Prospect Avenue Ep. 15: World Junior debrief; Neuchev emerging

Prospect Avenue Ep. 15: World Junior debrief; Neuchev emerging

All right everyone welcome back to another episode of the world famous Prospect Avenue podcast I am your host Chris Baker here in the bunker the first podcast of calendar year 2024 happy New Year it’s been a little bit since we’ve been together last time I know I

Probably shouldn’t say Happy New Year we we’re like a week into the year but we haven’t seen each other here in like I don’t know 10 12 days something like that I think it was right around Christmas Eve the last time we put a podcast out getting prepped for the 2024

World Junior Championship so it made sense to say Happy New Year to you all but yeah I was waiting for that tournament to end before getting back up here on the podcast train that’s what we’re going to do today do a quick recap of all the Sabers prospects and we’re in

Action at the 2024 World Juniors a few odds and ends to get to with a couple other prospects that did not take part in the tournament but yeah let’s talk World Juniors real quick I don’t want to spend a ton of time on it um I I generally don’t overemphasize the World Junior

Performances of these players I mean we’re at the point now with technology and you know subscriptions and whatnot you get to see these players almost every week and the world juniors becomes just this smaller snapshot in time of the story that these players are telling

Over the course of a whole year but it is a best on best for the most part uh peer-on-peer tournament and there’s a lot to get to there to cover some really good performances from some Sabers prospects and one maybe disappointing statistical performance anyways for one

And and we’ll get into all that here but I think to properly kick it off first of all congrats to the American team always great to see the US win World Junior Gold Medal that team was just deep fast skilled they could score goals in bunches they were really tough out the

Entire tournament as expected they were the clear favorite in my opinion coming into the event but I want to also say congratulations to the swedes that was a great group I love that mix of players that they had especially that 04 group group that has a rivalry brewing with

Those Americans going back to the under 18s a couple years ago and then of course his team those two teams rather played each other last year in the bronze medal game with the 2023 World Juniors but Sweden I thought did a great job um both on ice with their product

Led by Noah oen and Jonathan leaki and Exel sandine pel and Liam ogren we’ll get into that a little bit but the fans too I mean what a great atmosphere both rinks but especially during the metal rounds um that’s that’s kind of what we anticipated with Sweden hosting this

Event it’s a very big tournament now in that country’s hockey program they follow it just as closely as we do over here in North America and I thought they did a great job as host so um wanted to congratulate Sweden both on the ice as

Well as off the ice it was a great performance that that country as a whole really showed out for the event but yeah we might as well just get right into it um you know I hated the way that tournament ended by the way you know with the Americans blowing kisses to the

Crowd at the end I could have done without that and you know the swedes were very frustrated too and they I think vented their frustrations out Noah osen was one of the players out there late in the game slashing hacking and whacking a little stick work out there

Um but you know it is what it is like I said there’s some animosity there between these two groups the 04 Americans and the 04 swedes they’re very familiar with each other but yeah some of that other stuff I could have done without it was not the way that we

Wanted to end that tournament but whatever it’s over and done with and we’ll move on these players are all going to uh see each other again in the NHL for the years to come so maybe if there’s scores to settle we’ll uh we’ll get a look at that

Down the road hopefully not though hopefully they all got it out of their system but let’s just Dive Right In couple performances here that we want to cover I think we should start right at the top with Noah aand who drove the bus for Sweden’s top even strength unit and

Ran their power play he was just the Catalyst for that Swedish attack I know Jonathan leer amaki was the team’s leading goal scorer but Noah awon was the guy out there getting all the ice time putting up his share of points also he had three goals and seven assists in

The tournament but overall I think that the all seven games of the world juniors really showcased Noah osan’s complete game we’ve talked about that here on Prospect Avenue his defensive detail his positioning in the defensive zone is really good and his in anticipation of plays allows him to steal pucks

Intercept passes we saw a little bit of everything from Noah aen at both ends of the ice and I thought that he was just fantastic from start to finish but numerically the 10 points was solid he was tied for fourth among scoring leaders in the tournament uh 13 of his

14 shots on goal I don’t know if you were following on Twitter but I was tracking osan’s shot chart 13 were from the house and that one that was from not inside of the house was right along the goal line bad angle shot where he was probably like eight feet from the net

