The Buffalo Sabres have seven prospects participating in the 2024 World Junior Championship (WJC) — tied for the most of any NHL squad with the Arizona Coyotes and St. Louis Blues. The WJC is home to the world’s premier under-20 talents, with players from 10 different countries competing against each other. The Sabres’ seven prospects span across five countries — Canada (CAN), Czechia (CZE), Germany (GER), Slovakia (SVK), and Sweden (SWE). As the Sabres are underwhelming in the 2023-24 season, monitoring their top-notch prospect pool has become increasingly important.
Jiří Kulich (CZE)
Jiří Kulich has undoubtedly been Czechia’s best player, pacing the team in goals (four), tying the team lead in points (seven), and helping Czechia to a 2-0-1-1 record. He recorded a hat trick in an 8-1 victory over Norway on Dec. 27 in what was easily his best performance of the tournament — four of his seven points came in that one game. He’s been unsurprisingly featured on Czechia’s top line and top power-play unit, leading all Czech forwards in ice time per game. He should be able to keep it up in the quarterfinals against Finland, who holds a 1-1-0-2 record and has scored just 14 goals in four games.
Noah Östlund and Anton Wahlberg (SWE)
The Sabres have two Swedish players in the tournament — Noah Östlund and Anton Wahlberg. Östlund, like Kulich, is expected to frontline his country’s team and be a leader and primary point producer. Thus far into the tournament, he’s performed in that role admirably. He’s in a four-way tie for the team’s lead in points with six in four games. He’s been arguably Sweden’s most important player, taking a top-line and top power-play unit role and constantly being among time-on-ice leaders. For those who care about the statistic, Östlund is also top-10 in faceoff percentage, winning 53.85% of his faceoffs.
Wahlberg, who went 39th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, has been more lackluster than his countryman Östlund. Over the team’s four games, he’s netted just one goal and no assists while playing in a middle-six role. It’s been a bit of a disappointing go of it for the Swede, but he should be able to pick things up scoresheet-wise in the playoffs with the talent that he has.
Maxim Štrbák (SVK)
Maxim Štrbák has been one of, if not the biggest surprise of the tournament. He’s been Slovakia’s number-one defenseman, logging 23:03 on average through the preliminary round, which is good for seventh-most of any player in the tournament (and leading Slovakia). This comes as no surprise though — the shocking portion of Štrbák’s tournament has been his production. Through four games, the 18-year-old second-round pick has one goal and five assists, good for third on the team behind WJC point leader Servác Petrovský (nine points) and 2022-first round pick Filip Mešár.
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Štrbák is a good player to be sure — there’s a reason he was picked early in the draft. As an 18-year-old participating in his first World Juniors, though, jumping right into a number-one defenseman role is nothing to scoff at. At Michigan State University, he’s accumulated five points in 15 NCAA games, and while it’s surely easier to score points in the WJC than it is in the NCAA, his uptick in points per game at the tournament is a testament to what his capabilities are with more ice time. He’s the most interesting Sabres prospect to monitor going into the WJC playoffs, especially considering he’s in a prospect pool with very few solid defensive pieces.
Matthew Savoie and Scott Ratzlaff (CAN)
Buffalo’s two Canadian prospects, Matthew Savoie and Scott Ratzlaff, have had disappointing tournaments to be sure. To be fair, Ratzlaff was never intended to be the starting goaltender for Canada — he entered the WJC tournament as their third-string goaltender in order to prep the 18-year-old for the next two years. Still, it would be nice to see the young goalie get a look.
The more pressing problem is Savoie’s performance. He was nominated to the tournament with the honor of being the alternate captain for Team Canada, and has disappointed with just one assist across three games. He missed the fourth game with “bumps and bruises,” but that truly doesn’t make a difference considering he’s played in a top-six role in what should be the tournament’s second-best team. Hopefully, he returns soon — he’s labeled as day-to-day with a lower-body injury — so that he can right the ship in the tournament’s playoff bracket.
Norwin Panocha (GER)
Last on the list of Sabres prospects participating in the WJC tournament is seventh-rounder Norwin Panocha. For him to be in the tournament at all is a miracle — his play in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) has been less-than-satisfactory with just 11 assists across 30 games. Still, the fact that he is participating as a seventh-round Canadian Hockey League (CHL) underachiever is a testament to his raw skill. He has quality offensive instincts and vision, and has shown sparks of that with one goal in his four WJC games.
Sabres’ Talent Should Shine in WJC Playoffs
Six of the Sabres’ seven prospects participating in the World Juniors tournament are in a playoff position through the preliminary round — all but Panocha of Germany will be playing on Jan. 2. The Sabres’ prospects have been the best of the best for their respective teams, and their abilities being displayed against the other top teams will be a better indicator of their overall outlooks as NHLers. Let’s hope they continue their prowess next week.
