Caron ended up with a broken collarbone, and while he knew he would miss the Bruins' preseason training camp and the start of his season with Rimouski in the QMJHL, he knew he would return at some point. But as far as making the Canadian squad for the Under-20 IIHF World Junior Championship currently being held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the outlook was pretty grim by Los Angeles Kings blue-line prospect.
But as Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli pointed out to NESN.com prior to the junior tournament, Caron went on to have a strong camp with Canada despite his injury. Then, once he was healthy, he came back strong with Rimouski (20 points in 20 games) and impressed Hockey Canada enough to be named to the Canadian junior squad.
On Tuesday night, Caron and his Canadian teammates will battle the United States for gold. And his future GM couldn't be happier for the 6-foot-2, 220-pound winger from Sayabec, Quebec.
"He didn't lose a step skill-wise," Chiarelli said of Caron, who has three helpers at the World Junior Championships. "When you get these injuries in the upper-body area you tend to be a little tentative stickhandling and shooting, but we haven't seen that with Jordan. But he had a very strong junior camp and that's why he is playing for that team."
In November, Chiarelli and his scouting staff attended the Subway Super Series, where Caron played for Team QMJHL, and they were impressed with Caron's poise and maturity on the ice.
"We've seen him a lot since he came back," Chiarelli said. "We saw [him] against the Russians and he was really good. He was described to me as 'a man amongst boys' at that Russian game. His strength to me is his size, his release on his shot and his puck protection — that is pretty compatible with our team. Now his skating is getting better and better, and that's one of the things that needs to come along."
Chiarelli was also happy with the fact that Caron would get a chance to perform on the grandest stage possible at his age. While the World Junior Championships doesn't receive enough attention in the United States, it steals the spotlight away from the NHL in Canada for a two-week period surrounding Christmas and the New Year. It's also broadcast in every country participating, so the world is watching. But with the current tournament in Saskatoon, the hype has been huge.
"It is a high level of play because it's the best 20-year-olds," Chiarelli pointed out. "It's an intermediate step between major junior, the American League and the NHL. It may even be better than the American League in a very short time period.
"But what will benefit Jordan is that it will bring out his skill at a higher level. He has a very good release, but we want him to get even quicker because he can be a dangerous power-play winger on the off wing."
