USA Hockey Announces Preliminary 2023 WJC Roster
The 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship is rapidly approaching, with things set to kick off on the afternoon of December 26 with a match between Switzerland and Finland. Team USA will start their tournament later that day against Latvia. Today, the organization released the preliminary roster for the upcoming camp.
The group will be pared down closer to the tournament but currently includes:
F Jackson Blake (CAR 109th overall, 2021)
F Gavin Brindley (2023 draft eligible)
F Tyler Boucher (OTT 10th overall, 2021)
F Kenny Connors (LAK 103rd overall, 2022)
F Logan Cooley (ARI 3rd overall, 2022)
F Jack Devine (FLA 221st overall, 2022)
F Dylan Duke (TBL 126th overall, 2021)
F Cutter Gauthier (PHI 5th overall, 2022)
F Noah Laba (NYR 111th overall, 2022)
F Ryan Leonard (2023 draft eligible)
F Samuel Lipkin (ARI 223rd overall, 2021)
F Chaz Lucius (WPG 18th overall, 2021)
F Cameron Lund (SJS 34th overall, 2022)
F Rutger McGroarty (WPG 14th overall, 2022)
F Red Savage (DET 114th overall, 2021)
F Will Smith (2023 draft eligible)
F Jimmy Snuggerud (STL 23rd overall, 2022)
F Charlie Stramel (2023 draft eligible)
D Sean Behrens (COL 61st overall, 2021)
D Shai Buium (DET 36th overall, 2021)
D Seamus Casey (NJD 46th overall, 2022)
D Ryan Chesley (WSH 37th overall, 2022)
D Aidan Hreschuk (CBJ 94th overall, 2021)
D Luke Hughes (NJD 4th overall, 2021)
D Lane Hutson (MTL 62nd overall, 2022)
D Luke Mittelstadt (undrafted)
D Jack Peart (MIN 54th overall, 2021)
D Ryan Ufko (NSH 115th overall, 2021)
G Trey Augustine (2023 draft eligible)
G Kaidan Mbereko (undrafted)
G Tyler Muszelik (FLA 189th overall, 2022)
G Andrew Oke (undrafted)
The camp will be held in Plymouth, Michigan between December 12-17, at which point a 23-man roster will be selected.
Alex Galchenyuk, Jayson Megna Placed On Waivers
The Colorado Avalanche have placed both Alex Galchenyuk and Jayson Megna on waivers, giving them some extra roster flexibility as they continue to deal with injuries. Galchenyuk needed to clear after signing a contract recently, and Megna had exhausted the exempt status he gained from clearing in October.
Colorado also moved Bowen Byram to injured reserve today, giving them room to recall Charles Hudon. Byram’s placement is retroactive and he has not suffered a setback, meaning he still should be back relatively soon.
The problem, though, is that both Artturi Lehkonen and Jean-Luc Foudy are dealing with injuries and are listed as day-to-day. The team has ten different players dealing with one ailment or another, and need some flexibility to be able to put together a cohesive lineup. For instance, the group has just six defensemen on the roster at the moment, but 15 forwards due to so many minor injuries up front. Waiving Galchenyuk and Megna will allow them to rebalance, if necessary.
It seems unlikely that either player will be claimed, given their lack of production. Neither one has scored an NHL point this season.
Washington Capitals Recall Hunter Shepard
After Darcy Kuemper was forced to leave the game for the Washington Capitals over the weekend, the team recalled Hunter Shepard from the AHL to serve as an extra goaltender. Kuemper is listed as day-to-day.
Shepard, 27, has never appeared in an NHL game and is only in his third season of professional hockey, but has been outstanding for the Capitals organization to this point. Starting in the ECHL, he dominated in 2020-21 for the South Carolina Stingrays, and went 3-0 during a short AHL stint. He was back in the ECHL for most of last season as well, but once again was outstanding whenever called up to the Hershey Bears, this time posting a .922 save percentage in nine appearances.
This year, as a full-time member of Hershey, he has a .932 in eight games, failing to lose a single one in regulation. Overall, since turning pro, Shepard has a .919 in the ECHL and a .934 in the AHL – not bad for an undrafted free agent goaltender who didn’t sign an NHL deal until he was 25.
Still, losing Kuemper for any length of time would leave the Capitals in a tough situation. Backup Charlie Lindgren has not been good this season, and the team is already struggling to stay relevant in the Metropolitan Division playoff race. Washington is 10-12-4 on the year and sit sixth in the division, having allowed 83 goals in 26 games.
Seattle Kraken Recall Shane Wright
With his conditioning stint over, Shane Wright is back in the NHL – for now. The young forward scored four goals in five games during his time with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, a move that was only allowed after he faced five consecutive healthy scratches in the NHL. He has now been recalled just in time for a game against the Montreal Canadiens, if the team decides to put him in the lineup.
(UPDATE: Head coach Dave Hakstol has confirmed to reporters including Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times that Wright will play against the Canadiens.)
Wright, 18, can play in two more NHL contests without burning the first year of his entry-level contract, and you can be sure he wants one of them to come against Montreal. After long being expected to go first overall in the 2022 draft, Wright was passed over by the Canadiens in favor of Juraj Slafkovsky, before seeing his name drop two more spots to finally come off the board fourth to Seattle.
