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World Juniors

Team Canada Makes Second Set Of World Junior Cuts

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After making their first set of cuts late last night, Canada continued to trim down their roster in advance of the upcoming World Juniors.  Being sent back to their respective junior teams (per TSN’s Bob McKenzie in a series of tweets) are:

D Nicolas Beaudin (CHI)
D Jacob Bernard-Docker (OTT)
F Alex Formenton (OTT) – per McKenzie, his knee injury will keep him out for the tournament.
F Liam Foudy (CBJ)
D Pierre-Olivier Joseph (ARI)
F Isaac Ratcliffe (PHI)
G Matt Villalta (LAK)

Among the cuts on the back end, Beaudin’s is the most notable.  He sits second in the QMJHL in points per game among defensemen and would have been a strong offensive threat.  However, it appears they’ve opted to go with defensive stability with Markus Phillips (LAK) earning what appears to be the final spot on their roster.  Joseph is another offensively-gifted defender that was let go while Bernard-Docker is off to a good start in his freshman season and will have a good chance to make the team next season.  In goal, Villalta went into camp with the lowest odds to make the team as he was behind Michael DiPietro (VAN) and Ian Scott (TOR), who just signed his entry-level deal earlier in the day.

Up front, Ratcliffe has been one of the better scorers in the OHL and is on pace for his second straight 40-goal season.  Foudy was one of the top risers in the 2018 draft class, working his way into the middle of the first round.  His offensive game hasn’t taken a big jump this year but he has been a dependable two-way player and will also likely get a long look one year from now.  Formenton was a lock to make the team but he was injured in a scrimmage game earlier this week and was seen on crutches recently.

There is still one cut to be made up front that will be dependent on their injury situation as Kings prospects Jaret Anderson-Dolan (wrist) and Gabriel Vilardi (back) still have some question marks.  Final rosters aren’t due until December 25th so it’s likely that Canada will wait until closer to that date to make that decision.  With several pre-tournament games scheduled for next week, other countries will likely be making their final cuts in the coming days as well.

Team Canada Makes First World Junior Cuts

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With less than two weeks before the tournament begins in Vancouver, Team Canada’s World Junior team has made their first cuts of selection camp. The team surprisingly lost 5-3 at the hands of the USports All-Star team in an exhibition match yesterday, and decided to trim some of the fat from the large camp roster. Ty Dellandrea, Raphael Lavoie, Cameron Crotty and Calen Addison have all been sent back to their respective junior or college teams and will not be participating in the World Juniors this season.

For all four of these players, making the team was a long shot to begin with. Dellandrea may be the most well known of the bunch, given his 13th-overall selection in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft (Dallas), but that could change over the coming months. Lavoie, who turned 18 in September, has 31 points in 29 games for the Halifax Mooseheads and is a top eligible prospect for the 2019 draft. He could in fact climb all the way into the top ten with a good second half, given his all-around appeal. The 6’4″ forward can play the middle of the ice and is a good bet to be on the Canadian team next season.

Addison too could very well find himself on the team next season, given his outstanding production so far for the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The puck-moving defenseman is stuck behind several similar players on Canada’s radar, but should get a chance when those like Evan Bouchard move on next time around. Addison has 31 points in 30 games this season and already looks like a steal by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the 2018 draft.

Quinn Hughes To Sign With Vancouver After The Season

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After the Vancouver Canucks selected defenseman Quinn Hughes out of the University of Michigan with the seventh overall pick last year, they nearly convinced the freshman phenom to leave school and sign right away. Instead, Hughes opted to return for his sophomore campaign and is again lightning up the score sheet for the Wolverines. Fortunately, the Canucks don’t have to worry about Hughes staying in the college ranks for much longer, as the stud prospect confirmed to Sportsnet that he plans to sign his entry-level contract with Vancouver when the season is over.

Of course, the season that Hughes is referring to is the college season, which at the latest ends with the National Championship game on April 13, but is cut short for non-tournament teams before the end of March. Michigan is currently ranked outside of the top 20 in the NCAA at the midway point of the college season, but it is not outside the realm of possibility that the team could push for a spot in the NCAA tournament. A Big Ten Conference Tournament win or a final ranking within the top ten or twelve teams in the nation would earn the Wolverines a spot in the 16-team postseason. Last year, Michigan took that opportunity and ran with it, earning a spot in the Frozen Four. They could do so again, leaving Vancouver without much of an opportunity to get Hughes signed and into game action, but it does seem right now that Hughes’ final season in college is more likely to end in March. He would then be likely to make his NHL debut this season.

