Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
no
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At the time, yes of course it is. The yearly WJC is the exact same tournament as the ones I listed, they're just for different age groups. As they get older each one gets more important. Rerun mentioned the media coverage the U20 gets as a reason why it's so important but outside of Canada and the TSN machine this tournament means zilch. It's massive in Canada and that's it. I listed those as big game situations Monahan has played in and I definitely stick by that.
I love watching the World Juniors every holiday season but it's a huge product of TSN and the great timing it has to work with. It's no more important to a players development then the U18 or the U17s. The only difference is the U20 we love so much around Christmas had NHL drafted players the normal fan is familiar with that they can cling to, or a close to being drafted phenom for Canada.
It's good for development but the goal is to get these kids to the NHL. If Monahan is already there and playing well the benefactors are low, especially when he's already played in similar tournaments.