photo: Andrew Podnieks/IIHF
The 2025 IIHF Men’s U18 World Championship doesn’t start until next Wednesday, but teams are already settled in Frisco and deep into their preparation for their final tournament in this age category. Next up, the World Junior Championship, but that’s a long way away and no one here is thinking about that.
As part of the prep, and in an effort to expand the importance of the tournament, all teams are participating in a mini-combine of sorts, off-ice and on, over the next couple of days. Today, for instance, the Swedes took to the ice to perform a series of skills which were measured and timed.
Each player wore a wristband and “signed in” prior to doing each drill. It started off simply. First, a little lateral drill through gates, almost like slalom skiing. Then a sprint to the far blue line, forwards, and then backwards. And then the same three drills but with pucks.
After that came a more intricate slalom course, with and without a puck, forwards, backwards. For the players, this is their first time doing these drills, so the results today aren’t important so much as they establish a baseline for future testing. For the top prospects, that next time will come at the end of June as part of the NHL’s Entry Draft combine proceedings.
Some 30 of the top 64 prospects for the upcoming draft, from Europe and North America, will be playing at the U18s starting next week. Two of that number, Swedes Eddie Genborg, 18, and Milton Gastrin, 17, took part in today’s testing. They agreed the last drill was the most challenging—slalom, backwards, with puck.
“I think I fell three times! It was awful,” Genborg said.
“The toughest part is that when you mess things up like we did, you have to do it a few more times than anyone else,” Gastrin added good-naturedly.
Players won’t know their results right away, but when they do it will have some value all the same.
“It’s fun to compare results with the other guys, but I don’t think it means very much if you do better or worse than anyone,” Gastrin acknowledged. “But a lot of teams look at skating for player evaluations, so it definitely means something.”
Genborg agreed. “You do it to challenge yourself, and to try to get the best result. Of course, you want to show the scouts you’re good at these drills.”
Gastrin is ranked number three on the NHL’s Central Scouting chart of European players for the upcoming draft, and Genborg is not far behind at number six. June will be a life-altering time for both players as Sweden continues to be the top European country fro providing talent to the NHL. Despite being a country of fewer than ten million people, the NHL consists of about ten per cent Swedes, an incredible number.
“I think we’ve talked to pretty much every team by now,” Gastrin said. “It’s a lot of interviews, but it’s fun.”
“I don’t care what team drafts me, but of course it would be fun to go some hot place where you can walk around in shorts," Genborg joked, before adding, “But I don’t care, really.”
While both players are top prospects, they are different kinds of players. Gastrin thinks of himself in the Barkov-Crosby style of play while Gastrin sees more of Matthew Tkachuk in his game.
Both players also appear level-headed when it comes to managing their careers. Getting to the NHL is important, but being ready is more important.
“I think the goal is to go over [to the NHL] as soon as possible, but if you aren’t ready then it’s good to stay another year or two in Sweden and develop,” Gastrin opined.
“I think we will also talk with agents and with each other and get some advice,” Genborg added.
The U18s is the only top-level event that has a tournament at the beginning of the hockey season and another at the end. Each August the Hlinka-Gretzky event is played before the official IIHF event in April. Organized by the federations of Canada, Czechia, and Slovakia, Hlinka-Gretzky is to the summer what the IIHF tournament is to the spring. Combined, the two tournaments give the players a great chance to gauge their development over a critical year in their career.
Last year, Canada won gold, and the Swedes, with Gastrin and Genborg in the lineup, beat the Americans, 6-3, to claim bronze. Gastrin sees positives in that victory as well as the players’ improvement since then.
“I think we have a good chance here for gold,” he enthused. “At the Hlinka it was at the start of the season. Everything isn’t as good as you wished it were, but by now everybody has matured more and played a lot of hockey over the year."
If Sweden does win gold, it is almost certainly going to do so with contributions from Genborg and Gastrin, whether their on-ice combine scores confirm as much or say something different.
As part of the prep, and in an effort to expand the importance of the tournament, all teams are participating in a mini-combine of sorts, off-ice and on, over the next couple of days. Today, for instance, the Swedes took to the ice to perform a series of skills which were measured and timed.
Each player wore a wristband and “signed in” prior to doing each drill. It started off simply. First, a little lateral drill through gates, almost like slalom skiing. Then a sprint to the far blue line, forwards, and then backwards. And then the same three drills but with pucks.
After that came a more intricate slalom course, with and without a puck, forwards, backwards. For the players, this is their first time doing these drills, so the results today aren’t important so much as they establish a baseline for future testing. For the top prospects, that next time will come at the end of June as part of the NHL’s Entry Draft combine proceedings.
Some 30 of the top 64 prospects for the upcoming draft, from Europe and North America, will be playing at the U18s starting next week. Two of that number, Swedes Eddie Genborg, 18, and Milton Gastrin, 17, took part in today’s testing. They agreed the last drill was the most challenging—slalom, backwards, with puck.
“I think I fell three times! It was awful,” Genborg said.
“The toughest part is that when you mess things up like we did, you have to do it a few more times than anyone else,” Gastrin added good-naturedly.
Players won’t know their results right away, but when they do it will have some value all the same.
“It’s fun to compare results with the other guys, but I don’t think it means very much if you do better or worse than anyone,” Gastrin acknowledged. “But a lot of teams look at skating for player evaluations, so it definitely means something.”
Genborg agreed. “You do it to challenge yourself, and to try to get the best result. Of course, you want to show the scouts you’re good at these drills.”
Gastrin is ranked number three on the NHL’s Central Scouting chart of European players for the upcoming draft, and Genborg is not far behind at number six. June will be a life-altering time for both players as Sweden continues to be the top European country fro providing talent to the NHL. Despite being a country of fewer than ten million people, the NHL consists of about ten per cent Swedes, an incredible number.
“I think we’ve talked to pretty much every team by now,” Gastrin said. “It’s a lot of interviews, but it’s fun.”
“I don’t care what team drafts me, but of course it would be fun to go some hot place where you can walk around in shorts," Genborg joked, before adding, “But I don’t care, really.”
While both players are top prospects, they are different kinds of players. Gastrin thinks of himself in the Barkov-Crosby style of play while Gastrin sees more of Matthew Tkachuk in his game.
Both players also appear level-headed when it comes to managing their careers. Getting to the NHL is important, but being ready is more important.
“I think the goal is to go over [to the NHL] as soon as possible, but if you aren’t ready then it’s good to stay another year or two in Sweden and develop,” Gastrin opined.
“I think we will also talk with agents and with each other and get some advice,” Genborg added.
The U18s is the only top-level event that has a tournament at the beginning of the hockey season and another at the end. Each August the Hlinka-Gretzky event is played before the official IIHF event in April. Organized by the federations of Canada, Czechia, and Slovakia, Hlinka-Gretzky is to the summer what the IIHF tournament is to the spring. Combined, the two tournaments give the players a great chance to gauge their development over a critical year in their career.
Last year, Canada won gold, and the Swedes, with Gastrin and Genborg in the lineup, beat the Americans, 6-3, to claim bronze. Gastrin sees positives in that victory as well as the players’ improvement since then.
“I think we have a good chance here for gold,” he enthused. “At the Hlinka it was at the start of the season. Everything isn’t as good as you wished it were, but by now everybody has matured more and played a lot of hockey over the year."
If Sweden does win gold, it is almost certainly going to do so with contributions from Genborg and Gastrin, whether their on-ice combine scores confirm as much or say something different.