With the holiday break also comes the start of the World Juniors tournament, and this year, the Edmonton Oilers have a pair of prospects playing.

One is Asher Barnett, a 2025 fifth-round selection, representing the United States, and David Lewandowski, a 2025 fourth-round pick, representing Germany in Minnesota this holiday season. Meanwhile, Tommy Lafreniere is now ninth in the WHL for total points with 44 in 34 games played. The Blazers centre is also tied for fourth in goals at the halfway point of the season.

The United States team started their first three games of the tournament with three wins. They have scored a total of 14 goals for and have allowed eight goals against in those games. Barnett was a bit of a surprise to make the team, with a player like Blake Fiddler (Seattle Kraken second-round pick in 2025) getting cut in favour of the Wolverine defenceman. Throughout the tournament so far, Barnett has suited up in every game and has played third-pairing minutes alongside Logan Hensler and E.J. Emery more recently.

In the box score, there isn’t anything that will stand out to you about Barnett’s game as the American defenceman has one shot on goal and an even rating through the three games. But, as one of the youngest players on the Americans, he has held his own defensively and has continued to show the same strengths in his game as I liked about him in the off-season.

One of the main strengths on display this tournament has been Barnett’s gap control. In the first clip below, against Germany, it’s fellow Oilers draft pick David Lewandowski entering the blue line on Barnett after a bad(ish) change by the Americans, and the defenceman is able to play it perfectly.

In the next clip its more of the same against Slovakia, but Barnett is able to keep a wide base while skating backwards, angles him to the wall, and forces the Slovak player to dump the puck in.

Against Switzerland the Michigan commit showed more of the same one-on-one defending. In the next clip take note of how similar it is to the first clip against Lewandowski.

The main thing to notice is that Barnett is skating forwards to close down the angle instead of skating backwards and allowing the forward to attack him. Compare the amount of time and space the first Switzerland player doesn’t have to the player in this next clip.

Barnett still played it well but look at the difference in the amount of time and space the second player has compared to the first. It’s why I prefer my defenceman to defend skating forwards and that does require a good skating ability at the NHL level (Gustav Forsling is the perfect example as Oiler fans know by now) which is why I want Barnett to focus on improving his foot speed because the positional awareness and fundamentals on him are great, but the skating needs to take a step forward to allow him to use his senses.

The final clip shows that the fifth rounder still needs to work on getting his knees over his toes, getting his butt a bit lower, and extending the stride a bit more horizontally. Strengthen the core and lower body throughout college will continue to help with this as well.

That went off on a bit of a developmental tangent, but Barnett has had a good tournament thus far. Providing the Americans with great defensive minutes including a fair amount of time on the penalty kill. I’m intrigued to see how the left-shot defender continues to hold himself as the competition only gets better from here.

The German team is having a tough tournament to start. They haven’t won any of their three games, have only scored four goals, and have given up 18.

Through all that mess the Saskatoon Blades’ point leader is still a plus-one with an assist, but only two shots on goal. In his ice time, Lewandowski has looked good, and when he’s off the ice there is not a lot of things happening for the Germans.

In the first clip below, it illustrates the point perfectly that Lewandowski isn’t the problem as he lays a perfect tape-to-tape pass backdoor against the Americans, but his teammate can’t finish it.

On his only point through the three games, the German winger made a great pass cross ice to send his man in on a breakaway.

The playmaking continued to be on display against Slovakia as in the next clip Lewandowski makes a great one touch pass to the bumper position for a great chance in the high slot on the power play.

With the goalie pulled the Blades power forward transports the puck all the way to the Slovakia end and sets up a great chance once again.

In our final clip highlighting the playmaking ability of Lewandowski, he lays a perfect pass between his legs to the slot for a great chance on the power play. I had to include this one.

What always intrigues me about the fourth rounders game is the playmaking ability under pressure. In the next two clips below, Lewandowski invites pressure from two defenders and is able to make a great pass in both situations.

Being able to take two defenders out with one pass causes a domino effect of chaos as other players have to rotate and fill the holes left behind. The ability to move the puck around the ice and use his teammates will always be the left-winger’s biggest strength.

It’s a great ability to have, but it also requires you to have competent teammates that can play and think at your level. The only negative note I have is much like Asher Barnett’s issue and the skating needs to take a step for Lewandowski to have NHL dreams.

Lafreniere had an up and down weekend. On Saturday the Blazer centre put up two goals and three assists in a 9-5 win over the Calgary Hitmen. But then on Sunday the Blazers went into Vancouver and lost 7-3 as Lafreniere went pointless.

Against the Hitmen the third rounder could do no wrong and put up a highlight reel. In the first two clips we’ll just get his goals out of the way. The first one is a garbage goal, but the second one is a beautiful one timer.

Even on the penalty kill, Lafreniere was making offence happen out of absolutely nothing as you’ll see in the third clip below, but does it sound crazy if I say five points was on the low end in this game for the Blazer sniper? Lafreniere could have easily put up three more points in this game.

In our next clip, this is one of the better passes I have seen Lafreniere make in his WHL career and I’m happy he got rewarded for it. Lafreniere picks up a rimmed puck in the offensive zone and fires a perfectly threaded pass back door to a waiting Nathan Behm for the goal.

It did seem like every puck touch for Lafreniere was turning into a chance as he picks up a puck in the neutral zone, takes it for a controlled entry, and finds Hurlbert with a no look pass for a great chance.

In our final clip, it just showcases that everything was going right for Lafreniere and the fact that the Blazer first line centre finished with only five points shocks me as here he is on another two-on-one chance.

Now third on his team in scoring but tied for ninth in the WHL, Tommy Lafreniere has been nothing short of spectacular this season. The playmaking has taken a step and he’s starting to process the play at a quicker pace, but the shot continues to be his calling card as he is now tied for fourth in the WHL for goals. The release is quick whether it’s a one timer or one his forehand it takes no time to get off his stick. The work ethic defensively and offensively continues to shine through as well as Lafreniere is always moving his feet. The Blazers need to work on keeping the puck out of their net, but they score the sixth most goals in the WHL and can keep pace with anybody in that regard.

It was another great weekend for the pipeline as having two players show their skills off at the World Juniors tournament is a good sign and the other player being a top ten scorer in the WHL.

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