By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter / X @RyanJBosworth
The Olympics are over, and they provided more thrill and excitement than anyone could’ve asked for or expected prior to their start. The likes of David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Elias Lindholm, Dans Locmelis, Henri Jokiharju, Jeremy Swayman, and Joonas Korpisalo participated in the tournament.
The Bruins will return to game action on Thursday, February 26th, when they square off with the Columbus Blue Jackets at TD Garden, but before that, let’s take a look at each player’s performance in Milan, and give them a grade.
Before we grade each player’s performance, Joonas Korpisalo’s grade is not-applicable, as he served as Finland’s third-string goaltender and didn’t see any ice time. He was a late addition due to Finland losing Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
All four of the United States, Finland, Canada, and Slovakia got a bye to the quarter-final round of the tournament. David Pastrnak and team Czechia would beat Denmark to advance and face Canada, and Hampus and Elias Lindholm would beat Latvia and advance to face Team USA.
With Latvia’s tournament coming to an end, that means that Bruins’ prospect Dans Locmelis’ tournament also ended, so let’s give him a grade.
Dans Locmelis, A
Dans Locmelis has always shown up when playing on the international stage. It happened last year at the IIHF World Championship, and it happened again at the Winter games. He had, arguably, the game of his life against Team Germany, scoring two power play goals in Latvia’s upset-win.
The 22-year old prospect could prove to be something special. Despite Latvia’s time in the tournament being cut short, Locmelis was still able to turn heads and make an impact at the highest level. He should come out of the tournament with his head held high.
The next set of Bruins players that attended the Olympics were both of the Lindholms – Elias and Hampus. Hampus was a late addition to the roster due to injury. Both players had somewhat lackluster performances overseas, but Elias’ performance was certainly the weaker of the two.
Elias Lindholm, D
Despite coming to the Olympics in the midst of a strong bounce back season in Boston, Elias couldn’t continue his play for Sweden, and he was even a healthy scratch at one point.
While there wasn’t a slew of specific plays that contributed to Elias’ poor grade, it was the overall lackluster performance and his lack of ability to make an impact for Sweden that contributes. At best, Lindholm should hope to use it as a learning experience, and focus on continuing to make an impact in Boston.
Looking specifically at Sweden’s game against the United States in the quarter-final, Elias really lacked any sort of impact, and found himself at the bottom scoring chance contribution list with just one total scoring chance contributed.
Hampus Lindholm, C+
Hampus’ tournament was slightly better than Elias’, but it still wasn’t great by his metrics. He had a bit of that same “lacked the ability to make an impact” factoring into his grade, and had the same amount of scoring contributions as Elias Lindholm.
Despite not finding himself right at the bottom of the impact charts, Lindholm’s game wasn’t up to par, especially by his standards, as his presence has made the Bruins a much better team this year than in games where he’s out. He didn’t have an awful tournament, but as stated, it wasn’t great.
David Pastrnak, A
David Pastrnak and Team Czechia were the next country eliminated containing Bruins players, so let’s give him a grade. To no one’s surprise, Pastrnak earned himself an A. Despite Czechia not advancing past the quarter-finals and being sent home earlier than they would’ve liked, the team was impressive, and Pastrnak was a major reason for that.
Through Czechia’s five games played, Pastrnak recorded five points (2-3-5). His most important goal came in the game where Czechia was eliminated, and it was the go-ahead goal for Czechia that put Canada on their heels. Despite Canada winning and advancing, Pastrnak had a great tournament, scoring some big goals, and certainly helping Czechia compete outside of their weight class.
Henri Jokiharju, B
Henri Jokiharju and Team Finland went home with the bronze medal, after an impressive tournament. In the semi-final game against Canada, they held a 2-0 lead over our northern neighbors, and heading into the final frame, it looked almost certain the Finland was going to advance to the gold medal game. However, as we saw, Canada rallied, and sent Finland to the bronze medal game, where they’d go on to defeat Slovakia.
Jokiharju had a solid tournament, which is kind of surprising, considering he’s had a lackluster year in Boston. Through Finland’s six games played in the tournament, Jokiharju recorded an assist, and a plus/minus of +2. Overall, Finland was a solid team defensively, ranking second out of 12 in goals allowed. Jokiharju should, hopefully, use this as motivation to try and improve things in Boston, as his tournament could certainly be used as a foundation to build on.
Jeremy Swayman, C-
Jeremy Swayman’s first Olympic start didn’t go as planned. Despite the United States coming away with a win, Swayman allowed three relatively weak goals, with one coming from the neutral zone. The U.S. walked away with a 6-3 win, but Swayman absolutely needed to be better.
Despite the weak goals he allowed, there’s a couple of factors I’m taking into account when giving his grade. While some might find it generous, I find it necessary.
It was Swayman’s first start on the biggest stage of his career, and, despite the weakness of the goals allowed, the United States walked away with the win. It was a learning experience for Jeremy, and I wanted his grade to reflect that. Had the United States lost, though, that grade would look a lot different.
Charlie McAvoy, A+
Charlie McAvoy was undoubtedly the Bruins’ best performing in the Olympics. He’s been having a stellar season, and that directly translated overseas. Playing alongside Quinn Hughes allowed McAvoy to do what he does best, which is smart, simple, shutdown defense. Quinn was able to carry the offense from the blueline, and Charlie was able to focus on shutting down plays in his own zone.
While he didn’t register any points, he posted a plus/minus of +1, and came up with some incredible defensive plays, especially in the gold medal game where it mattered most.
After what happened to Charlie at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, this was a big moment for him, and he absolutely rose to the occasion and dominated when it was needed most.
The Bruins will be back in action on Thursday, when the host the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets at 7 P.M.
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