The world juniors always have their share of players who go on to enjoy tremendous NHL careers, but the 1990 WJC was particularly full of elite talents.

In every World Junior Championship, there are players who stand out and go on to have excellent NHL careers. And after the 1990 WJC, for a feature story for THN, a slew of professional hockey watchers ranked what would turn out to be very familiar names.

In the story, put together by THN writer and eventual editor in chief Bob McKenzie and published in THN’s Jan. 26, 1990 edition (Vol. 43, Issue 19), 15 hockey experts – scouts and GMs – ranked the top 10 junior players in the sport. The names are instantly recognizable to today’s NHL fans.

Although a few junior-age players weren’t considered if they’d played in the NHL – Jeremy Roenick, Mike Modano and Trevor Linden fell into that category – every name on the list of the top 10 junior talents carved out excellent careers for themselves. And although the rankings of the 10 eligible junior talents had no weak points, if the same rankings were done today, the order of the rankings would be quite different.

To wit: you might be able to make a case that No. 1-ranked Pavel Bure was one of the top players on the rankings list, but he would’ve taken a back seat to the player ranked seventh in the list – surefire first-ballot Hockey Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr. Bure also may be ranked below one of the players who finished tied for the 10th spot – another icon of the sport, Eric Lindros.

After those three, the re-ranking of the players on McKenzie’s list would be (from this writer’s perspective) Sweden’s Mats Sundin at No. 4, Finland’s Teemu Selanne at No. 5, Russia’s Slava Kozlov at No. 6, Czechia’s Bobby Holik and Petr Nedved at 7th and 8th respectively, Canada’s Mike Ricci at No. 9, Czechia’s Robert Reichel at 10th, and Canadian goalie Stephane Fiset at 11th. All of those players went on to have lengthy NHL careers, so the scouts and GMs who ranked them for McKenzie’s story clearly knew what they were doing when they voted on this list.

As you can tell by name recognition alone, all the teams who had one of the aforementioned players would go on to be quite happy with the careers the players would enjoy. Some years at the WJC are more star-studded than ever, and the 1990 WJC definitely counted as one of the biggest-name tournaments ever.

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TOP 10 JUNIORS IN THE WORLD

Vol. 43, No. 19, Jan. 26, 1990

By Bob McKenzie

The three most coveted young players in the world are those the National Hockey League can’t get its hands on. At least, not yet.

Two Soviets and a Czechoslovakian topped a poll of NHL scouts to determine the top 10 junior players in the world. Soviet forwards Pavel Bure and Viacheslav Kozlov were first and third, respectively. Czechoslovakian center Bobby Holik was second. Only three points separated first and third.

The top-ranked Canadian was Peterborough Pete Mike Ricci, who was fourth, but significantly behind the top three. No American was rated in the top 10.

Fifteen experts — a combination of NHL scouts and general managers who were at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Finland — each supplied their own top 10 list. A first-place vote was worth 10 points and a 10th-place vote one point, with corresponding values in between. Voting points were converted to represent a score out of 100.

Junior-age players playing in the NHL — Vancouver’s Trevor Linden, a Canadian, and Americans Mike Modano of Minnesota and Jeremy Roenick of Chicago, for example — were deemed ineligible to receive votes. So was Canada’s Dave Chyzowski, who played in the 1990 WJC but rejoined the New York Islanders immediately upon his return.

Following is the result of the voting, including rank, name, age, height, weight, position, 1989-90 club team, 1989-90 statistics (goals-assists-points), NHL affiliation or year of draft eligibility and voting points (out of 100).

1. Pavel Bure. 18 years old, 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, LW, Central Red Army (USSR), statistics unavailable, Vancouver’s fourth pick, 113th overall, in 1989, although status remains unclear while NHL investigates draft-eligibility, 76 points.

Ranked No. 2 in this poll a year ago (behind Alexander Mogilny), Bure was obviously given the benefit of the doubt by a number of voters. His skills as a skater, puckhandler and goal-scorer are outstanding, but he showed only flashes of brilliance at the WJC tourney (7-3-10 in 7 games). He was actually benched a few times. But when he’s on, there’s no one better.

2. Robert (Bobby) Holik. 19 years old, 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, C, Dukla Jihlava (CSSR), 12-18-30 in 31 games, Hartford’s first pick, 10th overall, in 75 points.

Big and strong with incredible intensity, Holik is a scout’s dream come true: a prototype NHL power center. He desperately wants to play in the NHL and optimistically predicts his arrival in North America as soon as the fall. If so, the Whalers have a potential franchise player. He was 6-5-11 in seven WJC games.