And he was trying to get a rebound opportunity so again good thought there even though it was a shot attempt from outside of the house a shot on goal but he was just excellent um 20 minutes and 16 seconds that he averaged uh from a Time on Ice perspective that led all

Sweden’s forwards in the tournament and it was right up there as well amongst the tournament leaders overall uh fourth amongst all the forwards in the tournament so he was out there in all the key situations but I love the shot quality that he generated that puck was absolutely on a string all tournament

We’ve talked about his Puck control and his stick handling and his ability to think fast but there were some plays in the tournament too especially I think of that Ryan Leonard goal in the third period of the gold medal game where ausome was draped on his back and just

Couldn’t muscle him off the puck couldn’t really disrupt him now Ryan Leonard is kind of a truck out there very like sturdy thick uh hard-nosed player he’s very strong on the puck so that’s a tough one for Noah aen that’s a tough one for any well-developed hockey

Player to knock him off the puck but I think it showed that was one example of a couple where that strength development that needs to happen with osen over the next two three years for him to really take his game to the next level he has every other tool except that body

Strength and he can succeed if he he doesn’t have to be the strongest guy out there you just want to see a little bit more muscle a little more strength to help him in some of the battles but I I think that you know his processing is so

Fast like when he comes to Rochester next year when you watch osen he gets the puck his head is immediately up he’s scanning and he moves and thinks quickly and that’s going to help him overcome the transition to the smaller ice surface when he gets to the American

Hockey League next year because he’ll be able to think and play fast and that’ll help him counteract the the strength part of it as he’s building Mass you know in the next couple of years his ability to play quick I think is really going to help his transition next year

But this tournament overall I thought really showcased his two-way game and I thought he did just excellent for the swedes out there leading the way on his line was Anton Wahlberg so you know with that Top Line of Wahlberg on wing leaki on the opposite wing and

Noah aen at Center you know leaki and osen they were the skilled guys they were generating a lot of shot attempts um you know Anton wallberg had a good amount of shots on goal in this tournament as well he had 16 in total which was fourth most on Sweden’s roster

After Le rachi Liam Ogen and the defenseman Axel sandine pel but his role was really to be that big netfront presence win board battles work the corners be kind of a mule beneath the goal line and I think he succeeded in that regard he was very noticeable

In just about every game of the tournament being that big body especially getting to the net front um I I thought overall Anton Wahlberg’s performance was really a carbon copy of his season toate resume that he’s put together with Malmo and the Swedish Hockey League where he’s been a second

Line Winger for pretty much all season long so the tournament showed his full range of abilities came back deep on the four check really supported of the defenseman well working the corners like I said and even on a few occasions you saw wber come in gain the zone and use

His speed around the edge to take defenseman wide get some shots on goal and create a little chaos in front of the opposition’s net rebound opportunities were popping up there from those plays that Wahlberg was making so overall I thought he did an excellent job I mentioned already that Austin’s

Gonna be a guy that you’re gonna see in Rochester next year I think Anton Wahlberg also makes that transition next year with aen to the American Hockey League and he’ll be a young player I mean Wahlberg was the second youngest player on Sweden’s World junor roster this year so the expectation is that

He’ll be back again playing in the tournament next year probably playing a pretty big role with like a David edstrom Felix uner sorum um Otto Stenberg they have some pretty quality forwards coming back Anton Wahlberg’s gonna be right in the thick of things and I think with that tournament being

Played in Ottawa next year on a North Americanized rink Wahlberg getting a good half a season of work in and so it’s only going to help him be a very you know dominant physical figure anyways in that 2025 world junior Championship in Ottawa so I like the two

Swedes it was great that they played together get some chemistry going and overall I mean I know they’re disappointed not winning the gold medal on their home turf but I thought Austin and Wahlberg both had very good tournaments with really osen being that guy that stood out we talked about it at

Nauseum leading up to it whether it was here on Prospect Avenue or on any appearances I make on Sabers live that I thought the hockey world was really going to know who Noah tin was at the end of this tournament and I believe they do Pace stick handling defensive

Detail has it all now let’s just get that strength going and the Sabers have themselves a really really nice piece down the middle moving forward so those are the sweds taken home a medal there a silver medal and the Sabers also had Yi kulie there leading the way for the checks and they

Took home a bronze medal so Kik no surprise was absolutely awesome offensively six goals 12 total points co-led the tournament in scoring along with cutter goce from the Americans but we mentioned it before that you know the points were great we expected Kik to generate a ton of shots

