Prior to their semi-final game against Finland today, the United States found themselves down another defenseman as it was revealed by Daily Faceoff’s Chris Peters (Twitter link) that Sharks defenseman Jaycob Megna had left the team to tend to a family emergency. That left the Americans with just four healthy defensemen for the game while the team is out of available roster slots which meant they weren’t able to add Montreal blueliner Jordan Harris – who has skated with the team as an extra all tournament – to the roster. Sam Lafferty and Riley Barber, both forwards, comprised the third pairing and will likely do so again on Sunday when they battle Czechia for the bronze while Finland and Canada go for gold.
More from the Pacific:
- Earlier this week, a report surfaced that Canucks winger Alex Chiasson would be heading to Switzerland for next season. However, his agent Pat Morris told Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic (Twitter link) that the pending UFA has no intention of signing in Switzerland and intends to pursue an NHL contract this season with his first choice being to re-sign with Vancouver. Chiasson will have to wait a while for that option to present itself as team president Jim Rutherford recently indicated that they won’t decide on whether or not to keep the 31-year-old until after free agency. Chiasson had 13 goals and nine assists in 67 games this season.
- On Friday, the extent of the injuries for Flames defenseman Chris Tanev was revealed – including a torn labrum and a dislocated shoulder. Today, the veteran told reporters, including Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link) that the recovery time for the labrum surgery he’ll be undergoing next week carries a recovery time of four to six months. If things go well, the 32-year-old would be ready around the start of training camp but if the recovery time is towards the back end of that range, he could miss more than a month of the regular season.