Monday was a good day for the Carolina Hurricanes as their top pick from the most recent draft was signed and their second selection had a big game at the World Junior Championship. We will also check in with two top-four draft picks who helped their countries earn wins in Edmonton.
Jarvis Signs with Hurricanes
The Hurricanes inked Seth Jarvis to a three-year, entry-level contract on Monday after. The 13th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft will make $832,500 at the NHL level or $80,000 at the American Hockey League (AHL) per season. The team also announced that he will get a $277,500 signing bonus.
“Seth is an extremely talented player with elite puck skills and scoring ability,” said Carolina general manager Don Waddell. “He has a very bright future, and we are excited to watch him continue his development into an NHL player.”
Jarvis had 42 goals and 98 points in 58 games for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League during the 2019-20 season. He finished second in WHL scoring behind Adam Beckman, who put up 107 points for the Spokane Chiefs.
Gunler & Raymond Keep Sweden Rolling
Death, taxes and Sweden winning in the preliminary round. The Swedes pushed their winning streak in group play at the World Junior Championship to an astonishing 54 straight games by beating Austria 4-0 last night. It has been nearly 14 years since Sweden lost in round-robin play.
This winning streak can be attributed to having amazing depth and this year’s roster is no different. They have already had eight different players find the back of the net in two games. Another Hurricanes pick, Noel Gunler, leads the team with three goals, two of which came last night. The 2020 second-round pick showed off his deadly release with his second goal.
Lucas Raymond, the fourth overall pick last October by the Detroit Red Wings, had a bit of a scary moment. Early in the second period, he crashed head-first into the boards after missing a check. He remained on the ice for a few moments before heading back to the locker room.
He was able to return to the game finished the night with an assist and scored Sweden’s fourth and final goal.
“It looked a bit worse than it actually was,” Raymond said of the play. “I didn’t feel anything in my head or my neck, it was more in the back, but fortunately enough it wasn’t anything that serious.”
Sweden’s win streak will be put to the test as their next two games are against Russia and the United States.
We can’t talk about this game and not give a special mention to Austrian goaltender Sebastian Wraneschitz. Sure, he has allowed 14 goals in his two starts and has a save percentage of just .894, but when you considered he has faced 133 shots in 109 minutes played, those numbers look much better.
Stutzle Leads Germany into Win Column
Germany was put behind the eight ball before even taking the ice for their first game of the World Junior Championship. Just before the tournament began, eight players tested positive for COVID-19, leaving them with just 14 skaters to dress.
They were able to hang tough in their opening game against Finland, losing 5-3. The next night they were drubbed 16-2 by Canada. After a day off to regroup, they showed their resiliency by beating Slovakia 4-3 in overtime, on Monday.
Tim Stutzle has been a machine for the Germans so far and is proving exactly why the Ottawa Senators used the third overall pick of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft to add him to their prospect pool. Just hours after signing his first NHL contract, he scored two goals and added an assist in Germany’s bounce-back win.
After scoring the opening goal early in the game, Stutzle went coast to coast to draw Germany even midway through the second period. He showed off his speed and skill as the rebound from his initial shot bounced back into the net off of a Slovak defender.
Stutzle capped off his big night after picking up an assist on Mario Zimmerman’s goal with less than a minute remaining in overtime. He finished the game with 31:01 of ice time, the most in a single game by any forward in the tournament. He now has three goals and five points through his first three games.
Goaltender Florian Bugl made 22 saves for the win and was named the player of the game. This was his tournament debut as he was one of the eight players who had to quarantine after a positive COVID-19 test.