax Mooseheads. By the end of the season, it was Nico versus Nolan going into the draft, and this tournament had a big part in doing that. The Devils went on to win the draft lottery that year and ended up with Hischier, and it is in large part due to his success in this tournament.

In 2018, Rasmus Dahlin was the top prize to the team who won the lottery, and he was that all throughout his draft year including his World Juniors appearance for team Sweden. Going into this World Juniors tourney, a young man from the United States named Jack Hughes is the player who will likely be called first on draft night by whatever team wins the lottery. He will play for Team USA in this tourney, and that is one of the places the New Jersey Devils come in.

The 2018-19 season has not gone well for the team as a whole. If this continues into the New Year and the second half of the season, the Devils will be in lottery contention and at the very least picking somewhat high in the draft. For that reason, it is important for the team and its fans to watch Hughes, and the other top prospects in the world, because one of them could be an impact player for the team as soon as next season.

This tournament is also important for the team, because it has already drafted prospects participating in the tournament. It is important for these guys to play well and gain confidence as they all hope to be in the NHL someday.

Leading this group of future Devils is the team’s top prospect Ty Smith. He is the biggest name for the Devils in this tournament, and frankly he is one of the biggest names on Team Canada’s roster. Canada has a real chance to win the gold medal, and Smith will be a big part of that if they do. Most believe Ty Smith will be a member of the Devils next season, so this is a big step for him. Smith was the Devils first round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, 17th overall.

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Fabian Zetterlund is the next player that is Devils’ property that will be in the tournament. He was a third-round pick in the 2017 Draft and will represent Team Sweden. Aarne Talvitie is a sixth rounder from the 2017 NHL draft that will represent Finland this year. The Devils are also sending a goaltender to the tournament as well, young Akira Schmid will represent Switzerland. He was a fifth-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. These are the four players that are going to represent the Devils’ orginization on the big stage. You do not need to pick a country to root for besides your own, but it is important for these guys to play well on a personal level.

Whether or not your NHL team is high or low in the standings, it is always important to know about it’s top prospects in addition the top prospects in the world. Most of the time, the Stanley Cup champions and contenders are built through the draft, and a lot of the time the World Juniors are springboard for a lot of these guys. On top of all that, it is VERY good and entertaining hockey.

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