On goal and he did he colled the tournament with 30 four shots on goal 18 of which were from the house area and it’s all about though it wasn’t really a hockey development move for Kik it was about the leadership development and that’s the biggest takeaway for me

From Kik at the 2024 World Junior Championship if you look at their first game they came out flat Kik looked a little tired but the team overall did not play well they got their doors blown off by Slovakia I think the score was 6-2 after the game Kulik who was wearing

The captain C on his cck jersey was very vocal after the game in the Czech press talk about this isn’t going to go like this the rest of the tournament we didn’t come to play this is it let’s get it out of our system we’ll move on and

He was the guy that really led the way both on and off the ice he came out the very next game he got the hat-trick plus an assist against Norway but even in the critical moments of every game from there on in they were going to kle for

The big moments in the tough in the tough minutes even in that gold medal game they were down the checks were I think five to2 at one point in that game against Finland I’m sorry in the bronze medal game I think I just said gold medal game I apologize in the bronze

Medal game and Kik was the guy that got him back he had two goals and two assists in that game there was another player on their team that had five points but it was really koolie scoring the big goals with some nice plays secondary assists he was just generating

Opportunities in that second and third period that was the leadership on the ice but also I think it was noteworthy what he did off the ice so I mentioned 18 of 34 shots on goal were from the house and he scored a couple goals from

Outside of the house I think two of his six goals were scored outside of the faceoff dot on the power play and overall though you know it’s funny because anytime there’s a highlight of yui Kulik uh scoring from that rightwing side on the power play social media gets a buzz with oh

Here we go we got another Victor Olson and I just want to say it once and like not spend a lot of time on it the similarities end there with the big Howitzer from the right side kik’s been playing Center he’s very defensively mature at this point now especially in

The under 20 group but he’s made such progress playing Center in the last 10 months or so that there’s no comparison really they’re different players completely they both just happen to have huge shots but that’s it and I’m not taking a shot at Victor Olson I mean

He’s worked very hard as a seventh round draft pick to carve out an NHL career 28 goals is nothing to sneeze at and who cares if you’re a power play producer the power play matters especially look at the Sabers this year if the Sabers were more competent on the power play

There’s a good chance that that might be higher in the standings but kik does a little bit more than just score Power Play Goals but I thought it was funny uh during the tournament it was right it was a pregame show uh Marty Baron was doing some video Work showing Nathan

McKinnon and Steven stamp Co on the left side of the power power play and where they set up they actually set up just inside the circle inside the house and I’m starting to wonder if that’s the next part of kix’s development that the Sabers want to work on he’s comfortable

Being a little bit wider just outside that edge of the house and he’s amazingly accurate so it doesn’t hurt him but if you can move him inside a little bit more the plays are going to happen quicker he’s going to get a different angle of attack on the net

With his accurate shot and it’s going to provide better rebounds when those shots are stopped doesn’t hurt right now though because Kik just he doesn’t miss high and wide he either scores or he gets it on that almost every time he takes that big pp1 timer but I thought

That that was interesting video work that Marty put together showing stamp ghost and McKinnon both inside that left Circle and that would be really cool if they can get Kik to do the same thing on the right side so we’ll see if that’s something that the team works on in the

Second half of the Season here but Kik uh just to spend a little bit more time on him he ends His World Junior career as the 13th highest score in tournament history so he had 29 Points in 21 total World Junior games over the last three tournaments 15 goals his 15 goals in

That tournament are 10th best all time so a prolific International under 20 tournament score Yuri KCK walks away that’s a feather in his cap uh but the crazier stat that I noticed when digging into his numbers a little bit was he only took one minor penalty in those 21

Games so now you’re looking at a very disciplined guy that can score not bad so now what’s next for Yuri Kulik well if you go back to last season he came back from the world juniors and he had 17 goals in his final 30 AHL games and

Then he had another seven goals in 12 playoff contests so now this year before he left the tournament he was leading the AHL when he left for Sweden with 16 goals through 23 games and like I said that tournament last year that experience that success that he had leading the way

As the guy he brought it back and it was a big time launch Point into the second half of the AHL season the amirs are going to need kig to have a similar effect on the lineup he comes back with he should be very proud of what he

Accomplished in this tournament look I put an O like I wanted him to score 10 goals I thought it would have been a cool number especially just considering what he did at the under 18s two years ago and what he did at the world juniors last year with seven goals and seven

