Consider it an early holiday present for Lower Mainland hockey fans.
The two top-ranked prospects for this June’s NHL Entry Draft are set to hit the ice this week at Langley Events Centre as part of the Lordco Auto Parts Road to the World Juniors.
First up will be the second-ranked prospect, Kaapo Kakko and Finland, who will battle Denmark on Dec. 19. Then all eyes will be upon No. 1-ranked centre Jack Hughes and the United States a day later, when they square off against the Czech Republic.
All four teams are getting set for the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, which will be played at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena and Victoria’s Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Kakko, a six-foot-one, 181-pound right-winger, currently plays for TPS Turku of the Liiga, where the 17-year-old has nine goals and 20 points in 27 games playing in Finland’s top professional league.
The player he is jockeying with atop the pre-draft rankings is Jack Hughes, a 17-year-old whiz from Florida.
The five-foot-10, 179-pound centre currently plays for the U.S. Development Program. In 25 games with the program’s under-18 team, Hughes has 10 goals and 48 points. Also aiming to crack the American roster is Hughes’ older brother – and Vancouver Canucks 2018 first round pick (seventh overall) Quinn Hughes. The defenceman is currently playing for the University of Michigan and leads all NCAA college defencemen in assists (17) while sitting second in points (20).
The elder Hughes is one of 11 first-round 2017 and ‘18 draft picks who were on the preliminary rosters for the U.S. and Czech Republic sides.
The others include: Filip Chytil (’17, New York Rangers), Martin Kaut (’18, Colorado), Martin Necas (’17, Carolina) and Filip Zadina (’18, Detroit) for the Czech Republic. For the Americans, the first rounders include Quinn Hughes (’18, Vancouver), K’Andre Miller (’18, New York Rangers), Joel Farabee (’18, Philadelphia), Josh Norris (’17, Ottawa), Jay O’Brien (’18, Philadelphia), Ryan Poehling (’17, Montreal) and Oliver Wahlstrom (’18, New York Islanders).
Tickets can be purchased at www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/tickets.
