Vancouver Canucks: Prospects through two games at the World Juniors
Jonah Gadjovich
I made it clear in my last prospects article that I wasn’t thrilled with Canada’s reliance on going with size over skill. However, that never pertained to Jonah Gadjovich. He is so fun to watch in this tournament and is thriving in his checking role with Team Canada.
I already covered the 4-2 win against Finland, but I wanted to quickly mention the beautiful pass he made to Drake Batherson.
Gadjovich has incredible hands, showing he is not just here to score goals from the dirty areas. He can be physical and play with finesse. If he can overcome his skating deficiencies, he could be a more effective player than Jake Virtanen.
The 2017 second round pick earned his stripes in Canada’s second game. Slovakia fell in a 6-0 thrashing and Gadjovich picked up two goals and an assist. He also received the well-earned player of the game honor at the end of the game. Here are his goals.
Gadjovich is so good in front of the net and uses his size and hands to his advantage. The Man-Child is truly a character guy. You don’t see it in the GIF, but after the 6-0 nothing goal, Gadjovich doesn’t celebrate and tells his linemates to not bump fists with the bench. They just skate to centre for the faceoff. A great show of sportsmanship from him. Not surprising for a Canadian, eh?
Elias Pettersson
Alright! Last, but certainly not least is the prospect you have all been waiting for. Canucks fans have been raving about Elias Pettersson since his season started. Now, the rest of the world can see what he can do.
Sweden has an overloaded power play with Rasmus Dahlin, Alexander Nylander, Lias Andersson and Elias Pettersson. It didn’t take long for the Tre Kronor to put their weapons on display. Belarus had the misfortune of facing this unit first.
After Pettersson’s Brock Boeser impression, he had a secondary assist on another power play en route to a 6-1 win. I’ll let the GIF do the talking.
Just when you thought Pettersson was done, he impressed again in the game versus the Czech Republic. This is not Belarus. The Czechs beat Russia in an upset win earlier in the tournament. Pettersson scored again. Where? From the power play of course!
Sweden would go on to win the game 3-1. They have added to their undefeated streak in the group stage of this tournament, winning 42 games in a row. That’s insane!
Next: Canucks should trade for Anthony Duclair
Well, that about does it. If you have not caught any of the World Juniors, what are you doing? At the very least, watch the outdoor game. This event isn’t something you always see at the tournament. Best of all, we will get to see a pair of Canucks prospects square off as Canada takes on the US in Buffalo. We will bring more updates later in the tournament.