3. Viacheslav (Slava) Kozlov. 17 years old, 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, C-LW, Khimik Voskresensk (USSR), statistics unavailable, NHL draft eligible in 73 points.

A year ago, Bure wowed the scouts as a 17-year-old. This year, it was the speedy Kozlov’s turn. He’s an incredible offensive talent, a gifted goal-scorer with the capacity to be a game-breaker (4-7-11 in seven WJC games). At times, stirs memories of Valery Kharlamov, the late great Soviet star.

4. Mike Ricci. 18 years old, 6-foot-1, 185 pounds, C, Peterborough Petes (Ontario League), 37-39-76 in 36 games, NHL draft-eligible in 1990, 47 points. 

Hampered by a shoulder separation at the WJC (0-4-4 in five games), Ricci is both tough and talented. His leadership skills are equaled only by his gritty determination and knack for scoring from in-tight situations.

5. Teemu Selanne. 19 years old, 6-foot, 175 pounds, C, Jokerit (Finland), 4-8-12 in 11 games, Winnipeg’s first pick, 10th overall, in 1988, 43 points.

A broken leg prevented him from playing in the WJC, but scouts haven’t forgotten the game-breaking offensive whiz who is destined to become a scoring star in the NHL.

6. Robert Reichel. 18 years old, 5-foot-10 1/2, 175 pounds, 18, Litvinov (CSSR), 25-11-36 in 30 games, Calgary’s fifth pick, 70th overall, in 1988, 41 points.

Captain of Czechoslovakia’s national junior team, Reichel is an offensive catalyst (a tournament-leading 11-10-21 in seven WJC games) and team leader. He is the WJC’s all-time leading scorer (38 points in three tournaments) and is eligible for next year’s event in Saskatoon. Like Holik, he is eager to play in the NHL and, though he isn’t big, he’s feisty.

7. Jaromir Jagr. 17 years old, 6-foot-1 1/2, 195 pounds, RW, Kladno (CSSR), 14-20-34 in 30 games, NHL draft-eligible in 1990, 40 points.

A classy, highly-skilled winger with an incredibly fluid stride, Jagr teamed up on a line with Reichel to lead Czechoslovakia’s offensive attack at the WJC (5-13-18 in seven games). He is rapidly developing the strength to go with his impressive height.

8. Stephane Fiset. 19 years old, 6-foot, 175 pounds, G, Victoriaville Tigres, 2-2-1, 3.22 goals-against average and .930 save percentage, Quebec’s third choice, 24th overall, in 1988, 29 points.

Quite simply, the best junior goaltender in the world and, undoubtedly, the Nordiques’ netminder of the future. He was the key to Canada’s gold-medal win (5-1-1, 2.58 GAA and .921 save percentage) at the WJC.

9. Mats Sundin. 18 years old, 6-foot-3 1/2,195 pounds, RW, Djurgardens (Sweden) 3-2-5 in 20 games, Quebec’s first pick, first overall, in 1989 entry draft, 27 points.

The parts of his game are still coming together, but the big winger is a smooth operator with excellent puck skills. He showed flashes of brilliance at the WJC (5-2-7 in seven games) and was a dominant player in one game against the Soviets. Not difficult to see why the Nordiques made him No. 1 overall last summer.

10. (tie) Eric Lindros. 16 years old, 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, C, Oshawa Generals (OHL), 0-2-2 in one game, 23-29-52 in 14 games with Detroit Compuware Tier II, NHL draft-eligible in 1991, 14 points.

Incredible size and strength, the boy-man is driven to be great. He wasn’t supposed to be an impact player at the 1990 WJC, but dominated one game (against Sweden) and made his presence felt in several others (4-0-4 in seven games). Don’t be too surprised if he moves to the No. 1 spot on this poll next year.

10. (tie) Petr Nedved. 16 years old, 6-foot-2 1/2, 178 pounds, C, Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL), 36-44-80 in 40 games, NHL draft-eligible in 1990, 14 points.

An incredible offensive talent who is still physically immature, he finished tied with Lindros for the final spot on the Top 10 list. He would have been playing for Czechoslovakia at the WJC if he hadn’t defected a year ago. Even though he was out of sight in Finland, he wasn’t out of mind. Scouts rave about his offensive potential and suggest he could wrest No. 1 overall away from Ricci in the 1990 entry draft.

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