Games okay he didn’t get 10 goals I get it but man he was the man he hit the leadership on all marks and I just think that um the confidence that he should come back to the AHL with should pay off and hopefully he can have another big

Second half of the Season like he had last year because Lord knows the AMS need it they had a little bit of a snag without them at one point in December I know they had won just two of 10 games so uh they need to hit the rebound and

Uh kik’s going to be a big part of that obviously get the band back together maybe on that line with isau rosan in lus weissbach and see if they could take it from there so we talked about the medalists let’s talk about the guys that did not

Walk away with a medal and I think the proper place to start is with Matthew seavoy very disappointing statistical tournament for Matthew seavo with just one assist in his four games and I don’t think it was because of lack of effort though man when the it test itself when you saw seavoy out

There I mean he led all of Canada’s forwards and ice time in the first game you go into that game though when the stakes were really elevated against Sweden and outside of mlin celebrini Matthew seavoy was probably Canada’s best forward his speed his shiftiness his ability to attack the middle of the

Ice he was one of the very few that was able to cut through Sweden’s defensive layers and he got a couple shots on goal in that game he had nine shots on goal in the tournament all of seavo shots on goal were right from from the slot area

Right around the hash marks and down right from the middle of the ice so obviously all from the house but no doubt Canada needed to get more out of him production wise on the score sheet there’s no question about it for him to walk away with no goals

That’s a disappointment for him it’s a disappointment for Sabers fans I get it but I don’t think that he played as poorly as the stat sheet might suggest not make an excuses for him but it’s clear when you watch the games that that line that he was on for the most part

With Matthew Patra and Easton Cowan they just didn’t gel there wasn’t a lot of chemistry there and I think you go back to that Sweden game it was clear that seavoy was going I think that Canada’s coaching staff was just too late to identify the need to juggle Lines by the

Time they they moved some things around they put celebrini up there and replaced him on that Patra seavoy line took Cowan off that line they were looking really good sooy had that Breakaway and I felt so bad so if you remember in that Sweden game he had the Breakaway all alone the

Puck rolled off the stick didn’t even get the shot on goal off and I felt horrible for him I felt horrible for Canada too because if seavoy would have been able to score that goal that could have changed the complexion of that entire game but it didn’t wasn’t meant

To be and I I almost wonder too if you noticed on the broadcast seavoy kind of was wincing in pain a little bit after that Breakaway I wonder if that’s where he may have tweaked something that caused him to get the the um MRI and Miss Canada’s next game but yeah the uh

The chemistry thing there though that’s kind of what I’m stuck on um you know how did they not put seavoy with Conor geeki in that tournament um you know they were together in a pre-tournament game and SEO was dynamite in that game and they had you know they played together this year in

Wachi they played together a little bit last year not a ton actually they were mostly on separate lines last year in Winnipeg but I thought that that was a Miss by the coaching staff and regardless of what happened seavoy now is gonna go back um to the Western

League he was traded to the Moosejaw Warriors right at the end of the tournament so mush jaaw is absolutely loaded a couple of his world junior teammates are now going to be his teammates in mush jaaw that’s defenseman Denton M tchuk um Braden joerger uh Jagger ferus who was kind of

Called to fill in in the in the event that seavoy couldn’t complete the tournament they also have Atley Calvert there who was a Sabers development camper a couple years ago really good squad that’s loading up for a run so seavo is gonna go there with uh 2.18

Points per game that he amassed with wachi had 11 goals and 24 points in 11 games and hopefully that sour taste in his mouth is going to maybe provide a little fuel to the fire for him the rest of the way here he has that let down of

Not winning the WHL championship last year with the Winnipeg ice to kind of Chase you know now that he’s with musja new teammates new environment maybe it gives him something you just keep his foot on the gas pedal here but hopefully that disappointing tournament that he

Had with Team Canada is enough to just keep him at a high level here in musja he was one of the whl’s probably the the standout performer last year in the who playoffs and Musa that’s what they’re banking on they gave up a ton of assets

To pick up seavoy from wachi but yeah wachi uh they had a tough decision to make you know first year in that market they were in second place um at the time of making that trade but they elected to load up for the future that franchise spent a lot of

