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World Juniors: Grading the Performance of Nine LA Kings Prospects

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Following what was a fantastic two weeks in Edmonton, the 2021 World Junior Championship came to a close on Tuesday night with the United States earning a decisive 2-0 victory over Canada for the gold medal. It also pushed America’s record to a perfect 4-0 in WJC gold medal games vs. Canada since 2004.

Anaheim Ducks prospect Trevor Zegras was named the tournament MVP and set a few records along the way. This should only serve to breathe new life into the Kings-Ducks rivalry in the coming years, as Zegras and his best friend, Alex Turcotte, look to have bright futures ahead.

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Back to the WJC, though, for a quick recap and some final thoughts. In the notes below, we’ve assigned a letter grade to the performance of each of the Kings nine prospects who participated.

BROCK FABER: Defenseman – USA

WJC: 0 goals, 5 assists, plus-8, 0 PIM in 7 games played, 17:06 min/game

Letter Grade: A+

It took USA coach Nate Leaman all of one game to promote Faber to the top pairing with Flyers first rounder, Cam York. Faber was as smooth and steady as any defender in the tournament. His positioning, poise with the puck, and general defensive instincts were top notch. His five points in the tournament were fifth best among all defensemen, and second on Team USA (behind York, 1G and 5A). Faber’s five assists tied for fourth among all skaters. And in the overall WJC stats, Faber finished tied for seventh with a plus-8 rating. Among just defensemen, he was fifth best. If there was anything to knock with Faber, and this is maybe even nit picking, after a strong start in the tourney, perhaps he was a little tired at points in the quarterfinal and semis. However, Faber was very good in the gold medal game, pushing aside any concerns. Among the nine, he was the breakout star of the WJC. He’ll now rejoin the No. 1 ranked school in the country, University of Minnesota, for the balance of the season.

Get to know him here – Faber’s recent appearance on Kings Of The Podcast

ARTHUR KALIYEV: Forward – USA

WJC: 3 goals, 5 assists, plus-9, 4 PIM in 7 games played, 15:44 min/game

Letter Grade: A

Tied for second on the team with 24 SOG, Kaliyev was on the top line for all but a few minutes in the entire tournament.

Kaliyev earned universal praise for his improved performance compared to last year. He was strong on pucks, battled hard, and was playing well at both ends of the ice. Of his three goals, two came on the power play and one stood as the game winning goal. More importantly, they were all huge goals for USA, none came in garbage time. He came into December’s pre-WJC camp a little bit lighter and had clearly taken his off-season training in Los Angeles very seriously. Kaliyev wanted more than to just get the #ArtyParty started at the tournament, he wanted to put his stamp on things. Mission accomplished. He was a driver, not a passenger, in USA’s gold medal efforts.

Get to know him here – Kaliyev’s recent appearance on Kings Of The Podcast

ALEX TURCOTTE: Forward – USA

WJC: 3 goals, 5 assists, plus-8, 2 PIM in 7 games played, 16:12 min/game

Letter Grade: A

It’s too easy to point to Turcotte scoring the game winning goal in the final game and have some recency bias when evaluating his performance. Or even to look at the last two games, considering he also scored the first U.S. goal in the semifinal game (for what may have been a first in WJC history – a goal where all three prospects involved were from the same NHL organization, when Turcotte scored from Kaliyev and Faber). Turcotte was impressive from the exhibition game a few days before Christmas, all the way through the two week tournament. Sure, he seemed to get better as things rolled along. However, he hit a few posts in the round robin and you just had that feeling he was going to break out at any minute. As coach Leaman put it, “Turcotte just plays the game. He can play any style. He can make plays, he can score. He does so much beyond just put up points.” Even playing under the large shadow of Zegras this year, Turcotte’s role in any success USA experienced can’t be understated. He was a big-time player on the world’s greatest stage.

Get to know him here – Turcotte’s recent appearance on Kings Of The Podcast

QUINTON BYFIELD: Forward – Canada

WJC: 2 goals, 5 assists, plus-7, 4 PIM in 7 games played, 12:40 min/game

Letter Grade: B-

In a winning a silver medal with Canada, Byfield played the role he was either assigned, or earned, depending upon your perspective. Casual observers will quickly point to him being on the third line and not putting up big numbers and say he had a disappointing tournament. Most of his points came in a single game, against a clearly outclassed Swiss team. For the glass-half full contingent, Byfield’s 60% faceoff success (52-for-86) was seventh-best in the entire WJC, and tops on the much-hyped Team Canada. In fact, he took more faceoffs than any other on his team. Even though this was his second World Juniors, at 18 years old, he was still the youngest player on a team where every forward was selected in the first round. Byfield had reportedly added 10-15 additional pounds during the offseason; perhaps that slowed him down at first, as he wasn’t used to playing with that weight. His compete level certainly seemed to increase after the first few games. With just 8 SOG total, it was a stark difference from the OHL, where he is one of the primary shot producers for the Sudbury Wolves. We could argue the case of Byfield from either side for days on end. We also had Kings Director of Player Personnel Nelson Emerson on Kings Of The Podcast just a few days ago, where he tried his best to explain what Byfield was doing well in the tournament. Those that are believers aren’t worried much. His critiques aren’t going to be persuaded by anything written here. If somebody wanted to go C+ on Byfield’s grade, we wouldn’t argue. We also think the Kings are still sky-high on Byfield. Period.

Remember what people said about Kaliyev after last year’s tournament? Nobody is complaining now, are they?

