#World Junior Championship

The NHL Central Scouting Bureau released its mid-season rankings today, giving Montreal Canadiens fans a better idea of the type of player they're likely to welcome to the team this summer. It comes as no surprise that phenom Connor Bedard tops the North American skater list, powered by a fantastic showing at the 2023 World Junior Championship that…

Welcome to Blackburn's Big Board, a weekly check-in on the hockey things that I currently care about. It'll go a variety of ways, including teams that are earning my attention, players of note, storylines generating buzz and any other hockey topics that my weird brain finds compelling. The 2023 World Junior Championship concluded last week after an…

Welcome to the first 2023 edition of Screen Shots, a THN.com regular feature in which we tackle a few hockey topics and analyze them in a few paragraphs. You know how this works by now, right? Onward we go: The NHL revealed most of the rosters for the league's upcoming All-Star Game in South Florida. The best news is the league has decided to give…

By Chris Johnston NorthStar Bets Fri., Jan. 6, 20234 min. read No one is explicitly using the'T' word. You know, the one that rhymes with "sank." But it may not be a complete coincidence that three teams at the bottom of the NHL standings are currently pacing towards some of the lowest point totals we've seen recorded in the last two decades. Not…

The Montreal Canadiens. had a very difficult December. "We're a tired group," said head coach Martin St-Louis. "Could be physically, could be mentally. This was a hard month. December was really hard for us with the travel and the schedule we played. Also, the injuries we got. And even with the time off at Christmas, we had to travel all the way…

In the first half of 2022-23, the Ducks seemed to be ascending in a wide-open Pacific Division. By mid-November, they were riding an eight-game winning streak and held a 10-4-3 record, buoyed by an incredible goal-scoring binge from right winger Troy Terry, who buried 24 goals in his first 41 games. The momentum didn't last, however. They had a…

Day four of the World Junior Championship is here! Group B is shaking up to be interesting. Finland sits in second, behind only Switzerland, but ahead of Team USA (fourth). Today, they will be taking on Latvia, who is looking to snag their first win of the tournament. Latvia is the underdog coming in. They lost to the USA in their first match, then…

LEEDS, England (AP) - Erling Haaland set a Premier League scoring record in Manchester City's 3-1 win over Leeds on Wednesday. At this pace, it won't be his last. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. SAN DIEGO - Prolific passer Philip…

Editor's note: Alex Crowe is a junior journalism major and serves as a senior sports reporter at the Northern Star. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the Star. This is an opinion piece. The 2023 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships have arrived, giving Chicago Blackhawks fans a chance to watch up-and-coming talent amidst Chicago's…

Oliver Kapanen (Finland) and Adam Engstrom (Sweden) are off to a hot start in the 2023 World Junior Championship that's taking place in Halifax and Moncton. Kapanen was named the player of the game in Finland's second matchup, whereas Engstrom started the tournament by earning two assists. Montreal Canadiens prospect Justin Barron could provide the…

Some of the Ottawa Senators' top prospects are ready to take on the world. The Senators are well-represented at the 2023 IIHF world junior championship that got under way Boxing Day in Halifax and Moncton. General manager Pierre Dorion, assistants Trent Mann and Ryan Bowness along with the rest of the scouting staff will be keeping a close eye on…

Buffalo Sabres prospect Isak Rosen has been up and down in Rochester, but he put up big numbers in Game 1 of the IIHF World Juniors. Isak Rosen has had his moments with the AHL's Rochester Americans this season, putting up 15 points, 3 goals, and 12 assists in 25 games. The rookie hasn't been great, but he hasn't been bad either. Contrast this…

The Columbus Blue Jackets were certainly excited by the prospect of a Columbus native defying the odds and playing in the NHL at 18 years old. While it was certainly a fun turn of events at the time to have Cole Sillinger play for the team during the 2021-22 season, in the long run, it may have been a terrible mistake. Sillinger was the Blue…

We've hit the second checkpoint mark of the 2022-23 season. First, it was Thanksgiving. Now, it's Christmas. Next, it's the All-Star Break and then it's the trade deadline. So here are 15 thoughts about the Blackhawks going into the three-day holiday break: 1. The Blackhawks are 8-20-4 and have 20 points through 32 games. They're on pace to finish…

The 2023 World Junior Championship is set to take place on Dec. 26 and Winnipeg Jets fans have plenty of reasons to tune in this year. Rutger McGroarty and Chaz Lucius will play within Team USA's top six, and Brad Lambert will fill the role of a top-six center for Team Finland. This article will go over a few things to look for from these prospects…

It's that time of year again! The 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC) is nearly upon us. If it feels like it hasn't been that long since the last installment of this tournament, that's because the 2022 event was completed this past August after the original tournament was canceled last December. The 2023 WJC begins next Monday in host cities…

As we approach the holiday season and end of the calendar year, it's time we take another look at the NHL Sour Rankings and rank the teams putting their worst foot forward in an attempt to secure the best odds at the first overall pick. Unless one of these teams has a 2019 St. Louis Blues-level turnaround, there is a good chance that one of them…

The Vancouver Canucks made an offer to team captain and pending unrestricted free agent Bo Horvat roughly two weeks ago, people involved with the negotiations confirmed to The Athletic on Monday morning. That offer was rejected by Horvat and his representative Pat Morris of Newport Sports. Due to the sensitive and private nature of contract talks,…

For the vast majority of the season, the Montreal Canadiens had too many healthy players on the roster, which led to frustration for veteran players and rookies alike. But now that Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, and Mike Hoffman have been sidelined (in addition to Sean Monahan's questionable health status), reinforcements may be in order. The…

With most leagues in full swing, it's the perfect time to go take an early look at how well some players are stacking up in the Montreal Canadiens prospect pool. These power rankings will be based on the overall season, as well as the most recent week of action. Factors such as the strength of their team, the league in which they play, their age,…

Patrik Laine can remember it like it was yesterday. He was just 11 years old at the time, a young hockey fan rather than the star he has become today. When Tappara, the professional team he grew up rooting for in his hometown of Tampere, Finland, hosted the Florida Panthers in an exhibition game back in 2009, Laine was there to support his squad in…

Here is the lowdown on each of the OHL's 20 teams, in order of predicted finish in each division: East Division Peterborough Petes After a disappointing 2021-22 season, the Petes will be looking to contend for a conference title. They have a host of returning players and will be dangerous offensively. Hamilton Bulldogs Last season's league…

When the Montreal Canadiens made Kaiden Guhle their first-round selection in the 2020 NHL Draft, the choice was met with mixed reactions. The concern was whether they had simply forgone better options in favour of size, something we'd seen them do in the past with their first-round selections. There was, and remains, a lot more to Guhle's game than…

The rebuild - or at least retool - is finally on in San Jose it seems. This summer, the team jettisoned longtime pillar Brent Burns, changed GMs and seem committed to building out their prospect pool by coveting draft capital and young players. They still have a number of bad contracts on the books and their prospect pool is a long way from being…