Assets over the past two years acquiring talent to take deep playoff runs their draft pick cupboard was pretty bare and they just decided to make a a decision to set that franchise up for the future so they sent Conor geeki out to Swift Current and and seavoy goes to

Musa but overall you know the takeaway again disappointing tournament for seavoy No Doubt but it doesn’t really impact his outlook for me I’m still willing to look at what he did in the prospects challenge I’m still willing to look at the body of work he put together

That limited small sample size that he had with the Rochester Americans where he looked really good playing with Kulik and isak rosan so tough tournament no doubt tough tournament for Canada as a whole very disappointing uh showing for them but let’s see if seavoy can um you know

Really be that dominant figure that he should be the rest of the way here in the Western League so we talked about the Medalist we talked about seavoy the biggest takeaway for me the highlight of the tournament for me believe it or not it wasn’t Noah osan’s

Play it was Maxim stbu big right-handed defenseman for Michigan State who led the way for the slovakians he was awesome all tournament tied for second among all tournament defensemen with seven points he had a goal and six assists the leading defenseman had eight and there was another defenseman like I

Said with seven because he tied for second and those players both had seven games stbu did it playing two fewer games he only played five games in the tournament but yeah he played the toughest even strength minutes for Slovakia played first PP and first pk units he was just kind of running that

Show Slovakia’s time on isolator with 23 minutes and 38 seconds of work right up there among the tournament leaders in that regard as well but I was on the pregame show with Duffer and Marty on Saturday the 30th that was a Columbus game and I kind of mentioned that stach was playing like

That old school Roman Yosi role where he was just doing everything for Slovakia kind of like how Yosi used to do before they kind of Slash his PK minutes a bit uh for the Nashville Predators but overall an amazing tournament for sturb it really showed his his offensive game

That we don’t always get to see we’ve talked about him having that offensive potential he does a great job getting shots through from the point that’s an uncanny ability that he has to get lwh hard shots through he doesn’t do it a ton right now at Michigan State he’s really focused on

His defensive Zone responsibilities there with the Spartans but he was a little bit more ambitious carrying the puck he was stepping up into the uh deeper into the offensive zone more just had more command more confidence with it because he can do it at that level but

You started to see that upside side that we’ve talked about that you know exists in stbox game so now over the next couple of years and I do believe maybe two more years in Michigan State’s probably best for sbach he’ll know what’s best but really I just don’t

Think there’s any need to rush him it’s G to be very tantalizing for the Sabers to have this guy he’s probably gonna play at 62 205 or so by the time he becomes a pro and that’s a right shot D who’s physical they’re going to want to

Get him into the system but I think it’s best for him to let him just be mature and I say it all the time college is the best years of Our Lives let him be that kid let him play that pivotal role in a very nice conference there the Big 10 is

Always stacked and he’ll come out at the right time but the the one thing about sturb man and he can play in the world juniors next year too he’s already played in three he could play in a fourth world juniors next year which is just wild to think about and I’m sure he

Will but um at the end it was the end of that game against Finland he he fell to the ice with a minute 34 left and that just led to that that go-ahead goal that Finland scored late in the game now the slovo came back and tied it up on like

The very next shift it was unbelievable it’s a crazy game but then they go to overtime and Yi lassalas coming through the neutral zone with speed sturb defending the left side of the ice and he’s got a forward there kind of guarding the middle that was a little

Bit behind him now stach is definitely the last line of defense for sure but I think he knew that he had a forward there to support him so he made a play on the puck and Lenin just went right around him blew pass him with speed took

The middle of the ice and that forward that was there kind of back and up stach bailed on the support and that was history Lassa went right in there and just blew right past him and and scored that game winning goal an unfortunate end I mean that’s stbox check at the end

Of the day made a play on the puck thinking he had support but overall look it doesn’t um put a damper on the tournament that he had overall he was an absolute two-way Workhorse for Slovakia a standout amongst all the defenseman in the tournament really and rightfully was

Named one of Slovakia’s three best players in the tournament so really good on Maxim stach and the performance that he had I wanted Sabers fans to get familiar with him and I think they did I hopefully that Sabers fans came away really impressed with this player’s overall abilities his physical and a

Little bit of the offense that he showed uh lastly you know there are two more players to talk about one is Canada’s goenda ratzloff we’ll get to him in a second because he didn’t play but he certainly had a busy weekend with Seattle in the WHL when he did get back

