3 Canadians to Watch at the U-18 World Championships

His regular season in the Western Hockey League (WHL) had its ups and downs. After coming off a successful Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Preston began his season back in Spokane with the Chiefs and recorded 32 points in 36 games. The most concerning part of his time in Spokane was only scoring 14 goals, as he projects to be a top goal scorer in the WHL over the next two seasons.

At the trade deadline, he was moved to his hometown team, the Vancouver Giants, and, unfortunately, began his time there with an injury. Once he got back into the lineup, he began to flourish on his new team and scored 12 points in 10 games, with four of those points being goals. Now he has a huge opportunity in front of him to be one of Canada’s top-producing forwards and bump his draft stock to a higher position. Currently, he’s projected to go in the mid-20s of the first round, which could leave the door open for him to be drafted by his hometown Vancouver Canucks.

Ryan Lin

Coming into this tournament, all of the eyes will be on Keaton Verhoeff when it comes to Canada’s defensive core, but Lin needs to be in that conversation as a top defenceman as well. Also coming from the Vancouver Giants, Lin was the backbone of that team this past season and was their captain. So far in Canada’s two games, Lin has made his presence known and has been given the responsibility of anchoring the top power-play unit instead of Verhoeff. Canadian coach and former St. Louis Blues head coach Drew Bannister already has a lot of faith in the young player since he trusts him enough to run the top unit. He has shown off his smooth skating and has recorded a secondary assist on the man advantage with a great puck-moving sequence that ended with a tic-tac-toe goal.

Lin is one of several Canadian defencemen projected to be taken early in this draft, and his skills show why. He has the skillset to run a power play and the mobility to hold puck possession in the offensive zone when needed. Lin also has a great first pass out of the defensive zone and can switch from offence to defence very quickly, and can help get his team pointed in the right direction. Currently, Lin has a great base of skills he can use, and he will need to show them at this tournament for Canada to earn gold again. Next season, he will be playing at the University of Denver, where he will have the chance to improve his game under the leadership of head coach David Carle.

Adam Valentini

Currently Canada’s top scorer at the tournament, Valentini stepped onto the campus of the University of Michigan a season earlier than expected and spent his draft season with the Wolverines instead of the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers. The highly-skilled forward produced with Michigan and is currently producing for Canada with three points in two games; his lone goal was a beautiful backhand where he cut towards the goaltender and slid the puck into the back of the net. Valentini will be another player on the forward core that Bannister will be looking at as a top option to produce offence.

As a freshman at Michigan, Valentini impressed many scouts by scoring 27 points in 40 games and helped the Wolverines reach the Frozen Four. He got the chance to play with and learn from linemates Michael Hage and Malcolm Spence during his time at Michigan, where the three players became a bit of a formidable trio. With them, Valentini was used as a role player who crashed the net and operated in the slot. On this Canadian team, he will be looked upon to do much more as a play driver and distributor who helps set up his teammates for scoring chances, like when he set up Dima Zhilkin for Canada’s fourth goal of the game on Thursday. He’s a very impressive player that many scouts should want to add to their team.

Canada has several draft-eligible players on this U-18 roster, and many will have good NHL careers. These three have the potential to be game breakers. Preston brings scoring, Lin brings stability, and Valentini brings an all-around great game. They will need to be at their best for the remainder of the tournament if they want to bring gold back to Canada.