Even if the IIHF World Championships’ importance pales next to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, watching hockey in the morning should never be seen as a bad thing.
Here are 15 observations one week into the best-on-best* tournament being waged in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic.
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1. Taylor Hall is a monster.
Here’s a rather safe prediction: The next few times Canada assembles a roster for a true best-on-best tournament (2016 World Cup, 2018 Olympics), Hall will be on it.
All the winger has done is produce, co-leading all skaters in points (eight) and goals (five), including a hat trick versus Germany.
2. Jack Eichel is a blast to watch.
Not a shocker, but it’s great to see how the world’s No. 2 prospect looks playing with and against pros. The 18-year-old has put up three assists in four games, none prettier than this setup for Brock Nelson Thursday:
Chin up, Tim Murray.
3. Todd McLellan is interviewing and auditioning at the same time.
The Team Canada coach not only met with Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli in Prague, he gets to roll out ridiculous trios like Sidney Crosby centring Oilers Hall and Jordan Eberle.
Imagine swapping Sid for Connor on that line, Oilers Nation, and try not to drool.
LISTEN: Team Canada’s Aaron Ekblad talks IIHF World Championship
4. Upsets!
Even without their top export, injured Ranger Mats Zuccarello, Norway stunned Slovakia 3-2.
Austria shocked Switzerland 4-3 in a shootout and Belarus cruised over the previously unbeaten U.S., 5-2.
Belarus had never defeated Team USA at the worlds before Thursday.
5. The First-Timers Club.
Of course, many of the players at the worlds would not be here had all NHL players been available. But this gives an opportunity for longshots to represent their country and fulfill a dream.
The Oilers’ Matt Hendricks, for example, had dreamed of representing the U.S. but has never been picked for a national club until this month. Not only that, the dude was made captain.
Watch: Team USA captain Matt Hendricks talks Oilers, Capitals, world championship
6. Filip Forsberg is doing his best to stick it to the hockey writers.
Everyone’s favourite Calder Trophy snub has been venting his frustrations overseas, scoring five goals in four games while sniping 31 per cent of his shots.
Not to be outdone, Canada’s Aaron Ekblad has four points in four games. (A thought: What if Team Canada wants him for 2016? Is he forced to play on the Young Guns squad?)
7. Sidney Crosby has been a pro.
The “greatest hockey player in the world” was knocked down a peg this year. He took some flak for skipping All-Star Weekend; his Penguins were dismissed from the playoffs in short order by the Rangers; the Connor McDavid hype spilled into better-than-Crosby evaluations, and he wasn’t nominated for either the Hart or the Ted Lindsay.
Still, The Kid reached out to Team Canada GM Jim Nill and requested to be on the team. In Prague, he’s played hard (five points so far); prepared alongside Flyers that may or may not hate him (Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn) and done fun things like pose for this selfie with famous footballer (that’s Euro for “soccer player”) Petr Cech:
8. Antoine Roussel can’t stop being Antoine Roussel.
The Dallas Stars’ agitator has been far and away the most penalized player in the tournament. The Frenchman has racked up 34 PIM in four contests.
Sill, with GM Jim Nill running Team Canada, it was in every Dallas player’s best interest to participate.
9. We have a reason to think about Kaspars Daugavins again.
The NHL equivalent of a one-hit wonder, one-time Senator Daugavins made 2013 highlight reels with his ringette-inspired shootout move before flaming out and taking his pro career overseas. The 26-year-old is still a solid player for Latvia, though. He’s on a point-per-game pace.
10. Sweden’s goalies are auctioning off masks for charity.
Always a classy touch. Proceeds of Jhonas Enroth and Anders Nilsson’s masks go to Barncancerfonden, a Swedish foundation fighting child cancer.
11. More vague threats that Ilya Kovalchuk will return to the NHL.
“I have two more years on my contract [with the KHL’s SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL,” the Russian told ESPN.com. “Then, we’ll see.”
And then he cackled manically, we imagine.
12. Kevin Lalande is Belarusian, apparently, and playing awesome.
Lalande, 28, was born in Kingston, Ont., made noise with the OHL’s Belleville Bulls, and was a fifth-round draft choice of the Calgary Flames in 2005.
Now he’s a KHL veteran suiting up for the Belarus national team and leading Ondrej Pavelec, Sergei Bobrovsky and Mike Smith in save percentage (.938). (Finland’s Pekka Rinne, meanwhile, recorded his third consecutive shutout Thursday.)
13. We get to see Steve Moses on a bigger stage.
After leading the KHL in scoring this season, Moses signed with the Nashville Predators as a free agent.
He scored on future teammate Rinne, but is now sidelined with a lower-body injury.
14. We get to see a fairer points system at work.
The IIHF’s 3-2-1-0 scoring system makes every meeting a three-point game and presses teams to finish the job in regulation.
Three points for a regulation win, two for an overtime win, one for an overtime or shootout loss.
It just could work, NHL.
15. It looks like Canada will win this thing.
Down three goals to Sweden, an unusually strong Canadian squad rallied Wednesday to remain undefeated and is the top seed in Group A. Group B is led by Belarus. There is no Group C.