Because of the rules surrounding compensation for NCAA hockey players, Colorado Avalanche fans still haven’t seen a large pice of the Ryan O’Reilly trade, JT Compher, in action against professional players at Avalanche training camp. That will change this September, with Compher inked to an Entry Level Contract and leaving college hockey, but first, Compher got a watered down taste of what NHL competition is like at the World Championship tournament. For Compher, the minor tournament served as an excellent opportunity to measure his own play against professionals on the ice and also learn from the level of preparation and work that NHL players put in off the ice. For the Avs, the tournament served as an early opportunity to scout Compher in a professional setting and better set their expectations for his first professional season.
On a comparatively weak United States team that featured only a few impact NHLers, Compher was placed in a checking role alongside Michigan teammate Tyler Motte and former Avalanche forward Matt Hendricks where he scored 1 goal and 3 points in 10 games en route to a 4th place finish in the tournament. Compher finished the tournament with 6 shots on goal and a -1 rating.
All in all that’s a respectable outing for Compher’s first taste of professional competition, especially considering his unfamiliarity with the larger ice surface. While it would be foolish to draw any conclusions about Compher’s ceiling or future rate of production based on such a short, watered down tournament, we can get an idea of Compher’s immediate NHL readiness for 2016 and of his play-style outside NCAA hockey where he was capable of dominating all facets of the game.
Despite his enormous breakout season alongside Kyle Connor last year, Compher has never been projected as an offensive dynamo or top six scorer at the NHL level. Compher is more of a playmaker than a scorer and projects as a third line center who provides depth scoring. While he might not have any big offensive weapons, Compher does have a real nose for the front of the net and a knack for scoring greasy goals in close. Compher scored 1 goal during the tournament and another in a preliminary match with both goals coming off his ability to quickly read and react to broken plays in close.
Goal from @umichhockey alum JT Compher. 2-2 after the 2nd. #2016MWC#Avspic.twitter.com/bQHtkaqFl3
— Stefan Kubus (@StefanKubus) May 3, 2016
No doubt Compher’s personal highlight of the tournament came during the United States’ game against Germany, when Compher picked apart the German defense with a picture perfect pass to Jake McCabe on the backdoor. Compher’s hockey IQ and passing have always been the strongest parts of his game, and with tape-to-tape lasers like this it’s no surprise that he helped propel Kyle Connor to 35 goals.
What a pass from JT Compher to McCabe pic.twitter.com/f6cWuH1mMu
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) May 15, 2016
One of the big questions for players like Compher is how they will stand up to the physicality of the NHL compared to their development league. It helps here that Compher comes from the NCAA, which features bigger, older players and more physical grinding hockey than the development leagues of the CHL. Compher’s comfort in the physical game showed during the tournament, and despite all the extra space on large ice, the feisty, high-energy center was still able to get in opponent’s faces and grind.
Compher is no agitator, but he is a real battler and something of a scrappy “bring your lunchpail every shift” kind of player. Our brief look at world championships showed that Compher should have no problem continuing that style of play at the next level, even when he’s outsized:
big bad Compher pic.twitter.com/zdN6zIJMMx
— Stephanie (@myregularface) May 7, 2016
There are no guarantees, but Compher could compete for an NHL roster spot out of training camp, especially if the Avalanche move on from John Mitchell. Whether he makes the team right away or not, Compher didn’t look out of place in his most recent round of international play and most likely, will make his NHL debut sometime this season.
Other Avs at Worlds:
JT Compher wasn’t the only Avalanche player to take part in the IIHF World Championship tournament. Matt Duchene and Calvin Pickard won gold with Team Canada. Duchene finished 2nd on the team and 8th in the tournament in scoring with 5 goals and 10 points in 10 games played. Duchene scored a goal and an assist in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Finland in the gold medal game. Calvin Pickard played a backup role for team Canada and won both games he appeared in, stopping 35 of the 36 shots he faced.
The Avalanche’s top prospect Mikko Rantanen was a late addition to the Finland roster and played in 5 games registering 1 assist and 5 shots on goal en route to a silver medal finish.
For Norway, the Avalanche’s Andreas Martinsen scored 1 goal and added 2 assists and 18 shots in his 7 games played. The Avalanche have a rumored interest in Martinsen’s countryman Mats Rosseli Olsen, who scored 1 goal and 4 points in the tournament.
Defenseman Anton Lindholm played in 3 games for Sweden but did not register a point in the tournament and finished with a -3. Lindholm, the Avs 5th round pick from 2014, signed an Entry Level Contract with the Avalanche shortly after the tournament ended and is expected to play in San Antonio this fall.
In net, Semyon Varlamov bowed out of the tournament after aggravating his groin during a preliminary game with Russia, while Reto Berra appeared in 7 games for Switzerland, posting a .8807 Sv% and a 3.39 GAA. Berra had a particularly tough moment against Kazakhstan when he surrendered a goal to Roman Savchenko from center ice.
