2005 WJC by the numbers

Of the 220 players involved in the 2005 World Junior Championship, 104 are NHL draftees, including the top four of the 2004 class – Alexander Ovechkin (RUS), Evgeni Malkin (RUS), Cam Barker (CAN) and Andrew Ladd (CAN).

Fifteen of the first 20 prospects selected in June 2004 are part of their respective national junior team. The five players excluded are either Canadians or Americans. They are Blake Wheeler (USA, Phoenix, 5^th overall), Alexandre Picard (CAN, Columbus, 8^th overall), A.J. Thelen (USA, Minnesota, 12^th overall), Devan Dubnyk (CAN, Edmonton, 14^th overall) and Kyle Chupchira (CAN, Montreal, 18^th overall). 

Rangers lead the pack

With seven prospects present at the WJC, the New York Rangers lead the NHL teams in terms of the total of draftees. Their prospects are from six different countries, which is also the best among the NHL teams. The 2004 fourth overall pick Al Montoya is the top drafted Rangers choice.

Both the Philadelphia Flyers and the Dallas Stars have six prospects. Canadian Jeff Carter, who was named in the 2004 WJC All-Star team, is the Flyers top drafted (2003, 11^th overall) and Swedish Loui Eriksson (2003, 33^rd overall) is the top Dallas pick.

The poorest represented NHL teams in Grand Forks are Los Angeles (Lauri Tukonen, SWE), Detroit (Siarhei Kolasau, BEL), Toronto (Dimitri Vorobiev, RUS), New Jersey (Petr Vrana, CZE) and Tampa Bay (Zbynek Hrdel, CZE) who all managed to get just one prospect named.

First round picks

The total first round selections participating at the 2005 WJC is 30.

The Canadian team leads the pack with 11, followed by the USA with five and Czech Republic with four. Finland and Russia have three, Slovakia two, Sweden and Belarus one each. That leaves Germany and Switzerland with no first round draft selection. 

The Anaheim Mighty Ducks future looks bright as they have three of the 30 first rounders – Ladislav Smid (CZE, 2004, 9^th overall), Ryan Getzlaf (CAN, 2003, 19^th overall) and Corey Perry (CAN, 2003, 28^th overall).

The CHL contribution

All the Canadian players but one (Patrice Bergeron) are playing in the CHL.

It must be noticed that a total of 37 members of the other teams involved in the WJC are playing in the CHL this year, almost 19 percent.  The Czech team has 12 CHL players and the Slovakia follows with a respectable 11.

The WHL leads the group with 13 representatives playing in non Canadian national teams. The OHL has 11 and the QMJHL eight.

Recall that the WHL also has 14 members in the Canadian team. That means the league’s total contribution to the ten WJC teams is 27 players, which is by far the best record among all the leagues represented at this WJC.

2005 and 2006 eligible draftees

Led by Sidney Crosby (CAN), a total of 16 players will be eligible for the first time at the 2005 NHL draft. The list includes Brian Lee (USA), T.J. Hensick (USA), Michal Gulasi (CZE), Marek Zagrapan (SLO) and Tuuka Rask (FIN).

Finally, three of this WJC edition will only be eligible for the 2006 NHL draft. Those are Phil Kessel (USA), Michael Frolik (CZE) and Jesse Joensuu (FIN).

Simon Richard is the author of La Serie du siecle, Septembre 1972, a book about the Summit Series published in 2002.
Copyright 2004 Hockey’s Future. Do not duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.