The 2024 IIHF World Championship came to an end last weekend with Montreal’s representatives being shut out of the medals. However, several of them still earned high grades for their strong individual performances at the event.
Cole Caufield (USA) – B-
I had high hopes for Caufield heading into this tournament but the final stat line doesn’t tell the true tale. Knowing this was a shot at a 4 Nations (and possibly Olympic) audition, I was expecting him to be one of their go-to threats offensively. That wasn’t the case most nights. Yes, the top line did the bulk of the scoring but Brady Tkachuk spent a fair bit of time with Caufield and was one of the top scorers in the tournament while Caufield only managed a point in three of eight games. I don’t think he played poorly by any stretch but I was hoping for him to be more impactful than he was.
Stats: 8 GP, 4 goals, 4 assists, 8 points, +4 rating, 2 PIMS, 27 shots, 15:32 ATOI
Kaiden Guhle (CAN) – B
This tournament felt like a good demonstration of what Guhle’s ideal role should be. Yes, he was on the third pairing at five-on-five but was third among Canada’s blueliners in average ice time. In that secondary role, he was quietly efficient, did well killing penalties, and even chipped in a bit offensively. In an ideal world, doesn’t that more or less describe the ideal performance from him with the Habs if the back end comes together as planned? It was an altogether solid debut at the Worlds for Guhle.
Stats: 9 GP, 1 goal, 4 assists, 5 points, +4 rating, 2 PIMS, 12 shots, 18:29 ATOI
Oliver Kapanen (FIN) – A
Talk about making an immediate impact with a bang. Kapanen scored six times in the first four games of the tournament and held at least a share of the tournament lead in goals heading into the medal round. Notably, several of the goals were the type of ‘dirty goals’ that are needed to have success in the NHL. Maybe I’m being too picky but I was hoping he’d have a bit more of an impact against the stronger opponents given how he started which takes me off the A+ rating but that’s about the only thing I can nitpick about his performance.
Stats: 8 GP, 6 goals, 0 assists, 6 points, +1 rating, 2 PIMS, 17 shots, 14:07 ATOI
Vincenz Rohrer (AUT) – C
This was Rohrer’s first trip through the tournament and it showed. When he was playing against his age group previously internationally, he stood out as a key piece. However, in this event, he was more of a depth piece, primarily lining up on the fourth line. Rohrer had a few good flashes but was otherwise quiet which, to be honest, isn’t a terrible outcome for someone just getting their feet wet at this level.
Stats: 7 GP, 0 goals, 2 assists, 2 points, -5 rating, 2 PIMS, 4 shots, 10:51 ATOI
Juraj Slafkovsky (SVK) – B+
Considering he didn’t score a goal, this might seem high at first glance. But his usage was perplexing. When you have a player like Slafkovsky, putting him with some veteran marginal pieces in an effort to spread out the offence isn’t exactly maximizing his strengths. As a result, he was asked to try to do way too much and as expected, the results were mixed. Still, he was pretty consistent when it came to hitting the scoresheet and when they did put him with an NHL-calibre player in Tomas Tatar, he played better. We learned he’s not ready to carry a line yet. At 20, I don’t think anyone should have realistically been expecting him to. Slafkovsky did the best he could in a situation that was far from optimal.
Stats: 8 GP, 0 goals, 8 assists, 8 points, +1 rating, 8 PIMS, 30 shots, 19:23 ATOI