Later today, Hockey Canada will be announcing their group for the upcoming World Junior Championship, which could be another option for the young forward. Playing at the tournament could keep him fresh without forcing the Kraken to send him back to the OHL. Once they do that, there is no recalling him, and there has been some debate over whether the team wants him to play for Kingston (the team that holds his rights) at all. In January, trade restrictions lift in the OHL, meaning Wright could be dealt to a different organization, one that the Kraken are comfortable sending him back to.
For now, though, he’s back in the big leagues and earning the NHL portion of his two-way contract.
Patric Hornqvist To Be Placed On LTIR
The Florida Panthers were going to face a cap crunch when Anthony Duclair was eventually cleared to return from his Achilles recovery, but it seems the injury bug might have done the work for them. Patric Hornqvist is expected to be moved to long-term injured reserve, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.
Hornqvist suffered what is believed to be a concussion during Saturday’s game against the Seattle Kraken, and will now miss at least ten games and 24 days due to the LTIR placement. As George Richards of Florida Hockey Now points out, this is not because of Duclair, who is still not close to returning.
Still, given the low usage that Hornqvist was getting this season, moving his $5.3MM cap hit to LTIR does give the team a good bit of extra flexibility. The 35-year-old is averaging just over nine minutes a night this year, playing as a fourth-liner and barely contributing. In the final year of his deal, reports emerged earlier this year that there is a handshake deal in place with the veteran forward that will keep him in Florida through the end of the season.
The Panthers had been operating with a roster under the allowed 23 players – even dressing fewer than 20 in recent games – something that will be able to change with Hornqvist out. The team will now have the flexibility to recall an extra defenseman, and keep players like Aleksi Heponiemi and Chris Tierney up on regular recall.
For Hornqvist, it appears as though the end of his NHL career might be fast approaching. His production has been on a steady decline in recent years and this season he has just three points in 22 games. About to turn 36, he has over 900 regular season games under his belt.
Ryan McDonagh Placed On Injured Reserve
One of the trades that probably didn’t get as much attention as it should have this offseason was one that sent Ryan McDonagh to the Nashville Predators. Essentially a salary dump by the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 33-year-old defenseman was acquired for almost nothing, despite being one of the most experienced postseason players in the league.
Though it got off to a rocky start, the Predators-McDonagh partnership has been strong of late, resulting in a 7-2-1 record in their last ten. Unfortunately, things will stop there, at least for a little while. McDonagh has been placed on injured reserve and is expected to miss two to four weeks. Jordan Gross has been recalled in his place.
McDonagh is dealing with an upper-body injury, taking more than 20 minutes per night out of the Nashville lineup. The veteran was facing all of the top competition and logging heavy defensive deployment, while anchoring the team’s penalty kill.
Without him, even more responsibility will likely be placed on Mattias Ekholm, in order to keep Roman Josi free to deliver offensive results. In Friday’s game, when McDonagh left early, Alexandre Carrier also saw a season-high 21:39, a good sign that he will be leaned on heavily in the interim.
Columbus Blue Jackets Recall Kirill Marchenko
Play the kids. The Columbus Blue Jacket’s season hasn’t gone anywhere near according to plan, so it’s time to see what they have in another youngster. Kirill Marchenko has been recalled from the AHL after just 16 games in North America.
Marchenko, 22, was the 49th overall selection in the 2018 draft, with an understanding that he wouldn’t be coming over for several years. Finally, after spending the last several seasons in the KHL, the young forward signed his entry-level contract last spring and made the trip to play with the Cleveland Monsters this year.
The AHL has proven to be no challenge for the young forward, as Marchenko has eight goals and 19 points in 16 games for Cleveland, though there are still some inconsistencies in his game. He is on a five-game point streak and should soon get a chance to show what he can do in the NHL.
Interestingly, it is Trey Fix-Wolansky who has been sent back to make room, after his own four-game stint with the Blue Jackets. Fix-Wolansky is the Monsters’ leading scorer with 22 points in 14 games, but standing just 5’7″ offers a very different skill set than the 6’3″ Russian.
The Blue Jackets have a back-to-back coming up tomorrow and Wednesday, where they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres. Now sitting just 8-13-2, with several key injuries, it has turned into something of an evaluation season for the Columbus front office, instead of a competitive one.
Artem Zub Facing Lengthy Absence
The Ottawa Senators are expected to be without their top defensive option once again, as Darren Dreger of TSN tweets Artem Zub could miss two to three weeks after taking a puck to the face. The defenseman is going through additional medical testing to get a more precise timeline.
Zub, 27, was already limited by injury this season and has played in just 14 games so far. The team is 7-7 with him in the lineup, compared to a 3-6-1 record without. With so much chaos surrounding the team this season, the Russian defenseman has been one of the most consistent options for head coach D.J. Smith, offering a steadying influence among a young group.
The team had just started to turn things around, winning four of their last five, several of which were in dramatic fashion. Ottawa’s big offseason expectations have been dashed in the early going but with some inconsistent performances throughout the Eastern Conference, the playoffs aren’t completely out of the picture just yet. At the very least, this can be an important development season for some of the team’s younger players.
