CanucksArmy’s World Junior All-Star Choices

Now that the World Junior Hockey Championships have reached their end, I’m sure you’ve noticed the odd writer posting their All-Star ballot for the tournament on Twitter or in print across the internet.

I figured since we’re covering the tournament at CanucksArmy, why not us?

So, I’m posting my All-Star ballot for the tournament, with an explanation for each vote, and I’m also going to provide the ballots of those writers who submitted one of their own. Obviously, our votes don’t count towards the IIHF’s selection process, but it’s a fun exercise all the same.

We’re going to operate under the same standards as those chosen to vote, so that means three forwards of any position, two defencemen and one goaltender. There’s also an MVP vote, and we added our own wrinkle, the best defenceman and forward. Voting is based on non-medal and non-relegation matches.

Forward: Casey Mittelstadt, Team USA

Forward: Klim Kostin, Russia

Forward: Kiefer Bellows, Team USA

Defenceman: Timothy Liljegren, Sweden

Defenceman: Rasmus Dahlin, Sweden

Goalie: Carter Hart, Canada

MVP: Casey Mittlestadt

Best Defenceman: Rasmus Dahlin

Best Forward: Casey Mittelstadt

Choosing just five players for an All-Star ballot proved to be far more difficult than I anticipated. There were a couple of tough decisions there, not the least of which was leaving Elias Pettersson off my list — I just didn’t see enough at even strength to justify his inclusion. So too was leaving Carolina Hurricanes prospect Martin Necas (Czech Republic) and New York Islanders first-rounder Kiefer Bellows (The USA).

Leaving Cale Makar out of the All-Star team was probably the most difficult decision I had to make. On the one hand, Makar was over a point per game player in extremely limited minutes; on the other, Makar played extremely limited minutes. When it was all said and done, I just couldn’t reconcile with someone playing that little getting rewarded in this way. That said, Canada’s head coach Dominique Ducharme really should have played Makar more often.

As for who was left, Casey Mittelstadt was a slam-dunk for an All-Star spot and was most writer’s MVP for the tournament, so I feel pretty good about that selection. Mittelstadt finished the tournament with 11 points in seven games and was carrying the American team on his back for huge chunks of the tournament.

I was surprised not to see Klim Kostin show up on more writer’s All-Star teams, so I took a step towards fixing that with my own. In much the same way that the Americans relied heavily on Mittlestadt to carry their team offensively, the Russians generated the majority of their offence through Kostin. Kostin’s eight points in five games are among the best point per game rates in the tournament, too. This kid has a bright future.

As for Kiefer Bellows, all he did was score, and score constantly, and a lot of his goals were of huge importance to his team winning hockey games. I don’t know what else there is to add, so I’ll leave it at that.

On the blue line, I couldn’t overlook what Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Dahlin did for Team Sweden from the start of the tournament onwards. Liljegren’s two-to-three line passes were just magical and setup so very many a Swedish goal and Dahlin’s dynamism with the puck reaffirmed his status as the righteous first overall on everyone’s draft board.

Forward: Casey Mittelstadt, USA

Forward: Martin Necas, Czech Republic

Forward: Filip Zadina, Czech Republic

Defenseman: Adam Fox, USA

Defenseman: Rasmus Dahlin, Sweden

Goalie: Filip Gustavsson, Sweden

MVP: Casey Mittlestadt

Best Forward: Casey Mittlestadt

Best Defenceman: Adam Fox

Forward: Casey Mittelstadt, USA

Forward: Martin Necas, Czech Republic

Forward: Filip Zadina, Czech Republic

Defenseman: Olli Juolevi, Finland

Defenseman: Rasmus Dahlin, Sweden

Goalie: Filip Gustavsson, Sweden

MVP: Casey Mittlestadt

Best Forward: Casey Mittlestadt

Best Defenceman: Rasmus Dahlin

Forward: Casey Mittelstadt, USA

Forward: Martin Necas, Czech Republic

Forward: Elias Pettersson, Sweden

Defenseman: Conor Timmins, Canada

Goalie: Carter Hart, Canada

MVP: Casey Mittlestadt

Best Forward: Casey Mittlestadt

Best Defenceman: Rasmus Dahlin