Jansen Harkins is back home in North Vancouver and he's enjoying his time away from hockey.
After three weeks with Canada's national under-18 team in its run to the bronze medal at the world championship Sunday in Zug, Switzerland, he's had a chance to catch his breath the past few days, call up some of his old buddies and just be a normal 17-year-old.
That downtime won't last long for the Prince George Cougars centre, touted as a first-round draft pick for the upcoming NHL draft. Next week the six-foot-two, 182-pound Harkins will be back in the gym pounding weights and working on his conditioning to try to raise his stock as a pro prospect.
Canada lost just one of its seven games at the U-18 tournament, falling 7-2 to the United States in the semifinals. The U.S. went on to defeat Finland 2-1 in overtime to win the gold medal and has won the U-18 world title six of the past seven years.
"They have their national development program team which played together the past two years and anytime you can have that type of chemistry it's pretty hard to play against," said Harkins. "Obviously they have really good players and good depth and it's hard to match them for a whole game and unfortunately that's what cost us. We were thrown together pretty quick with some late additions and subtractions when we had some injuries and it took awhile to get some chemistry going as a team."
Harkins said the Canadian team was missing Dylan Strome and injured players Mitchell Marner, Lawson Crowse and Travis Konecny - all of them blue-chip prospects - and at full strength they likely would have proved more of an obstacle for the Americans.
Canada beat the host Swiss team 5-2 in the bronze-medal game in front of about 7,000 spectators in Zug. Harkins scored Canada's second goal in the first period and finished with three goals and two assists in seven tournament games.
"It's hard to come back after the disappointment from the night before but this year with the draft it's kind of your last chance on the ice to show what you can do and being Canada you don't want to finish without a medal," Harkins said.
"I think I got better as the tournament went on and finished strong so it was good to get some results at the end. Ultimately we played a pretty good game as a team and it just got better."
Harkins also played for Canada in the Ivan Hlinka tournament last August and was part of Team Pacific at the 2013 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
"All those tournaments are fun and all are different and I took a lot from it," said Harkins.
"Everything about Switzerland was awesome. It's a really nice country and Hockey Canada does a great job going over early to get the hotel and everything all settled and we were in a great spot."
At the end of May, Harkins will attend the NHL's annual pre-draft scouting combine in Buffalo. The combine gives NHL teams a chance to interview the top 100 prospects and see how they perform in medical and physical tests.
The draft will be held June 26-27 in Sunrise, Fla. Harkins, ranked 15th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, plans to be there. Not only is it likely he'll get picked in the first round but the trip to Florida will offer him a chance to visit with his grandparents, who live in the Sunshine State permanently.
"It will be exciting," said Harkins. "It's something I've really been looking forward to the last couple years. Seeing it on TV, lots of people I kind of knew growing up got called up. I went last year (to the draft in Philadelphia) when my agency brought a couple guys and it will be exciting having my family there in Florida."
A few other Cougars, including goalie Ty Edmonds, defenceman Tate Olson and winger Brad Morrison, could have their names called in the draft.
The Cougars got their first taste of WHL playoff experience in four seasons, losing out in the first round in a five-game series with Victoria. Harkins will be returning for his third WHL season and he's optimistic about what lies in store for the team next season.
"We had a good team last year and pretty young and we're obviously losing some good guys but the core is all (in the 1997- or 1996-born) range and I think we'll continue to get better and hopefully make a bit of a run next year," he said.
Harkins's father Todd - general manager of the Cougars - was at the U-18 tournament to watch Jansen play but also to try to narrow the search when the Cats select two European players in the CHL import draft, June 30.
"There weren't that many Western scouts there so hopefully we can do well at that (import) draft and get some good guys," said Jansen.
The Cougars will pick eighth overall in the WHL bantam draft next Thursday in Calgary.