But just real quick on Norwin panaka big 62 left-handed defenseman who played for team Germany this was really a solid learning experience for panaka to play in the world juniors this year for Germany coming into the tournament we talked about it here on Prospect Avenue

The goal was to make the team get some exper erience playing in that environment and slowly break off more responsibility as the tournament played out and that’s exactly what happened actually he started off as a bottom pair defenseman he had to overcome some shaky moments in the beginning I mean he he

Was matched up with some really tough forwards in some of those games but overall very steady showing and by the time they got to their fourth game panako was moved up into the middle pair role if you go to that relegation game that they played I think he was third

Amongst all of Germany’s defenseman in minutes he had just over 20 minutes of work in that final game where they won and avoided relegation so they’ll be back next year and so will Norwin panaka but overall I think he acquitted himself very well he only had one point in the

Tournament it was a goal and it was a really great play a smart read where he was at the Blue Line jumped up into the play because he saw that he had a lane to go to that left post took a pass and buried it great opportunity great play

To go up up and of course good for him to bury it he hasn’t had a goal this year yet for shikami so it’s really nice for him to go back to the big ice surface step away from the queue for a little bit get the experience and score

A goal uh that had to feel really good for the kid but I think that um like I said learning curve and he’s going to be expected to be a big minute muncher next year for the German attack when they look to improve upon their 2024 World

Jior showing next year in Ottawa all right so that’s the world junior recap let’s talk about some goalies so last episode of Prospect Avenue talked a little bit about topus lanan in he uh at that time he hadn’t played since November 28th well I’m happy to report

That he did get into a game recently actually two um with juca’s Liga Squad so on January 3 and you can find the video by the way I cut up all of topus lanan and’s action in that January 3D game it was a 63 lost to carpot lanan

Came on in relief after vayy venan let in five goals on his first eight shots but you can find that cut video that season pass video on the Sabers prospects YouTube Channel please go watch it like the video leave a comment it helps the algorithm just like leaving

A comment here and liking this video would also help but overall um really solid performance in lanin’s first action while waiting to get back on the ice for over a month and he then parlay that performance into another start on Saturday against ilves teree where he made 25 saves on 27 shots

Very tough matchup ilves has been in the top one or two uh teams in Liga all season long so took the 2-1 loss but looked really good in that game as well so he’s got his confidence back a little bit of mojo back this is a solid statistically and maybe even with the

Eye test he hasn’t looked fabulous since being drafted he’s had some injury troubles he’s been he’s had some inconsistent play played on a bunch of teams last season so now figuring out you know is he gonna stick in Le of here or what’s best for lanin’s development

Moving forward I think he’s got the confidence now to go out there and hopefully earn more starts he should have the confidence of the coaching staff to have them throw him a little more action here with jyp but it’s a new coaching staff they fired their previous coach right before Christmas this new

Coach has to go out there and win games he has to put his best lineup on the ice every night and vayy vinan at age 26 I want to say is probably their best option in net more often than not well that puts lanon in a tough

Position because he needs to see shots he needs to develop I’d like to see him get a couple more starts here with jyp but I imagine that alone to their affiliate QA is probably very realistic it may have been something that was coming pretty quickly here in January if

He wasn’t able to get in to any of those games with jyp last week so we’ll see what shakes out but I think in the bigger picture here he’s in his second post-draft year right now and the sabes and his agent and jyp Leadership they all to get together and figure out

What’s the best situation for topus lanan and to be in next year they’re going to have to find him a place to play next year whether it’s jyp or elsewhere that’s going to afford him the opportunity to see the ice and well I guess more to come on that but that’s

Kind of where my mind would be if I were the saber hockey Department trying to figure out how do we get this kid to develop he’s a massive human being he presents himself very big couple things to work on obviously you know footwork just sharpening some of those things up

But the potential is there I’m telling you you’ll see it for yourself when you take a look at some of the videos that I’ll continue to throw up and the season pass series on the YouTube channel all is not lost he just needs to play and

He’s got some Runway here ahead of him to develop over the next two years and it’s going to be critical that he gets in a situation where he can play simple as that so more to come on that now another goenda ratl I hinted at this earlier did not see a minute of

Work for team canidate the world juniors and that’s okay because he was his goal was to just make the team this year be part of the program wait his turn and that should set himself up very nicely for the 2025 World Juniors in Ottawa Canada will be playing on home ICE

