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The Montreal Canadiens should hope history repeats itself with Finland’s victory

By Omar L |
VICTORIA, BC - DECEMBER 31: Jesse Ylonen #27 of Finland walks to the ice prior to a game versus the United States at the IIHF World Junior Championships at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on December 31, 2018 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images)
VICTORIA, BC - DECEMBER 31: Jesse Ylonen #27 of Finland walks to the ice prior to a game versus the United States at the IIHF World Junior Championships at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on December 31, 2018 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Light/Getty Images)

Jesse Ylönen and Team Finland took the gold medal World Juniors over the weekend which could lead to a series of success stories for the Montreal Canadiens.

Finland came out of the Round Robin as a middling team at the World Juniors. Despite being a hockey-producing mecha, the 2019 World Juniors were destined for Canada, the US, or perhaps Russia to take it all. But the Finns weren’t interested in that narrative taking down both Canada and USA on their way to a gold medal seeing Montreal Canadiens prospect Jesse Ylönen crowned a champion.

The last time Finland won the World Juniors was back in 2016. They had home-ice that year coming out of the preliminary round with a 3-1 record and +10 goal differential. Their run began with another Canada elimination (this time 6-5), a 2-1 win over Sweden and a nerve-wracking 4-3 overtime victory to beat Russia for the gold.

There were a number of names on that team who are currently making names for themselves in the NHL. Patrik Laine and Jesse Puljijarvi went second and fourth-overall respectively to the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers. Laine looks to be the next Alexander Ovechkin with 104 goals in 195 games while Puljijarvi is waiting to get his opportunity with the Oilers but has shown flashes of excellence.

It continues with Kasperi Kapanen for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes, and Mikko Rantanen in Colorado. Aho is the name in Carolina continuing his offensive output from last season on a team that struggles to score. Rantanen’s name has been at the top of the NHL leaderboards as his line along with Gabriel Landeskog, and Nathan MacKinnon has been a force all year while Kapanen is finally finding his stride on the Leafs top nine.

That last gold-medal victory for Finland led to some spectacular NHL talent, and perhaps the same thing will occur down the line after this one. The league has already gotten a taste of Eeli Tolvanen with the Nashville Predators, and the Montreal Canadiens will have the same hopes for Ylönen.

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The 2018 second-round pick finished second in team scoring with 3 goals and 3 assists including the first tally in the gold medal game. It may not have been close to the numbers the 2016 team put up, but Ylönen stood out each night despite the other names on the team. His skating and shiftiness with the puck were one of his greatest assets and each reak of NHL potential.

These are the reasons why many get so excited for the World Juniors. We’re watching the future. Max Domi was in a similar position back in 2015 after his performance for Team Canada standing out every game on a team that had a large quantity of hype via Connor McDavid.

And it goes beyond the team who won. Ryan Poehling was named best player at the World Juniors leading USA in points with 6 goals and 2 assists including his hat-trick while Alexander Romanov won best defenceman after his performance with Russia.

The Montreal Canadiens were constantly criticized about their inability to draft properly. They were able to find gems in later rounds, like Brendan Gallagher in the fifth round back in 2010, but a number of their drafts had you scratching your head wondering what happened to them.

Now it’s different. The Habs have changed the scope over the last two years, and these young plays can find themselves in the NHL if they continue to develop properly. The record number of prospects the Montreal Canadiens had at the World Juniors is a testament to that transition.

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Organizations that constantly produce NHL players while making the playoffs are the golden standard of excellence. Ylönen and Finland’s win is also a win for Montreal, as are the positives from Poehling, Romanov, Primeau, Olofsson, Suzuki, and Brook. It’ll be interesting to see what is next for this group of prospects as it’s safe to say this won’t be the last time their names will be heard on a grand stage.

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