Montreal Canadiens: Five Best World Junior Performances by Current Habs

The Montreal Canadiens are finally back in action tonight, though it will be with a depleted lineup when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning.

There are also some top prospects in action at the World Junior Hockey Championship.

Kaiden Guhle and Canada will take on Austria tonight after winning their opener over Jan Mysak and Czechia on Sunday. Mysak’s team also lost yesterday to Germany, though it was in overtime so the have one point after two games.

There is a third Canadiens prospect in the tournament, as Oliver Kapanen and Team Finland are off to a 2-0 start with wins over Germany and Austria. Though Czechia is off to a disappointing start, Finland and Canada certainly have medal hopes in this tournament. Guhle is playing a top four role on the blue line and has shown to be a physical presence on the ice against Czechia.

We have seen some great performances over the years by current Habs players at this event. It doesn’t always translate to immediate NHL success or else Martin Reway would have become a start after his ten points in five game performance back in 2014.

Of course, Reway dealt with some serious health issues that derailed his career, and he is still playing pro in Czechia.

Last year, Cole Caufield helped the United States win a gold medal while Guhle was on the Canadian team that took home silver. Neither player completely dominated the event, but a handful of current Canadiens did dominate when they played at the World Juniors.

Let’s take a look at the top five performances by current Canadiens players at the World Juniors over the years.

Cayden Primeau

Cayden Primeau was not supposed to be the starter for USA at the 2019 World Juniors. Kyle Keyser started the opening game and won 2-1 over Slovakia.

Primeau got the call in the second game but it was against Kazakhstan and the USA won 8-2. Primeau stopped 11 of 13 shots, but then Keyser was back in the net for their third game. He allowed five goals in an overtime loss to Sweden which opened the door for Primeau.

Primeau took full advantage. He started the team’s final preliminary round game and stopped 27 of 28 shots he faced against a tough Finland team. The net was then Primeau’s for the medal round games.

USA beat Czech Republic in the quarterfinals 4-1 and Primeau stopped 18 of 19 shots. USA faced a tough test in the semifinals against Russia, and pulled ahead 2-1 in the second period. Primeau turned aside all 15 shots he faced in the third period and allowed just one goal on 35 shots in the game to lead his team to the gold medal game.

USA would fall to Finland in that final game, with Kaapo Kakko scoring with less than two minutes to play to give Finland a 3-2 win. Primeau faced 31 shots in that game and made 28 saves.

Primeau was not named the top goalie or MVP of the tournament, but he put up terrific numbers. He played five games for USA, and had a 1.61 GAA and a .937 SV%, helping the team win a silver medal and fall just one goal short of gold.

Alexander Romanov

Alexander Romanov was a much hyped prospect by his own NHL teams managerial staff. Marc Bergevin was not one for tooting his own horn or talking about the good moves he made, but he was not afraid to talk about how proud he was of the Alexander Romanov pick at the 2018 NHL Draft.

Romanov was not ranked that high, but the Canadiens found themselves with an extra second round pick after trading Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise to the Chicago Blackhawks for Phillip Danault and this pick. They used it on Romanov, who they really liked, but was not a well known prospect around the world.

He would change that perspective at the 2019 World Juniors.

Romanov was just 18 years old at this tournament, but he was better than any 19 year old. In fact, he won the Best Defenceman Award at the end of the tournament and was named to the All-Star team.

The Habs draft pick opened the tournament with a goal and two assists in a 4-0 Russia win over Denmark. He was fourth among Russian defenders in ice time but that wouldn’t last long. Russia’s second game was a tightly contested 2-1 victory over Czech Republic and though Romanov didn’t have any points, he was paired with Alexander Alexeyev and they were first and second on the team in ice time.

Romanov once again played over 20 minutes and had one assist in a 7-4 win over Switzerland. Then, in the preliminary round finale, Romanov was once again second on the team in ice time and set up the winning goal in a 2-1 Russia victory over Canada.