They’ll be amped up well I’ll tell you what man rats left is in a good developmental situation in Seattle and here’s why they’re near the bottom of the Western Conference standings that implies that he’s going to see a lot of shots every night so he

Got on the bird from Sweden came back to Seattle jumped into action right away in Friday and Saturday’s games and he stopped 87 of 92 shots in two games over the weekend a 2-1 loss to Prince George and then a 4-2 loss the very next night at Everett that game against Everett he

Made a career-high 54 saves so he had a 946 save percentage over the weekend apparently the time change didn’t really impact this kid man to be young you know I couldn’t do that but um I just wanted to point that out where you know he had

A little bit of a layoff there because he didn’t play only saw some practice pucks gets right back into it and performs very well took two losses I understand but stop in 87 to 92 it’s a pretty nice number especially on that team where there’s not a ton of support

Ahead of him so he’s going to continue to see a ton of shots here in the second half of the season for the Thunderbirds and he will uh you know keep his development going he’s in a very good situation there and he should pull the majority of the starts moving forward

For the Thunderbirds all right we’re already over 30 minutes so I’m going to be pretty quick I just want to get to some odds and ends real quick on a couple other Sabers prospects and uh I want to give a shout out to vami mariala mariala has continued to hold down that

Second line Center position for TPS turku in Liga but more importantly very noticeable he’s getting to the net more he’s going to the dirty areas it’s official now he’s definitely not a perimeter player we didn’t think he was but he was was doing a lot more work

Early in the season using the space that he was afforded on the power play now he’s really starting to become a more effective even strength player so as a result of this it was a natural progression okay he has four goals and two assists in his last six games he’s

Brought his stat line up to eight goals and 23 points on the year he is now second in team scoring three points off the lead not too shabby for a kid that’s still 20 years old does turn 21 for a few more weeks here at the end of

January so good on mariala I mentioned I don’t know if it was last episode or the episode before that it’s golden helmet watch he is very much still on Golden helmet watch for TPS turku wanted to also take a couple minutes and talk about left-handed defenseman mattz Lindgren of the Red

Deer Rebels been watching him a lot more lately because he’s going to be coming up on his contract decision later this spring he’s the the first thing is you notice about him is he’s a just a fabulous masterful skater great edgework walks the line at the top of the Zone

Very fluid mover great transporting the puck that’s the first thing that stands out about him and that’s usually a good thing his carrying the puck his ability to jump up in the play he looks big and fast at the Western Hockey League level as he should as a 19-year-old drafted

Into the National Hockey League but it’s also because of the 11 pounds I think it was of mass that he put on over the summer so that 11 pounds that mass that added strength it’s definitely leading to year-over-year growth on the defensive side of the puck you’re

Noticing that this year he’s not a big-time stopper just yet but he’s very competent at that level and you know so you start to think about it in the contract decision but I I want to look at the year-over-year growth and if the Sabres could still forecast and project

More year-over-year growth in 2025 and 202 26 he’s a skating defenseman and you probably still have room for that even though he’s a left shot and you have some other left shots that you want to you know develop in this organization but if you look at like

Sead karov and you look at sturb and you look at Nikita novakov you have some physicality there already in the pipeline you might have room for a guy like Matt lingren who again his feet keep him in place he sticks to his and that added strength that he put on

Over the summer it’s just given him more leverage tying up his man winning those battles on the puck he needs to make more stops I think in the second half of the season to really solidify his position as a viable contract candidate I think he looks good the points the

Offense it’s there he’s amongst Red Deer leading Point Getters from the back end they were missing his defensive partner for chunk of the Season Hunter mayo and he really carried the load in Mayo’s absence everything looks good optically um it’s just a matter now of systemically if that’s what they want to

Do in the system because what it boils down to is when you’re making a decision on lingren you’re not just making it singularly on the player but you’re also evaluating him versus all the other guys that are going to be out there mainly college free agents and you know

Managing the number of contracts that you have and how many you want to allocate to the defensive position but for me I think lindgren’s a guy that you can forecast more growth moving forward and he’s going to be worth the contract look so I just wanted to mention on that

But I’m going to keep uh watching his games keep looking for him to use that added strength uh to develop defensively that’s the biggest thing that I’m continue look for with him but all signs are looking good right now we’ll see I don’t know what the Sabers think about

