Kraken player development director Jeff Tambellini has long watched the annual World Junior Hockey Championships as a barometer for who tomorrow’s NHL stars will be.
The difference this time is he’ll likely be watching a record eight Kraken prospects partake in the world’s premier Under-20 hockey event from Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Ottawa. Seven have already been confirmed, while an eighth is expected in the coming days, which would outdo their prior team record six prospects on rosters last year.
“I think what it shows is we’ve selected players who are at the top of the class in their age group,” said Tambellini, who won a silver medal playing for Canada at the 2004 event. “For us, it’s really exciting to see it when the 18-year-olds make the team.”
That indeed happened this time around as Spokane Chiefs forward Berkly Catton, 18, the team’s No. 8 overall pick last June, was one of three Kraken prospects chosen by star-studded Team Canada. The centerman joins forward Carson Rehkopf and defenseman Caden Price on the gold medal-favorite Canadian side.
Rehkopf, a second-round Kraken pick in 2023, also made the Canadian team last year as an 18-year-old. As for Price, 19, a third-round pick by the Kraken in 2023, he was a surprise addition based largely on his 32 points notched in his first 26 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League this season.
“I think at the start of the year, he would not have been projected on the roster,” Tambellini said of Price. “But he’s had an outstanding first three months in the Western Hockey League, and he’s put himself on the radar with his play.”
Other Kraken prospects headed to the tournament include Team Finland winger Julius Miettinen of the Everett Silvertips and goalie Kim Saarinen, both also among the younger age-18 players and selected in the second and third rounds of this summer’s draft. Team Sweden took Kraken forward prospect Zeb Forsfjall, 19, while Czechia has taken defenseman Jakub Fibigr, 18, and is expected to name former first-round, 20th overall pick from 2023 Eduard Sale, 19, to the team later this week after he played for them at last year’s event.
Between Catton, Miettinen, Saarinen and Fibigr, that’s more 18-year-olds representing the Kraken in this year’s tournament than they’d had players of any age on rosters in either of the first two years of the franchise’s existence. And all of those are on Canadian, Finnish and Czech squads that have won gold or silver medals within the past two tournaments and are expected to contend again.
“When that young group makes the tournament, it really shows that these are elite players in their age group,” Tambellini said. “I think our amateur staff has done a really good job of identifying the players and making sure we get them as Kraken.”
In prior years, just making the Canadian squad has been almost a guarantee of eventually playing in the NHL. Canada has won a record 20 gold medals in 48 tournaments played to date, though the previous event in Sweden was the first since 2019 in which they’ve failed to place among the top 3.
The Soviet Union/Russia have won the next most golds at 13 but are barred from participating for now because of that country’s invasion of Ukraine. That means the country with the next most golds after Canada at this year’s event is the defending champion U.S. at six while Finland has five.
Sweden and Czechia/Czechoslovakia have two golds apiece. The Swedes won silver at home the prior time out, while the Czechs took bronze after winning silver two years ago.
In prior years, the tournament has featured numerous Hockey Hall of Famers, most notably Wayne Gretzky – who led the event in scoring as an underaged 16-year-old in 1978 with 17 points in six games for bronze medalist Canada. Other Hall of Famers who played for Canada include Mario Lemieux, Jarome Iginla, Brendan Shanahan, Eric Lindros, Roberto Luongo, Mike Gartner, Larry Murphy, Dale Hawerchuk, Dave Andreychuk, Scott Niedermeyer, Steve Yzerman, Doug Gilmour, Pierre Turgeon, Shea Weber, Joe Sakic, Chris Pronger, Mark Rechhi, Joe Nieuwendyk and Luc Robitaille.
U.S. players inducted into the Hall who played at the world juniors include Chris Chelios, Phil Housley, Jeremy Roenick, Mark Howe, Brian Leetch and Mike Modano.
Hall of Famers from other nations includes Niklas Lidstrom, Henrik Lundqvist, Daniel and Henrik Sedin and Peter Forsberg of Sweden, Teemu Selanne of Finland, Pavel Bure, Sergei Zubov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov, Sergei Makarov and Slava Fetisov of the Soviet Union, Peter Stastny of Slovakia and Dominik Hasek and Marian Hossa of Czechoslovakia.
Kraken forward Jordan Eberle scored one of the event’s most memorable goals, a tying marker for gold medalist Canada in 2009 against Russia with five seconds to go in the semifinal ahead of notching the game-winner in a shootout. And Kraken assistant general manager Jason Botterill won three consecutive golds playing for Canada from 1994-96 – the only player at the World Juniors ever to do so.
“I mean, if you’re in this tournament, there’s a very high likelihood that you’re going to play in the National Hockey League or at least be given a really good opportunity,” said Tambellini, who played in 242 NHL games over parts of five seasons, primarily with the New York Islanders. “So, to have seven and maybe eight players in this tournament, it just shows we’ve identified some very good players and we’re going to have a lot of swings at these guys playing in the league and hopefully for a long time.”
