No Pressure Chloe Primerano, but You’re on the Cusp of Making History

When Sarah Fillier came onto the scene at the 2021 World Hockey Championships she went on an incredible run across five major international tournaments. She put up 31 points in 28 games, winning four gold medals and a silver. She was twice named to the World Championship All-Star team, was named a World Championship Top Forward, and a World Championship MVP. With all these accolades came another: being named the next Marie-Philip Poulin. Fillier’s average place among Canadian scorers at these five tournaments was 4.4 on the team with two instances (22 WHC/23 WHC) of her finishing top on the team in points.

Now, why are we talking about Sarah Fillier when the article title clearly says the name Chloe Primerano? I wanted to show that while people got excited with Fillier’s play when she made the Canadian WHC roster, she didn’t really follow the Poulin path to the team. It took Fillier until her U21 season to make the team, while Poulin made the Canadian WHC team in her U18 season. There’s nothing wrong with the path Fillier took and maybe she makes the team in her U20 season if not for COVID. That’s still a quick path to the Canadian WHC team, just not as fast as generational talent Marie-Philip Poulin. To put that expectation on anyone would be a lot too, considering Poulin was the last Canadian player to make the team as a U18 player in 2009.

Almost 14 years later we might get to see history made again by another potential generational talent, Chloe Primerano. As a U18 defender at the University of Minnesota in the NCAA she has six points in 10 games which is tied for most points for a blue liner on the roster. Let me repeat that: she’s a U18 blueliner in the NCAA, which is extremely rare and is tied for most points by a defender on the team with Sydney Morrow, who just last season had 39 points in 34 games.

Still not impressed? Understandable. How about as a U17 player at the U18 World Championships Primerano was breaking records left, right and center including a few of Poulin’s? With Primerano’s 16 points in six games that’s more than either of Poulin’s tournament totals (14 & 12). Primerano’s eight goals was either tied (eight) or beat (five) Poulin’s goal totals from her two tournament appearances.

Primerano currently holds the second highest amount of points in a single U18 WHC tournament and the most points in a single U18 WHC tournament by a blueliner not to mention most goals by a blueliner too. The counterargument to that might be Primerano played in a tournament where the norm for every team is now six games instead of the five a North American team usually plays.  To that I say she’s a blueliner who is putting up these numbers next to forwards. An extra game shouldn’t matter. She’s only the fourth defender to have a single tournament productive enough to be a in the top 30 for points and she’s second behind only Amanda Kessel (19).

And to put all this in perspective, Primerano can come back for another U18 WHC. She’s not done yet.

Looking at Primerano’s accomplishments, records she’s taken from Poulin, records she’s taken from nearly everyone, and the comparison to Fillier being anointed the next Poulin, is all to say that we’re witnessing history.

Of course, maybe things go terribly wrong and we unfortunately never see Primerano reach the heights she’s currently made possible. However, she’s an incredible talent who sets expectations we haven’t seen since Poulin. We’re just getting this season started and Primerano has gone from attending the Canadian national senior team’s fall festival camp to now joining the Rivalry Series roster. This is something we’ve never seen before happening in front of our very eyes. Generational talents are rare – hence the name – so when they come around it’s an exciting time.