The 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship is now over. Canada defeated Russia 5-4 in a thrilling gold medal game, and Slovakia beat Sweden 4-2 to earn the bronze medal.
The World Junior Tournament is a fantastic way for NHL teams to watch their young talents play against other young superstars.
The Los Angeles Kings had three prospects playing in the tournament. Adrian Kempe, forward, played for Sweden. Alex Lintuniemi, defensemen, played for Finland. And Dominik Kubalik, forward, played for the Czech Republic.
Adrian Kempe was a first round pick for the Kings, and he exceeded his expectations. Sweden played six games throughout the tournament, and in those six games he scored four goals (one was a game winning goal) and had four assists for eight total points.
Kempe is a decent sized forward, he loves to fight for the puck, and he is a fantastic skater. One thing Kempe needs to do is gain more weight in order to fill out his frame so he can compete with the big boys in the NHL. During the World Junior Championship, Kempe proved that he could become a power play specialist by scoring all four of his goals during power plays. Those are the kind of results that the Kings’ 11th ranked power play unit could use.
It will be a while before Adrian Kempe is ready to be a part of the Kings lineup, and when he does join the roster he will most likely be in the third or fourth line, but he showed the most promise out of all the Kings prospects in the World Junior Championship.
Dominik Kubalik played in five games for the Czech Republic. He scored one goal out of fourteen shots, and had a -3 +/-. In his five games played with Finland, Alex Lintuniemi had three shots on goal and a -1 +/-. Clearly the Kings’ other prospects did not perform to their expectations. However it is just one tournament, and hopefully they will be able to turn their play around.