Sweden’s 2020 World Junior Roster Announced
The last World Junior Championship roster to be announced among the usual top five powerhouse countries belongs to Sweden. The Swedish squad set to take the ice in Edmonton later this month contains a number of talented recent NHL draft picks and has depth at every position. Although Sweden must still cut one player before play begins, here is their all but finalized roster:
F Oscar Bjerselius (undrafted)
F Arvid Costmar (VAN)
F Noel Gunler (CAR)
F Emil Heineman (FLA)
F Simon Holmstrom (NYI)
F Alexander Holtz (NJD)
F Oskar Kvist (undrafted)
F Theodor Niederbach (DET)
F Zion Nybeck (CAR)
F Oskar Olausson (2021)
F Lucas Raymond (DET)
F Albin Sundsvik (ANA)
F Elmer Soderblom (DET)
F Jonathan Wikstrom (undrafted)
D Emil Andrae (PHI)
D Gustav Berglund (DET)
D Tobias Bjornfot (LAK)
D Philip Broberg (EDM)
D Alex Brannstam (undrafted)
D Helge Grans (LAK)
D Ludvig Hedstrom (undrafted)
D Albert Johansson (DET)
D Victor Soderstrom (ARI)
G Hugo Alnefelt (TBL)
G Calle Clang (PIT)
G Jesper Wallstedt (2021)
Sweden’s roster contains 19 existing NHL prospects, including a ton of high 2020 draft picks. With a number of top selections in the mix, this is a talented team that should make a splash. However, the name to keep an eye on may be 2021 prospect Wallstedt, who will look to top fellow WJC participants Spencer Knight and Yaroslav Askarov not only with his play in the tournament but also by cracking the top ten in the draft this year.
It’s hard to miss Detroit’s presence on this roster; the Red Wings account for five members of Sweden’s entry, more prospects on one team than any other NHL club this year. Among the other dozen teams represented on the “Three Crowns” roster are the Carolina Hurricanes and Los Angeles Kings, who each have a pair of difference-makers in play.
New York Islanders Acquire Dmytro Timashov
The New York Islanders have acquired restricted free agent forward Dmytro Timashov from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for future considerations. Timashov does not yet have a contract for the 2020-21 season.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see Timashov head to the Islanders, given he is a well-known commodity in the eyes of GM Lou Lamoriello. The 24-year-old winger was selected in the fifth round by the Toronto Maple Leafs just a month before Lamoriello took over as that team’s GM, meaning he oversaw Timashov’s development for years.
After several strong seasons in the AHL where he was used as a quarterback on the powerplay (operating from the half wall) and winning a Calder Cup in 2018, Timashov got his chance in the NHL this past season. In 39 games for the Maple Leafs he registered nine points, but was eventually the odd man out and found himself on waivers at the trade deadline. The Red Wings claimed him and Timashov would play five more games with Detroit, failing to register a point.
Even in Detroit, there didn’t seem like a ton of opportunity for Timashov, so perhaps a move to New York will give him a chance to play in the NHL again. Even if he wants to play in the AHL he’ll need a new contract, but perhaps Lamoriello knows that he’ll be able to work that out. It’s not as though he represents a ton of upside, but getting even a fringe NHL player for “future considerations” is usually worth it. In a year where a taxi squad or expanded rosters could be used, Timashov may fit that role of an in-betweener perfectly.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Detroit Red Wings
We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.
What are the Red Wings most thankful for?
Sweden’s development system.
Detroit as an organization has always been known for its willingness to look outside of North America to find the best players in the world, and while that certainly is no longer an attribute limited to just them, it continues to this day in the team’s drafting strategy. Sweden, in particular, has stood out as a proving ground for the Red Wings eventual picks, with four players picked directly from the Frolunda organization over just the past two years.
That group is led of course by fourth-overall pick Lucas Raymond, who likely won’t be in Sweden much longer, but also includes Theodor Niederbach, Elmer Soderblom, and Gustav Berglund. Other Swedes picked in recent years include William Wallinder, Albert Johansson, and Albin Grewe, all selected with picks in the top 66. When the World Juniors hits the screen later this month, don’t be surprised if you hear “Red Wings draft pick” often when watching a Sweden game.
Who are the Red Wings most thankful for?
