- Landon DuPont compared Maddox Schultz to Sidney Crosby after Canada’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup gold
- Schultz led the tournament with 10 points in five games as a 16-year-old underager
- Read below for what Canada’s coach said about the projected 2028 No. 1 pick
Landon DuPont knows exactly how heavy a Sidney Crosby comparison is. He made it anyway.
Canada’s captain was asked about 16-year-old teammate Maddox Schultz after the 8-1 gold medal win over the United States in Edmonton on Saturday, and he went straight there.
“He plays the right way, he reminds me a lot of (Sidney) Crosby,” DuPont told Derek Van Diest of NHL.com. “You don’t often say that, but it goes to the way he plays with and without the puck. He hits, he shoots, he passes, sets guys up, he’s just such a complete player, and off the ice, he’s unreal too.”
The Regina Pats center is an early favorite to go first overall at the 2028 NHL Draft, and he spent last week making the case in front of a full building of scouts.
Schultz scored twice and added an assist in the final. He finished the tournament on top of the scoring race with 10 points in five games, and he did it as one of the youngest players on the roster.
Catch the short-side snipe that put Canada up 2-0 on the Americans:
Exceptional player status was there for the taking last season and he turned it down. Only Connor Bedard in 2020 and DuPont in 2024 have been granted it by the WHL.
He explained the decision to Van Diest and had no second thoughts about it.
“It was just a family decision, and I thought it was good for me to develop and not play in the (WHL) full-time,” Schultz said. “Obviously there were big footsteps to follow, and it was a great development year for me. Playing 34 games (with Regina) was still almost as good as 68.”
Those 34 games produced 29 points. The year before that he put up 60 points in 21 games in his local under-18 league.
Head coach Ryan Oulahen was asked to measure Schultz against other players he has coached and could not land on one.
“It’s hard to compare him to anybody because of the intangibles that he has,” Oulahen said. “He can have an imprint on any part of the game, not only the physicality element, the hockey-sense element, the two-way centerman, and then you see the talent that he has. He’s a unique player and you would never think that he’s an underage player in this tournament.”
Liam Pue played on Schultz’s line all week and scored twice in the final himself. The two are Regina teammates and were the youngest players on Canada’s roster.
Pue was asked what makes his linemate different.
“He can do it all,” Pue said. “He’s a 200-foot player who battles hard and can put the puck in the net at any time and he also makes great plays.”
Both head back to the Pats this season, with the World Junior Championship in Edmonton and Red Deer from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 sitting there as the next target. DuPont is off to Michigan and a draft year of his own, so the next Canadian teenager under the microscope is already picked out.
