SHERBROOKE, Que. — The cornerstone player for the Canadian team heading to the world juniors is no secret. The roster will be built from Jonathan Drouin on out.
Watching Drouin at the second game in the Subway Super Series Wednesday night was watching a man among boys, not a cut above so much as a couple of cuts above. With the injury to Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman must be second-guessing the decision to send Drouin back to the Halifax Mooseheads for further grooming. In the long-term it’s the right decision — not rushing Drouin and giving him a chance to excel. But if Yzerman had suspected the Lightning would be in the hunt for the Eastern Conference lead, Drouin would have stuck in Tampa Bay.
Until he makes the NHL next fall, the real measure of Drouin will come at the under-20s and until then a question looms: Who is a good complement to his talents? We might have had a glimpse of it in the first two games of the Subway Super Series.
Anthony Mantha of Val d’Or was Detroit’s first rounder, 20th overall. About a third of a season later, there’d be no shot he’d be around when the Wings pick came around if the 2013 NHL Draft were subject to a do-over. It’s not just the right winger’s numbers, though those numbers do make a compelling case: 50 goals in 67 games last season, 24 more in 23 games this year. It’s not the physical package, though likewise that jumps out: At six-foot-four, Mantha projects as a pro power forward when he gets over 200 pounds and that looks like it could be anytime soon. No, he brings a virtually complete game to the rink.
Said one scout in attendance at Game 2: “I love his game. He skates really well for a young guy his size … nice mechanics, good speed, strong on his skates. And he can just hammer the puck. He has a cannon. He can finish chances you give. He was great last season but he’s taken another step up this year.”
Mantha scored the winner against the Russians in Game 1 in Gatineau but looked even more fit for the part in Sherbrooke. When Drouin gets the puck on his stick, he can mesmerize defencemen so much so that he gets them to over-commit and lose Mantha (who you’d imagine would be hard to miss). And Mantha goes to the net and into the dirty ice with impunity and on reflex. Even if defenders find Mantha, they can’t do much to stop him.
A few players playing for the Q jumped out. Barring the unforeseen, Samuel Morin, the Rimouski defenceman drafted by Philly in the first round in June, is a lock to make the U-20s. At six-foot-seven and a list of 205 pounds, he’s still a work in progress. Physically, obviously, he has to fill out. On the ice, he can get caught leaning and reaching rather than allowing size and reach to do all the work. That said, he skates well for such a big man and you wouldn’t fear that he’d get exposed on the big ice surface. He also has a pretty tidy approach to managing the puck and making the first pass. He’s just 18 (a July birthday) and he’d compare pretty favourably to Tyler Myers at the same stage.
Other players jumping out:
Moncton’s Ivan Barbashev, the top-ranked QMJHL in this year’s draft class, looked like a potential top-10 talent. Picking up a goal for the Russians was only a small part of what he offers. “Obviously he has great skating and hockey sense but he competes hard. He’s not taking off and going to the net but he’ll turn around and be first man back on the same play,” a Quebec regional scout said.
Centre Vladimir Tkachev was a plus-two and you’re left wondering how. He might show up on lists at five-foot-eight or five-foot-10 but he looked to be three-quarter hockey pants out on the ice. Weight is listed variously around 150 but that’s probably inflated. Still the late ’95 birthday is on the draft radar. “He makes plays every shift and makes it look easy, a great puckhandler,” a NHL scout said.
Leafs’ first-rounder Frederic Gauthier was a minus-two and a zero impact player for the night. It’s hard to see how the Rimouski centre will figure into Hockey Canada’s WJHC plans.
Charles Hudon, Montreal’s 2012 fifth-rounder from Chicoutimi, was a under-20 pick before injury last year, so you figure he should be a lock if healthy this year. He looked to be that with a nice performance with a couple of goals in the Q’s win in the first leg of the Subway Super Series in Gatineau this week. In Sherbrooke though, he looked flat and lacked the speed to give Russia defenders much of a problem. As one scout said: “A good junior and Hockey Canada-type player, but if he makes the roster that doesn’t mean he’s a NHL prospect. He doesn’t do anything well enough to project him as anything other than a journeyman.”