Underaged players have dominated this year’s U-18 World Championship.
Through the semifinals, the top three scorers are USA’s James Hagens and Canada’s Gavin McKenna and Porter Martone. Hagens and Martone are NHL draft-eligible in 2025, while McKenna is a 2026 draft-eligible prospect. They will face off at 11 a.m. ET in the gold medal game in Espoo, Finland.
The final day of the #U18MensWorlds is set!🤩 pic.twitter.com/Pb9oAy47ob
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 4, 2024
Simply put, the kids are alright.
This season, I’ve given you a peek into my evaluation process by publishing some notes from my viewings of draft-eligible players as I prepare for the 2024 NHL draft. However, with the youth at the U-18s putting on a show, I felt compelled to discuss the trio at the top of the leaderboard.
Hagens has been a dominant force for the Americans, setting the tournament record with 22 points, passing Nikita Kucherov’s 21 from 2011. He will lead Team USA into the gold medal game and look to build on his record-setting performance.
JAMES. HAGENS. 🇺🇸😤
With a whopping 22 points so far, James Hagens has set a new single-tournament scoring record at the @IIHFHockey Under-18 Men’s World Championship, surpassing Nikita Kucherov’s 21 points at the 2011 event.
Congrats, Hags! 👏 pic.twitter.com/z67mvQZWPI
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 4, 2024
McKenna and Martone sit tied for second in tournament scoring, with 16 points each. They’ve helped form a dominant top line for Canada and will look to continue their scoring dominance against Hagens and the Americans in the gold medal game.
Let’s look at each of their semifinal performances. They led their teams to the U-18 final and cemented their status as elite prospects in their respective draft classes.
James Hagens, C, USA (U.S. NTDP, USHL), 5-foot-10, 168 pounds
May 4, 2024, vs. Team Slovakia – Hagens is immediately noticeable when you watch the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
The speed at which he plays the game, layered with his skill and vision of the ice, is special. It’s almost insane to think his semifinal performance wasn’t even Hagens at his best during the U-18s.
What made Hagens so dangerous in this game was his unselfish brand of hockey. He is the first to work a give-and-go or hit his teammate with a pass in transition if space is closing down for him.
He never really tried to play “hero hockey” despite being the best player on the ice every shift. Hagens understands the nuances of spacing and how to time his routes throughout the ice.
Defensively, Hagens isn’t a stalwart, but he showed a willingness to turn up the intensity when the time called for it, helping support low and recover loose pucks so that he could lead the U.S. breakout.
Thanks to constant scanning and shoulder checks on retrievals, Hagens seemed to know where his outlets were before he even had the puck on his stick.
He lacks the physicality to go into a board battle and consistently come out with the puck, and he did get pushed off the puck along the boards a couple of times in the game. Instead, he leaned on his skill to collect the puck.
Hagens recorded three assists in this game, with the third breaking the World Men’s U-18s scoring record.
His first assist came on a simple play in which he just won the faceoff back to the defenseman, who got a shot on net before linemate Teddy Stiga buried the rebound. His second, the record-tying point, came on the power play. He collected a secondary assist on a pass to the slot advanced to the far-side faceoff dot, where Cole Eiserman was set up for a one-timer.
Eisy with a clapper on the power play! 💥@ColeEiserman34 | #U18MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/l8HxJ4AgKO
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 4, 2024
The record-setting assist was a simple drop pass that resulted in Cole Hutson going post and in on a wicked shot. A Team USA shot went wide of the net and rung around the boards to Hagens’ side. He picked it up off the wall high in the zone and began to skate east-west above the faceoff circles before dropping the puck to Hutson. His movement across the top of the zone drew a defender with him and opened up a lane for Hutson to skate into and get a shot off. It certainly wasn’t anything fancy or special, but Hagens found a way to open the ice up for his teammates, a trait he has displayed all year long.
Pinggggggggg 🚨@ColeHutson_22 | #U18MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/MTLIBu8FbU
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 4, 2024
This was far from Hagens’ most effective game in this tournament, but he still managed to get on the scoresheet and set a record in the process. That’s how good Hagens has been at the U-18 Worlds.
This tournament will undoubtedly put his name atop the 2025 NHL draft boards heading into the off-season with quickness, skill and elite-level playmaking being primary features of his game.
Gavin McKenna, LW, Canada (Medicine Hat, WHL), 6-foot, 165 pounds
May 4, 2024, vs. Team Sweden – McKenna continued to show why he is Canada’s best offensive weapon in this game.
McKenna set the single tournament record for a Canadian at the U-18 World Championship with his 16th point, which Porter Martone tied shortly after.