Him but uh I just wanted to kind of give an update there because we haven’t really talked about him a ton this year and then lastly as we approach the 40-minute mark this week final shout out has to go to to amar’s Winger rookie Winger Victor neev so funny thing

Happened in mid November or I’m sorry mid December with Victor noev he was rewarded for the good habits Seth aert talks about habits a lot and he started talking about Victor nov’s good practice habits and good game habits and he was a pretty mature polished player even though he was 19

And now 20 years old when he came over here this season from Russia I think they year of playing and being around adults all year in the KHL with avtomobilist really set him up well to make a nice transition in North American Hockey this year but in the mid December

Time frame is when you saw him put up on a line with Brandon BYO and Lucas rusek and then later on at the end of the month of December they put him on a line with Esa rosan and Mason yst and then they replaced yobs on that line of

Center when Tyson Jo went down so then you had rosan Tyson Joost and Victor neev but all this promotion is doing and the overall Improvement in his game is doing it’s getting to bring out the best in his skill set so he’s a shooter he’s really good off the rush but he’s really

Good at rotating out of the cycle and getting himself into scoring position and using that great shot that he has and he so he’s his game is really starting to take off when you play with more skilled players you’re gonna get more shot opportunities right it just makes too much sense that’s what’s

Happening with Victor neev in the first 15 games of the season year he was averaging 1.2 shots on goal since December 13th when he was bumped up with rusek and brro and then you know he started to shift down to other higher level players in the lineup he’s now

Averaging 2.4 shots on goal per game so he’s doubled his shooting production but really what’s going on is that he’s picking up more points too he has a goal and four assists in his last six games points and three straight but he’s noticed to be getting more shot attempts

And I think that was important to note um that his game is going to the next level here it’s a good sign it’s what you want to see from a young player’s at that progress we tend to take a look at players in five game blocks and his last

Five games have been excellent the five games before the last five were really good too so now if you start to look at the second half of the season I don’t want to sit here and say like the sky is a limit for Victor neev but with the S

Like with the amirs coming out of a slump here they’re goingon to need guys like neev and you get Kik back and you know it just makes the lineup better it creates compet ition on those top three lines and uh those young players could be major factors to what we think could

Be a successful second half here for the Rochester Americans coming off a very difficult December I just said a lot in 40 minutes I hope you got a lot out of it I’m tired today is Sunday by the way it’s dinner time gonna go make a meal maybe have a

Little cocktail get ready for the Bills Dolphins game it’s going to be a really nice Sunday night here in the baker household I hope that you have a lovely Sunday evening and a great week ahead as well 2024 is going to be a great year and I thank everyone for coming to

Prospect Avenue every week or every two weeks depending on the frequency of when I’m able to squeeze this podcast in but I truly do appreciate all the downloads audio on Spotify Amazon uh apple and of course all the clicks here on the YouTube channel so if you could please

Like the video subscribe to the channel leave a comment and wherever you get your podcast by the way please leave a festar review say whatever you want about me in the comment section I don’t care uh the festar review is very important to keeping this successful and

I look forward to seeing each and every one of you again next time right here on Prospect Avenue

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Kris Baker recaps the Sabres prospects that were in action at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, and hits on a few others that did not play at the tournament.

Noah Ostlund showcased himself as a complete-game catalyst on Sweden’s top forward line.

Anton Wahlberg provided a big net-front presence all tournament long on the Ostlund line, and like his fellow Sabres prospect, appears to be set up nicely for a North American transition.

Czech star Jiri Kulich ended his World Junior career by earning high marks, especially in the leadership development category.

Kris expected more and Canada certainly needed more production from Matthew Savoie, so now it’s time to look ahead to finishing his WHL career with his new teammates in Moose Jaw.

Slovakian two-way workhorse Maxim Strbak played as advertised.

Norwin Panocha handled the pressure on the German blueline, and should feel good about what he accomplished.

Goalie talk! Topias Leinonen found himself back in the JYP net, while Seattle’s Scott Ratzlaff flew home from the World Juniors and got right back to work with a busy weekend.

Meanwhile in Finland, TPS centerman Viljami Marjala continues to elevate his game.

With a contract decision on the horizon, Kris takes a few minutes to share some thoughts on Red Deer Rebels defenseman Mats Lindgren.

Last but not least, Kris offers a well-earned shout out to Rochester Americans rookie winger Viktor Neuchev.