In order for that to happen though, they’ll need to have some structure and some chance to win every night. Zub is a significant part of that, even without flashy point totals or dynamic puck skills.
Five Key Stories: 11/28/22 – 12/4/22
As the calendar turned to December, there was some notable news around the hockey world over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.
Another Stroke For Letang: Back in 2014, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang suffered a stroke which resulted in doctors finding a small hole in the wall of his heart and caused him to miss two months. He had played more than 500 games since then so it wasn’t expected that he’d have another one but that’s indeed what happened. Fortunately, this one isn’t believed to be as severe as the one from eight years ago but there is no timetable for when he might be able to return. Letang was off to a nice start to his season before this happened as he had a dozen points in 21 games while logging just shy of 24 minutes a night on their back end.
Clearing Waivers: A couple of years ago, Calvin Petersen was pegged to become the goalie of the present and future for the Kings and he was rewarded with a three-year, $15MM contract that began this season. However, he struggled last year with a save percentage of just .895 and that was even worse this season, checking in at .868 through his first ten appearances. That resulted in him being waived and clearing, resulting in a demotion to AHL Ontario where both he and the team hope that he’ll be able to turn things around. Veteran Pheonix Copley will be Jonathan Quick’s backup for the time being. Also clearing waivers this past week was veteran center Riley Sheahan who had his deal with Buffalo terminated; he quickly signed in Switzerland.
Eight For Hintz: The Stars weren’t able to reach a max-term agreement with Jason Robertson this summer but they were able to do so with one of their other core forwards as they inked Roope Hintz to an eight-year extension that carries a cap hit of $8.45MM. The deal, which kicks in next season, also contains a no-move clause for the final seven seasons, the only ones he was eligible for trade protection in. Hintz had a breakout year last season, notching 37 goals and 35 assists in 80 games and is off to an even better start points-wise this year, collecting 26 in his first 23 contests. Dallas now has four forwards that will carry a cap charge of at least $7.75MM next season with Robertson – the league leader in goals, being at the bottom of that group.
Formenton Ineligible To Play: It’s not very often that a restricted free agent makes it all the way to the signing deadline without a contract and it’s rarer that a player doesn’t sign by then. However, that’s what happened with Senators RFA winger Alex Formenton who now becomes ineligible to play in the NHL this season. Ottawa had been trying to trade him but was unable to find a taker at their asking price which was believed to be a second-round pick. Formenton now could try to find a team overseas to play with this season but it’s quite possible that won’t happen right away until the NHL releases its findings from its own investigation regarding the Hockey Canada World Junior 2018 sexual assault investigation; Formenton was part of that team. The Sens will retain his rights as a restricted free agent.
Injury News: Ryan Ellis was only able to play in four games last season but that will be four more than he’s able to play this year as he has been ruled out for the season. With him missing this much time, it’s fair to start to wonder if this is the end of his playing days even with four years left on his deal after this one. Meanwhile, Tyler Bertuzzi’s contract year continues to not go according to plan as he’ll miss the next six weeks after undergoing hand surgery. Injuries have limited the 27-year-old pending UFA to just nine games so far while the Red Wings will once again be down one of their top wingers for an extended stretch. Then there’s Blue Jackets winger Jakub Voracek, who has been out for the last month due to a concussion. GM Jarmo Kekalainen indicated this is a long-term issue while Voracek is set to meet the media on Monday to provide further clarity on the situation.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
West Notes: Iafallo, Dumba, Mrazek
The Kings are expected to welcome back winger Alex Iafallo to the lineup on their upcoming road trip, reports Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider. The 28-year-old suffered a lower-body injury back in mid-October after a strong start that saw him pick up at least a point per game in each of his first four contests and has been out since then. Last season, Iafallo was tied for fifth on the team in goals (17) while finishing sixth in points with 37 and his return will give Los Angeles another proven forward in the middle six to bolster what has already been a strong offense this season with the team averaging just over 3.4 goals per game so far. He skated on the third line in practice today and could be available as soon as Tuesday’s contest against Ottawa.
More from the West:
- Matt Dumba’s future with the Wild has seemingly been in question for years now as trade speculation has been plentiful but he has always stuck around. However, Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic feel (subscription link) that it will be different this time around and that Minnesota is likely to move the 28-year-old by the trade deadline in March. Dumba has struggled this season and has just seven points in 24 games and with prospect Brock Faber not far away from being NHL-ready (he’s expected to turn pro after his college season ends), it’s possible that they’d eye him for Dumba’s spot, allowing them to reallocate his $6MM elsewhere. Even with him struggling, Dumba would be an interesting addition to the trade block over the next few months.
- Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek will be out at least a week after suffering a groin injury in last night’s contest against the Rangers, relays Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link). The veteran is no stranger to dealing with groin trouble over his career although fortunately for him, this one appears to be a shorter-term issue. The fact he’ll be out for at least a week will make him eligible to be placed on IR which would give Chicago an extra roster spot. They had one available yesterday but used that to bring up goalie Jaxson Stauber earlier today.