Hey Insiders! Excited to share the latest episode of The Insider Show with you, featuring a conversation with reporter Sam Cosentino of Sportsnet and NHL Network.
Sam primarily focuses on prospects and recently attended the World Junior Championships which were held in Minnesota. There, he got in-person viewings of many Kings prospects, including tournament MVP Vojtěch Čihař, Carter George, Petteri Rimpinen, Jan Chovan and Brendan McMorrow.
Excerpts from our full conversation, which can be listened to in full and watched via the Kings YouTube channel, are below.
On Cihar’s excellence in the tournament
He was just great. And a lot like their team, he helped drive play, was in the mix all the time, getting to the dirty areas on the ice, being able to get to the net front. This is a guy who playing in the Extra Ligia at home before deciding to come to North America had eight points in 27 games. That’s not an easy thing to do, but I think coming over now to North America, will get a chance to play more minutes, play some more high leverage minutes, and take that momentum that he created at the World Juniors and move it forward into the second half here. Really good things here expected out of a second round pick, and so far, he hasn’t disappointed.
On a comparable NHL player to what Cihar could become
I would look at a guy like Phillip Danault, who the Kings recently moved on from, as being a similar type of player. Danault in junior hockey was a huge point producer, but then, as it turns out, he rebuilt himself into being a really good defensive center who could score secondary points. You look at Cihar as that same sort of guy who will be able to play in good matchup situations, who will be able to provide secondary offense, who’s not going to be a liability so you can put them out there in important situations in the game and probably give you both sides of special teams. Those types of players are really important for your organization because they’ve done so many things younger in their career that when they’re asked to do something at the National Hockey League level, they have a much easier time adjusting. Big things expected here in the coming years.
On the expectations for Cihar in the WHL for the remainder of the season
That’s going to be a challenge, and we saw it with Radim Murka? last year. Drafted by the Buffalo Sabers ninth overall, at Christmas he moved and stayed in North America after the World Juniors and had an unbelievable year and looks like he’s on a path to greatness for the Buffalo Sabres. When it comes to Cihar and getting that opportunity to go play for Kelowna, well the first thing is, they’re hosting the Memorial Cup, so he’s going to get a long, extended run. They’ve made some trades, they added some pieces. At the first half of the year, you thought, oh my gosh, this might not even be a playoff team. I think they are safely now, with the talent that they’ve acquired here in the recent weeks, are a playoff team. So what does that mean? Well, it means more high leverage hockey. Anytime you get an opportunity to play more high leverage hockey, it’s huge for your development. Anytime you have the pressure of being the host team for a Memorial Cup, such a huge tournament in North America, that is helpful for your development. And then getting the opportunity to play in a smaller rink, to play with and against some really good players, but not quite to the same level at the World Juniors, all of those things are really good for his development. So I think the Kings have to be happy that he’s made the commitment to come to North America and maybe tailor his game to the smaller rink, which should help him in his future with the Kings.
On Carter George, who won the bronze medal with Canada
When I looked at Carter George this year, yes, the great international resume, and the numbers were good in Owen Sound, but I think getting to the World Juniors, he looked to be a little fatigued, because the workload was quite heavy for him there. You saw him not play in the semifinals, Canada ends up losing that game and they go back to George for the bronze. And I think mental toughness wise, that can be a real challenge for you because he was the guy last year on a team that didn’t even get to the metal round, and so you want to have that opportunity to redeem yourself. Didn’t go good early in the tournament, ends up with a medal around his neck at the end and I think that’s hugely important. The thing that sticks out to me most about George is just that calmness, the poise, the crease presence. Yes, he’s a guy who I think plays a real efficient game, so you never see him stray too far, going on either side of the post or flopping around. He relies on his positioning, he relies on his calmness, his poise, and then the athleticism comes into play within those parameters and that’s what I really like about his game. He’s just one of those goaltenders who is super, super calm, and I think having that demeanor, having gone through some adversity here recently, being traded, all of those things are good for the character side of things, but he looks to me to be the character who should handle those things quite well.
On Petteri Rimpinen, who played every minute of the tournament for Team Finland
I watched him last year, kind of gut his way through that gold medal game, ended up losing in overtime. But the way he handled himself in that tournament, he had such confidence, and he walked in there like he was an NHL pick already. Well, he’d gone through the draft once and wasn’t taken and so the fact that he carried himself in that manner told me he was really confident about his own game. Then he backed it up by playing every single minute and of course, won a silver medal. So he comes back this year, and some of those expectations are ‘Alright, he was here last year. We expect him to be even better this year’. Well, not quite, in my opinion, as good as he was last year. I think he surprised a lot of people. I think now that he’s gone through and people have seen him, he’s been a drafted guy. The video work you do on him maybe exposed some weaknesses. I just wonder, though, in the grand scheme of things, if playing every single minute in this tournament was necessary for him, and did it prove to be too much fatigue for him by the end. But overall, you like his confidence, you like his athleticism, you like the fact that he’s a guy who, again, has gone through some adversity, because he went through the draft once, and the fact that he’s played really well, numbers not quite as good this year in the men’s pro league, but still decent all things considered. I think that transition becomes easier when you go from one pro league, expecting to play in the American Hockey League next year.
The Insider Show – Episode 103