Get to know Byfield here – his recent appearance on Kings Of The Podcast

JORDAN SPENCE: Defenseman – Canada

WJC: 1 goal, 0 assists, plus-1, 0 PIM in 2 games played

Letter Grade: Incomplete

While the official stats say Spence played in two games, he really did no such thing. In the second game of record, he dressed as an extra defenseman and didn’t get a single second of ice time. With just 5:07 of ice time in his lone appearance, Spence skated onto the ice for his first shift and promptly scored a goal. If we were grading on efficiency alone, Spence earned an A+ at the WJC. In reality, the body of work just wasn’t there for a proper evaluation.

LA Kings executive Nelson Emerson recently spoke to Kings Of The Podcast about Spence and Team Canada

KASPER SIMONTAIVAL: Forward – Finland

WJC: 4 goals, 3 assists, plus-5, 2 PIM in 7 games played, 15:28 min/game

Letter Grade: B

En route to a bronze medal finish, Simontaival was a key scoring threat for Finland. Every time you looked up, he was buzzing all over the offensive zone. He drove his line as much as team captain Anton Lundell (Florida Panthers first round selection) and was more physical in this tournament than in league play. Further, Simontaival’s 15:28 average TOI — although ranking in the top-5 among Finnish forwards — would have actually been higher had his coach not moved him down the lineup following his performance in the quarterfinal game. How did Simontaival respond to being demoted? He simply scored two massive goals in Finland’s instant classic with Team USA during the semis. You could even go as far as to say he was the principal reason Finland almost upset the U.S., losing a nail-bitter 4-3. Given that his main purpose was to be an offensive leader on the team (and he was tied for the team lead in shot conversion), a grade of B+ is probably warranted here. We just felt more comfortable marking him down half-a-grade for his suspicious play vs. Sweden.

TOBIAS BJORNFOT: Defenseman – Sweden

WJC: 0 goals, 2 assists, plus-1, 0 PIM in 5 games played, 19:28 min/game

Letter Grade: B+

He wore an ‘A’ for his country and was named one of their three best players in the tournament. Bjornfot was exactly what they wanted. He was what he is – consistent. Among defensemen who played in all five of Sweden’s games, Bjornfot’s 19:28 TOI average was second highest. He also took over when Philip Broberg was injured after a few games. In returning for his second WJC, Bjornfot was hoping for gold. Instead, he came home empty handed. He’ll now turn his attention to the pro game, as he’s expected to spend about half the NHL season with the Kings during their upcoming 56-game campaign.

MARTIN CHROMIAK: Forward – Slovakia

WJC: 1 goal, 0 assists, minus-7, 0 PIM in 5 games played, 16:59 min/game

Letter Grade: B

Don’t just look at the fact that Chromiak registered a single point and assume he didn’t fare well. The issue is much larger. After Slovakia scored a total of just eight goals at the WJC last year, they could only muster seven this time around. As a team, their focus was on defense this year, and that’s where they shined, cutting down the number of goals allowed. Chromiak’s lone goal came against Canada, and it was the only shot of the night to get past the tournament’s top goalie, Devon Levi. Instead of marking him down a half-a-point for his lack of offense or eye-popping minus-7 rating, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt with our grade.

LUKAS PARIK: Goalie – Czech Republic

WJC: 1-1-0, 3.77 GAA, .883 SV%, 1 SO in 2 games played

Letter Grade: B-

For the second year in a row, Parik’s trip to the WJC remained a mixed bag. For reasons that only the coach could attempt to explain, Parik wasn’t deemed the team’s No. 1 goalie coming into the tournament – even though most who follow the Czech team will tell you he should have been. Nonetheless, Parik came out looking like a star when he shutout Russia in an opening round upset. Even this came with its own bit of controversy, as the coach submitted a lineup showing a different player as the starting goalie, only to see Parik take the spot come game time. In a weird turn of events, a similar thing took place before their next game against the USA. Unfortunately for Parik, coming off a 30-save shutout two nights earlier didn’t mean anything. The team in front of him came out emotionally flat and were runover by Team USA. Parik was pulled after letting in seven goals and his tournament was all but done. Offering a grade of ‘C’ here would be appropriate, if not for his stellar performance against Russia. It truly was magical. Despite the rollercoaster experience, Parik remains the Kings top goaltending prospect.

RELATED CONTENT:

World Juniors Twitter Breakdown: Gold Medal Game – USA vs Canada

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Comments

  2. Nice piece and thank you. Well done.

    BTW, to my LAKI friends, this is KC23 and I’m doing fine. I retired in August. Haven’t been on LAKI because I and at least 2 other conservative posters (TheRealDom and DesertKing) were removed without any warning or reason given. Feel free to look at my last several posts as you’ll see I did nothing different than those who said left-wing agenda type comments and were allowed to stay on the site. Cancel culture in real-time.

  3. Hey, and thank you. I can understand other grades, but Chromiak’s B is way too high. He was good against Swiss and OK against Canada, but otherwise he was average at best. Especially against Finland he was pretty awful. He is talented and has some puckskills and hockeysense, but he is not a good skater and there is no physical play at all. He tries to avoid all kind of contact and in my mind he just doesn’t compete hard enough.

    • FWIW – Have been in contact with six NHL scouts/execs re: these grades over the past 24 hours. Several suggested a grade of B+ was more appropriate for Chromiak. They were in line with all other grades posted here.