At the head of that draft strategy is Yzerman, who has experienced first hand throughout his playing and managing career the kind of impact international players can have. Though the team hasn’t experienced much on-ice success since he took over from Ken Holland in 2019, it’s hard to argue with the job he’s done so far in the rebuild.
The Red Wings prospect system is packed with high-end talent, they have another six picks in the first three rounds of 2021 and the roster is unencumbered by any expensive, long-term deals. In fact, only Anthony Mantha, who received a new deal last month, is signed through the 2023-24 season. Yzerman can form this roster in whichever direction he chooses, but names like Raymond and Moritz Seider are a great place to start.
What would the Red Wings be even more thankful for?
A breakout from one of their older prospects.
There was talent in the system even before Yzerman arrived, too. It’s hard to know where 21-year-old Michael Rasmussen‘s career trajectory is pointed at this juncture after a somewhat disappointing first few years, but if he ever did reach his ceiling (or perhaps break through it with his 6’6″ frame) he could be a dynamic presence in the middle of the lineup.
So too could Filip Zadina and Joe Veleno, the two players Detroit selected in the first round of 2018. Both have immense upside as a top-end sniper and two-way center respectively, but neither has quite followed through on that potential just yet. It’s certainly not time to give up on either one, but if there is a breakout coming the Detroit rebuild could be accelerated considerably.
What should be on the Red Wings holiday wish list?
Even more draft picks.
This train is headed in the right direction, but there might be one last year of pain for the Red Wings with the roster as currently presented, meaning one last collection of picks would do the team good. Darren Helm, Valtteri Filppula, Luke Glendening, Bobby Ryan, Sam Gagner, Marc Staal, Patrik Nemeth, Jon Merrill, Alex Biega, and Jonathan Bernier are all scheduled to be unrestricted free agents after this season—you can bet a good number of them won’t finish the year in Detroit.
It’s not that these kinds of players will bring back a huge package of assets, but every third or fourth-round pick they land for an aging-but-capable veteran means another lottery ticket that could turn into something great. (Don’t look now, but Frans Nielsen, Robby Fabbri, Vladislav Namestnikov, Danny DeKeyser, Troy Stecher, and Thomas Greiss will all be UFAs in 2022 and could face similar fates.)
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
William Wallinder Will Not Play In WJC
Sweden had already lost several important players from their World Junior team over the weekend and now has ruled out another member of the preliminary roster. William Wallinder will not take part in the tournament, with Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News reporting that it is because his club team had a COVID-19 outbreak.
Wallinder, 18, joins William Eklund and Karl Henriksson on the sidelines for the tournament thanks to health situations, leaving Sweden without three important players. The young defenseman was selected 32nd overall at the recent NHL draft, picked by the Detroit Red Wings with the first choice of the second round. Wallinder brings a unique mix of size and skating ability, standing 6’4″ but gliding around the ice effortlessly.
With just a few weeks left before the tournament is set to begin, it is a race against time for these prospects. If they can stay healthy enough and removed from COVID-19 until they enter the bubble in Edmonton, the event should move forward. But with outbreaks still occurring all over the world, Wallinder likely won’t be the last player ruled out.
Snapshots: Liiga, Paajarvi, Bradley
Just days after the QMJHL announced a month-long pause due to the heightened spread of the Coronavirus, another league is set to make a similar call, but this time it’s a pro league out of Europe. According to a number of sources including The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf, the Finnish Liiga is expected to halt all play through the month of December. This move is expected to carry over to Finland’s junior leagues as well. A number of NHL prospects will be impacted, as will NHL players currently on loan who will return to North America sooner than expected. It does seem as though the shut down will end in January, but the COVID numbers in Finland will ultimately determine when play resumes.
- Veteran NHL forward Magnus Paajarvi opted to take his talents to Russia last summer, signing a two-year deal with the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. His first season fell short of expectations, as Paajarvi played in only 39 games and recorded just 19 points. His second season has started off much better, as Paajarvi already has 11 ponts through 26 games and will far exceed last season if he stays healthy. Yaroslavl decided to take advantage of the success of the impending free agent, as they have traded Paajarvi to Dynamo Moscow in exchange for another name familiar to NHL fans, Teemu Pulkkinen. Given that Paajarvi was still a serviceable bottom-six forward when he left the NHL, is on pace for a superior season this year with his contract expiring, and has now abandoned any loyalty he might have felt to the KHL club he initially signed with, this could all be leading to an NHL comeback for the skilled power forward next year.
