Praise for Edvinsson’s first-day WJC performance

Via Spector’s Hockey on Twitter comes this article from the Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari, who listed his “Three Stars” from Sunday’s games at the World Junior Championship:

First Star – D Simon Edvinsson

The Red Wings prospect was a force in all three zones on this night. In what was set to be the most competitive matchup of the day on paper, Edvinsson led the Swedes to a solid win over an underwhelming Russian squad. His ‘First Star’ status is about everything in his game both on and off the stat sheet. His defensive performance was quite impressive as he read passing lanes and intercepted puck carriers in their path, using both his body and stick work to separate the man from the puck before transitioning the play up ice quickly.

The 2021 sixth overall pick was putting his full arsenal on display in this game. With no power-play time, Edvinsson decided that the penalty kill was the appropriate time to score a goal. Closing in along the boards as two Russian players fumbled over the puck, Edvinsson collected the puck with ease and then took off up ice. With his smooth stride, he took off up ice and tucked the puck between Yaroslav Askarov’s legs. He did an excellent job activating off the blueline, keeping pucks deep and threading passes through levels of the Russian defensive structure.

Continued; here’s Edvinsson’s goal:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.