Romanov had two assists and played over 23 minutes in Russia’s decisive 8-3 quarterfinal win over Slovakia. Russia lost in the semifinal, 2-1 to USA, on a strong goaltending performance from Primeau (as mentioned earlier). Romanov played 21:36 and brought that physical style and two-way presence we have come to know.

He then added an assist in the bronze medal game, finishing the tournament with one goal and eight points in seven games. This put him just one point back of Grigori Denisenko and Aleksi Heponiemi for the tournament lead in scoring.

Romanov really put his name on the map in the hockey world with this performance. He showed to be a two-way player and a fierce physical presence on the ice and won the top defenceman award for his terrific play.

Ryan Poehling

Also at the 2019 World Juniors, Ryan Poehling was unbelievable. Yes, that makes three of the top five performances all from the same tournament and yes, I watched more than just one tournament. It’s just that the 2019 event was a great one for Habs prospects and none of them were better than Poehling.

Poehling started the tournament on the teams top line but he was playing left wing with Josh Norris at centre and Jason Robertson on the other wing. It’s a great line, but Poehling’s a centre and he would play his best hockey down the middle of the ice. He was held scoreless in that opening game which was a 2-1 victory over Slovakia.

For the team’s second game, Poehling was moved down to the second line, but put at centre, while Joel Farabee took his spot on the top line. Farabee scored a hat trick and Poehling had a goal and two assists in a blowout win over Kazakhstan.

It was USA’s third game where Poehling really stood out and made a name for himself. Still on the third line, though he was with Oliver Wahlstrom so it is not like he was on a grind line, the Americans fell behind 4-1 to Sweden. In the third period, Poehling scored a power play goal, an even strength goal and tied the game in the final minute with an extra attacker on the ice. USA would go on to lose in overtime, but grabbed a point in the standings thanks to Poehling natural hat trick in the third period.

Poehling added another goal in the USA 4-1 win over Finland to close out the round robin portion of the tournament.

He didn’t add any points in the medal round for USA, but Poehling was the team’s shutdown centre as they held Czech Republic to one goal in the quarterfinal and Russia to a single goal as well in the semifinal.

Finland would beat USA in the gold medal game, with Habs prospect Jesse Ylonen scoring the opening goal. Poehling would finish the tournament with five goals and eight points in seven games and a silver medal. He was named the MVP of the tournament and is one of only two current Habs to win an MVP at the World Juniors.

Carey Price

Carey Price was already a top five pick when he arrived in Leksands, Sweden for the 2007 World Juniors. Canada was a veteran team, bringing back 11 players from the previous year’s team that won a gold medal, but they really were not a star studded team that you might expect from a Canadian Junior team.

Their top scorer was Jonathan Toews who has obviously gone on to have a tremendous career, but he finished tied for 10th in tournament scoring with eight points. It was a defensive team, and was carried by Price.

Price opened the tournament by shutting out a strong Swedish team on its home ice. A 2-0 victory for Canada gave them the confidence they needed to get the event started on the right foot. The next day, Canada beat USA 6-3 and allowing three goals that day would be the toughest outing for Price in the whole tournament.

Price continued to play every minute of the tournament as Canada beat Germany 3-1 and closed out the round robin with another shutout, this time over Slovakia.

This gave Canada a bye to the semifinals where they would meet up with USA once again, which is where Price really made his mark. Canada went to overtime with USA and would take a penalty as well, giving USA a 4 on 3 power play. However, Price made several huge saves to keep the game tied and eventually steered it to a shootout where Jonathan Toews would prove to be the hero by scoring on all three of his attempts. Price stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced in regulation and overtime.

Canada would beat Russia 4-2 in the gold medal game with Price once again shutting down a high powered offensive team.

Price played every minute of Canada’s six games and only allowed seven goals. He finished the tournament with a 1.14 GAA and an incredible .961 SV%. He was named the tournament’s MVP for his unbelievable performance in goal for Canada.