The 16-year-old isn’t eligible for the NHL draft until 2026, but he was clearly the offensive engine of a solid Canadian team at the U-18s.
McKenna isn’t the biggest kid, so there are some strength issues, and he isn’t always the most assertive player when it comes to driving into the middle of the ice on his own. Instead, he relies on his speed, puckhandling and perimeter playmaking to exploit the opposing team’s defensive structure. He is constantly on the move, looking to find and take advantage of a passing lane.
His first-period goal was among the tournament’s best highlights.
He generated speed from low in the defensive zone as the puck broke out, flew through the neutral zone and received a quick pass from Martone at the offensive blueline. McKenna then found himself between four Swedes but cut through them with an excellent move before driving across the face of the Swedish netminder to tuck it by the outstretched goalie.
McKenna’s ability to identify, attack and finish the scoring chance was on full display. His speed and skill were simply too much on this shift for the Swedes to defend.
It wasn’t that McKenna made huge dekes or puckhanded around players; it was simply his ability to stickhandle at speed. He pushed and pulled the puck just outside of the reach of each Swedish defender while maintaining control and having the awareness to shift his weight on his edges to drive and cut across the crease.
GAVIN MCKENNA!!! 🤯#U18MensWorlds | #MondialMasculinM18pic.twitter.com/O7rZJPOImR
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) May 4, 2024
Later in the game, McKenna led a rush up ice that resulted in a Henry Mews goal, but they don’t award tertiary assists. Carrying the puck into the offensive zone and attacking down the slot, McKenna deferred to Martone before being buried into the end boards by a defender.
McKenna only found the scoresheet once in this game, but he made effective and dangerous passes throughout. He struggled at times when the play was stuck along the boards because he just doesn’t possess the physical strength of many of the other players at the U-18 level.
It’s not often a winger drives play on their line because it’s generally more effective if the center can do that, but McKenna is a true exception to that rule. He dictates play for his line at every turn. If he wants to push the pace, he will. If he wants to slow things down and play a bit more tactically, he can do that, too.
There is still plenty of time, and McKenna will grow in every aspect from now until the 2026 NHL draft. But as of right now, he is the top player available for the draft.
Porter Martone, RW, Canada (Mississauga, OHL), 6-foot-3, 175 pounds
May 4, 2024, vs. Team Sweden – Martone has set the tone for the Canadians at the U-18 World Championship.
McKenna may be the team’s offensive engine, but Martone is the team’s leader and always finds ways to impact the game. Whether he made passes to set up goals, threw hits or got into post-whistle scrums to defend his teammates, Martone was always in the fray.
Martone set up McKenna’s highlight-reel goal on a play in which he waited at the offensive blueline for a pass and bumped it into the middle for McKenna, who was blazing up the ice in the neutral zone. It wasn’t some kind of incredible pass by Martone, but it’s the kind of simple, steady play advancement that Martone has excelled at throughout the tournament.
His physical brand of hockey is what makes him stand out from the crowd in a game like this one. Martone wants to engage his opponents and force them to play a belligerent brand of hockey. His ability to go from powering his way out of a board battle to stickhandling in space is impressive.
His shot is also a weapon, with the ability to score from a distance with a laser beam or elevate the puck from in tight as a net-front presence.
He collected a second assist in the game on a beautiful passing play. McKenna had the zone entry before feeding Martone wide, who found a passing lane to the front right as he got below the faceoff circle. He then sent the puck across for a Henry Mews goal, which was the game-winner.
Martone always gets credit for his shot, the power in his game and his net-front ability, but he rarely gets love for his passing. This game showcased his passing quite well, even beyond the two assists.
The setup! The goal! 🔥
La mise en scène! Le but! 🔥#U18MensWorlds | #MondialMasculinM18pic.twitter.com/o0lbmRRHId
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) May 4, 2024
His second assist of the game tied McKenna for the team lead in scoring and for the single-tournament record for scoring by a Canadian. It also surpassed Connor Bedard’s all-time points for Canada at the U-18s to set the career scoring mark for Canada.
Martone is the leader of this team in so many ways, and he’ll look to keep doing that in the gold medal game against the Americans.
Related: IIHF U-18 World Championship: 16 Intriguing Players to Watch
Related: U-18 World Championship Quarterfinals: Standout Prospects and What to Expect
Related: Future Watch Weekly: So You’re a Signed NCAA Free Agent. Now What?
News Summary:
- NHL Draft Notebook: McKenna, Hagens and Martone Lead Underagers at U-18 World Championship
- Check all news and articles from the latest NHL updates.