There were 21 NHL draft picks, eight guys with NHL contracts, a top 10 pick, and even a guy who stood 6’9″ tall.
Then, there was Taro Jentzsch, a 150 pound, 19-year-old who was born in Germany, plays in Quebec, and has barely spent time in the United States let alone Las Vegas.
Vegas is a big city, but I’m from Berlin. It’s like some of the same. We don’t have as many casinos. This ice rink is amazing. -Jentzsch
Just because Jentzsch was a bit of an outlier at Golden Knights Development Camp, doesn’t mean he didn’t belong there.
After years of playing in Europe, Jentzsch knew if he was to take his career to the next level he had to make a big move. However, he was drafted into Canadian Juniors by the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) before the 2018-19 season which wasn’t exactly ideal for a German.
(I thought) okay… French is not my language so it’s (going to be) pretty tough. -Jentzsch
Luckily for Jentzsch, the coach of the Phoenix was Stéphane Julien who played 10 years of hockey in Germany.
He talked to me a little bit in German. He spoke broken German but it was good enough. -Jentzsch
In his first year playing in major juniors, Jentzsch showed he belonged by putting up 42 points in 53 games at the age of 18.
After a successful first year in Canada, Jentzsch headed back home to represent Germany in the 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships Division 1A (the lower tier of World Juniors, where the winner gets promoted to the big tournament the following year).