- Detroit Red Wings prospect Chase Bradley has made his collegiate selection. The 2020 seventh-round pick out of the USHL has committed to the University of Connecticut, the program announced. The St. Louis native is a hard-working forward who is expecting to take a big step forward offensively in his final junior season before moving to the NCAA. Bradley becomes the second NHL prospect commitment for the Huskies this month, as fellow 2020 seventh-rounder Ryan Tverberg (TOR) will also join UConn next season.
Calvin Pickard Loaned To Vienna Capitals
The Detroit Red Wings have found some ice for another one of their players, this time loaning Calvin Pickard to the Vienna Capitals. The veteran goaltender will head to Austria for the month of December, giving Vienna some depth at the position while Sebastian Wraneschitz leaves to take part in the World Junior Championship.
Pickard, 28, is in the second season of a two-year deal signed with the Red Wings in 2019 and is scheduled to earn $800K on his one-way contract. Even with his extensive experience at the NHL level he likely won’t spend much time there this season after Detroit added Thomas Greiss as a free agent. Greiss will partner with Jonathan Bernier in net for the Red Wings, while Pickard is one of five other goaltenders under contract in the organization.
That’s a crowded position given how uncertain the minor league seasons are, but for now, Pickard can focus on the playing time provided with Vienna, something he has never really experienced before. Though Pickard has never locked down an NHL job for very long, he also hasn’t ever tested the waters overseas, instead playing more than 230 games at the AHL level. Most recently, he played 33 matches for the Grand Rapids Griffins, posting a 17-12-6 record and .903 save percentage.
Detroit’s Jack Adams Transfers To Providence College
After three seasons at Union College, Detroit Red Wings prospect Jack Adams is on the move. Adams missed the entire 2019-20 season due to a torn ACL and MCL suffered in Detroit development camp, and has been seeking a fresh start this off-season. He has finally announced that he will join Providence College this season with two years of NCAA eligibility remaining.
Adams, 23, is a hulking power forward who was selected in the sixth round by the Red Wings in 2017. The 6’6″ right wing recorded 35 points in 66 games with Union through his first two seasons and now takes his two-way talents to PC. It’s a program that Jack is familiar with, as older brother Mark Adams spent five years in Providence, including winning an NCAA Championship in 2015.
The current iteration of the Friars may not be a title favorite, but is still home to eight NHL draft picks, now including Adams. Up front, Adams will join fellow Eastern Conference prospects Brett Berard (NYR), Patrick Moynihan (NJD), Tyce Thompson (NJD), and Chase Yoder (PIT), a group that could grow more dangerous if they all stay through next season.
Atlantic Notes: Toronto, Rasanen, Raymond
With the city of Toronto beginning it’s 28-day lockdown on Monday, there are many questions on how that might affect the Toronto Maple Leafs if training camp were to begin during that shutdown. However, the Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that the Maple Leafs are exempt from the lockdown in that case as professional teams are free to practice.
The scribe adds that according to an NHL source, “at this point” the NHL does not “anticipate that any applicable restrictions would prevent the #Leafs from conducting camp in the normal course.” Of course, that assumes that the NHL season might begin in January, which would require training camp opening in Toronto in December, which is no certainty.
- Sticking with the Maple Leafs, The Athletic’s Joshua Kloke (subscription required) writes that time is running out for Toronto prospect Eemeli Rasanen, the Maple Leafs second-round pick in 2017. The 6-foot-7 defenseman came highly regarded, but has struggled to make an impact since being drafted, which included playing for four different teams in four different leagues last year. Despite his size and impressive shot, the knock on the 21-year-old was his skating which was exposed after signing with Jokerit of the KHL in 2018. He has struggled, playing very little at the KHL level and was eventually sent to Jokerit’s U20 team, then loaned to Kiekko-Vantaa of Finland’s second division and then finally loaned to Frederikshavn of the Danish league. Rasanen now is playing for HFK in the Liiga and hopes to establish himself there as Toronto must make a decision on whether they intend to offer him an entry-level contract next year.
- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press looks at a group of Red Wings prospects and tries to evaluate which ones are ready to join the NHL club for the 2021-22 season. While some believe that Lucas Raymond, the fourth-overall pick in the 2020 draft, might need a few more years in the SHL, the 18-year-old has already surpassed his 10-point season (in 33 games) from last year as he already has five goals and 12 points in 19 games (second on his team) and taking a much bigger role with his Frolunda squad. St. James believes he will be ready to come over for the 2021-22 season
Moritz Seider Not Released For WJC
The German roster for the upcoming World Junior Championship has been announced, and it includes top prospect Tim Stuetzle. The Ottawa Senators pick is still recovering from hand surgery but is hopeful to recover in time to take part in the tournament. Notably, however, Stuetzle won’t be joined by countryman and Detroit Red Wings prospect Moritz Seider. Selected sixth overall in 2019, Seider would have arguably been the team’s most important player after captaining the German squad a year ago. The Red Wings have decided to not release him to the German team, however, instead keeping him in Sweden playing for Rogle and available to return to Detroit for NHL training camp.
Seider, 19, is one of the top defense prospects in the entire world. Even at the age of 18, he found success in the AHL, scoring 22 points in 49 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins. He now has seven points in eight games in the SHL and could potentially make the Red Wings roster as soon as this season. The 6’4″ right-handed shot defenseman can do a little bit of everything and is one of several high-end prospects that will be arriving to help Detroit in the next few years.
Without him, it will certainly be difficult for the Germans. The team does however still have Stuetzle, Lukas Reichel, and John Peterka, all high picks in this year’s draft, meaning they’ll at least have some interesting offensive firepower to watch. One player who will likely benefit from the absence of Seider is Luca Munzenberger, the 17-year-old defenseman that was named to the squad. Munzenberger doesn’t turn 18 until later this month and is eligible for selection in the 2021 draft.
Atlantic Notes: Johnson, Fabbri, Kotkaniemi
While news out of Tampa Bay has been extremely quiet, many fans are waiting for the Lightning to get their offseason underway. The team has three key restricted free agents, including Mikhail Sergachev, Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak, that it must deal with and little to no cap room with which to work with.
In his most recent mailbag, The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) writes that with no confirmation yet on when the season will start, most teams have taken a break, leaving the Lightning with moves to make and no one to turn to until training camps get underway at some point. Much of that speculation points to whether Tampa Bay can find a taker for forward Tyler Johnson and the four years at $5MM AAV. The team was not able to find a trade partner at the start of the offseason and no team attempted to claim him when the Lightning put Johnson on waivers.
With rumors that teams are demanding a first-round pick to take Johnson off their hands, Smith writes that the Lightning have little interest in doing that considering they already traded away their 2021 second-rounder. It is possible if the Lightning can’t find an alternative solution, that they might have to retain some salary in order to trade him. Johnson, who has a full no-trade clause, has given the team eight or nine teams he’s willing to go to, but so far the team has had no luck finding a taker. Even if the Lightning can find a trade partner to take all of Johnson’s $5MM AAV, the team is also likely to make other moves to get all three RFA’s under contract.
- In a Q&A with Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill, The Athletic’s Max Bultman (subscription required) gets the head coach to comment on the team’s potential lineup when the 2020-21 season starts. One interesting nugget in the interview is that Blashill said he wants to take a look at Robby Fabbri at the center position. “I’m intrigued by giving Robby Fabbri an opportunity to play center too. So we’ll see, we’ll see where the best fit is. But the fact he can do it, I think is a real positive to have on your roster,” said Blashill. Although more roster moves are possible, it is believed that there are a number of players who will vie for the second-line center position. Fabbri had a solid campaign last year with 14 goals and 31 points in 52 games and could be ready to return to the center position where he played before injury history began.
- The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required) looks at the play of 20-year-old Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who is currently playing for his hometown team of Assat in Finland’s Liiga. The forward went scoreless in his first four games before getting his first point. He now has three assists in seven games, but is still looking for his first goal. While the numbers aren’t there, Basu writes that Kotkaniemi is still trying to adjust to Finland’s top league where every team they play is completely focused on him, something he hasn’t had to deal with in his two years in the NHL. Adjusting back to the Liiga after two years on North America’s smaller rinks also has been an adjustments for a player who was enjoying doling out hits in the NHL. That’s much harder to do in the larger rinks where a hit could take him out of the play too, meaning he can’t really work on that part of his game much.