Top 3 Toronto Maple Leafs World Junior Performances Of All Time
With the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championships already underway, the Toronto Maple Leafs have two exciting prospects featuring at this year’s tournament.
Both Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan are representing Canada with the former being named captain. This is the first time since 2019 that the Toronto Maple Leafs will have a player representing Canada, with Ian Scott being the last.
However, the Leafs have had multiple top prospects compete since then like; Rasmus Sandin, Topi Niemela, Nick Robertson, Matthew Knies, and the late Rodion Amirov.
The World Juniors is a staple in many Canadian households over the holidays, just like Hockey Night in Canada. Throughout the tournament’s fifty year history there have been many notable performances and historic moments. As you would expect, many Toronto Maple Leafs players have participated in this tournament.
In recent years, both Rasmus Sandin and Topi Niemela have won the best defenseman award, winning them in back-to-back years in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
These two players would likely have a case for honorable mentions on this list but alas, have been omitted. As a result, the top-three World Juniors performances by Toronto Maple Leafs drafted players are:
Top 3 Toronto Maple Leafs World Junior Performances Of All Time
3. Russ Courtnall
Following the 1982-83 season, Russ Courtnall was drafted seventh overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The next calendar year would be exciting for the hot young Leafs prospect. Not only would he make his NHL debut but he would return to his junior team, the Victoria Cougars where he would torch the Western Hockey League (WHL). As well, he would represent Canada at the olympics and of course, the World Junior Hockey Championships.
As captain of team Canada at the 1984 World Junior Championships, Courtnall would lead with his performance. He would score seven goals and six assists for 13 points in seven games.
Although Canada would only finish fifth in the tournament, it was not at all because of Courtnall’s efforts. He was the top Canadian scorer and was tied for fourth overall in scoring.
Following this, he would go on to have a very respectable NHL career, playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, and Los Angeles Kings. Over 16 seasons, he would play in 1,029 games scoring 297 goals and 447 assists for 744 points. (stats nhl.com some info wikipedia.com).
Top 3 Toronto Maple Leafs World Junior Performances Of All Time
2. Vladimir Ruzicka
The Toronto Maple Leafs drafted the 6-foot-3 center Vladimir Ruzicka with the 73rd overall pick in 1982.
Just a few months later, he would lead the entire 1983 World Junior Championship tournament in points, helping Czechoslovakia to a silver medal. In seven games, “Rosie” scored 12 goals and eight assists for 20 points. On top of capturing a silver medal, he was named to the tournament all-star team.
Despite never playing a game for the Buds, Ruzicka is the highest scoring player in WJHC history who was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Unfortunately, Ruzicka was stuck behind the iron curtain and was not able to play in the NHL until 1989. This caused him to sign as a free agent long after his rights expired from the Maple Leafs.
He would go on to play 233 games between the Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, and Ottawa Senators, racking up 167 points.
Considering he was only able to come to the NHL starting at 26, it’s hard not to wonder what could have been. It is especially true with Ruzicka’s tough injury luck when he did eventually come over to the NHL.
Regardless, he currently ranks seventh in all-time points in the former Czechoslovakia league and with a whole cabinet full of awards and honours, he is undoubtedly one of the best Czech players of his era and arguably of all-time.
Top 3 Toronto Maple Leafs World Junior Performances Of All Time
Justin Pogge
Although it is painful as a Leafs fan, Justin Pogge’s 2006 World Junior Championship performance is by far the best by any Leafs drafted player.
Drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round, 90th overall in 2004, Pogge was seen as one of the top goaltending prospects following this tournament.
The Canadian junior team went into the tournament lacking a legitimate star player. Although they had first round talents like Steve Downie, Luc Bourdon, and third overall pick Cam Barker, they didn’t have a player on the same level as USA’s Phil Kessel or Russia’s Evgeni Malkin.
At the end of the tournament only one player, Blake Comeau, was above point-per-game with seven points in six games. Nevertheless, they captured a gold medal. This is in large part due to the stellar play of netminder Justin Pogge.
Pogge played in all six games for the Canadian team, boasting a perfect 6-0-0 record with a 1.00 goals-against-average (GAA) and .952% save percentage (SV%). This included a 5-0 shutout win against Russia in the gold medal game, one of three shutouts Pogge had throughout the tournament.
His dominant performance at the World Juniors and in the WHL unfortunately never translated to success at the NHL level.
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It goes to show that although there is a lot of hype surrounding the tournament and the players competing, success at the World Juniors is such a small sample and cannot be taken as a main indicator of a player’s future performance.