The 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships have wrapped up and although none
of the five Montreal prospects came away with gold medals, three of them still
picked up a bronze. It was an up and down tournament for several of the
prospects as some met their expectations while others didn’t. Here are my
assessments for each player.
Nathan Beaulieu (Canada): C- His inclusion on Team Canada was a
surprise to some who thought they may go with more of an offensive or defensive
specialist instead of a two-way guy. Sadly, he never seemed to get going
as although he was a PP player for most of the tourney, he was near invisible on
the scoresheet. Discipline was also a problem for him early on as he led
all players in PIMS for a few days. The lack of hustle on the eventual
Russia game winner seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms
of playing time; even with six defencemen against Finland, he saw very little
ice time after the first period. There’s still lots to like about his
overall potential but this was not his finest couple of weeks.
Michael Bournival (Canada): C+ Expectations for the former
Colorado third rounder weren’t the highest as he was pegged as a fourth liner
and stayed there throughout the tournament. He showed the same elements
that had him fighting for a spot late in training camp with the Habs, decent
speed and strong defensive hustle. His job was pretty much to provide
effective enough shifts to give the other lines a breather somewhat regularly
and he did that well. I was, however, hoping to see a bit more offensively
from him given the sniping abilities he has displayed so far in the QMJHL
season.
Brendan Gallagher (Canada): B+ Like Bournival, we saw the same
attributes from Montreal’s training camp. He hustles constantly, has no
fear, and he still hasn’t met a shot he doesn’t like. His overall
production was so-so especially considering he was on what was supposed to be
the number one line but offence wasn’t all that he brought to the team. He
was an effective penalty killer and was often a sparkplug, especially in the
semi-final against Russia. His penalty total (five minors in six games) is
a little concerning but to his credit he did draw several to help offset them.
All in all, a strong tournament for the smallest prospect in the Habs’
organization.
Daniel Pribyl (Czech Republic): C For me, this is almost
equivalent to an N/A as Pribyl really didn’t play a whole lot. Instead of
that though, I’ll give him the old fashioned ‘average’ grade. He missed
the first game due to injury then played sparingly the rest of the tourney due
to that injury. There were some promising moments, especially with his
puckhandling. His skating was clearly a step slow from the start (and it
wasn’t one of his strengths to begin with) which makes it hard to evaluate a
good chunk of his game. He still got some valuable experience though which
will come in handy for next year when he’ll be a go-to guy for the Czechs.
Jarred Tinordi (United States): A- We all know Tinordi’s game is
about the exact opposite of ‘flash and dash.’ His role was to be a
shutdown defenceman and play physically and he did that well enough to be named
one of USA’s top three players of the tournament. He was a minus player
only once in six games while his overall rating of +7 was a defence high.
Many fans were down on him after he wasn’t exactly dominant in his first OHL
season but this tournament showed how big of a step forward he has taken this
year; his played the exact style London fans have loved all season long.
For each players’ stats, check out our StatTracker, linked below.