For his part, Canucks GM Jim Benning recently stated that he feels Hughes could help the team right away. Hughes has 20 points in 17 games so far this season, currently leading all Michigan skaters in points – including fellow first-round pick Josh Norris – and trailing only Harvard’s Adam Fox, Quinnipiac’s Chase Priskie, and UMass’ Cale Makar in points-per-game among NCAA defenseman. Hughes will also be a star for Team USA and the World Juniors later this month, where he will again get a chance to shine against top cometition as he prepares for the jump to the NHL. An elite puck mover with a pro-ready eye for making plays, one of Hughes’ goals in returning to school was to get stronger, which he feels he has accomplished. Hughes told Sportsnet that he is confident in his abilities and in his chances of making a successful transition to the pros. Vancouver fans may not have much to root for right now in another difficult season, but the talent of their young players is certainly a bright spot and Hughes’ commitment to joining the team, continued improvement, and confidence in his own ability should make the Cancucks and their supporters very excited.

Atlantic Notes: Kotkaniemi, Nyquist, Pysyk, Petrovic, Kulak

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With countries releasing their preliminary rosters for the World Junior Championships, many teams must make some decisions on whether they intend to send some of their young prospects to World Juniors and interrupt their careers. The Montreal Canadiens could be one of those teams as they have a tough decision to make on Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who is on the Canadiens’ roster.

While on the surface it would be obvious the team would keep him, the team did allow defenseman Victor Mete to leave the team last year and play in the World Juniors. Mete, however, was struggling and was already losing playing time in Montreal. Kotkaniemi is in a similar boat as he started strong, but has just two points in the past eight games and has hit a “rookie wall.”

However, TSN’s Dan Robertson reports that general manager Marc Bergevin met the media this afternoon and stated that he’s 95 percent sure that Kotkaniemi won’t play in the WJC. The 18-year-old has three goals and 14 points in 29 games.

  • The impressive play the Detroit Red Wings have gotten from Gustav Nyquist causes many long-term questions. Nyquist, who is on pace for a career season as the 29-year-old already has seven goals and 26 points in 29 games is in the final year of a four-year, $19MM deal he signed back in 2015, could be looking for another big contract. The question that MLive’s Ansar Khan wonders is whether Detroit will consider bringing back Nyquist. It’s likely he will be asking for $5MM per year for three or four years. With the team in the middle of a rebuild, there is no guarantee the Red Wings will consider signing Nyquist a priority, although the team is also well known to give out money to veterans.
  • With the Seattle expansion draft on teams’ radars for the next few years, The Athletic’s George Richards (subscription required) writes that nothing worked out last time for the Florida Panthers who made a side deal to protect two defensemen by sending both Jon Marchessault and Reilly Smith to Vegas in the expansion draft. The team’s plan was to protect both Mark Pysyk and Alexander Petrovic. However, neither has been a key member of the team’s defense since then and both may not be on the roster by the time the next expansion draft rolls around.
  • After being traded from Calgary to Montreal and finding himself in the AHL, defenseman Brett Kulak could have considered his situation dire. However, Kulak has since been recalled and has found himself a key piece to the Canadiens’ defense and is paired next to Shea Weber, which looks like a perfect fit, according to Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette. “He was playing in the NHL last year, so it was not like I got a guy from the East Coast Hockey League,” said general manager Marc Bergevin. “He’s an NHL defenceman. Our scouting staff liked him because of the way the game is going. He’s a good skater.”

Filip Zadina Will Go To World Juniors, Michael Rasmussen Will Not

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The Detroit Red Wings have made some decisions on which of their young players they’ll allow to play in the upcoming World Junior Championship. Michael Rasmussen, who has been playing in the NHL this season will not leave the Red Wings to join Canada according to Dhiren Mahiban, who spoke with head coach Jeff Blashill. Filip Zadina though, who has spent the season playing in the AHL, will be released to join the Czech Republic for the tournament. Zadina isn’t expected to leave the Grand Rapids Griffins until just before the tournament, but Blashill told Max Bultman of The Athletic that he’s excited for the young forward’s opportunity:

I think it’s great for him. … I think he can go to play for Czech and be the man, and I think there’s nothing like the confidence that you get when you produce offensively and you have the ability to control the game.

Zadina, 19, was the sixth overall pick in June’s draft despite being rumored to be in contention for the top three picks at one point. His fall is Detroit’s gain, snapping him up to immediately inject some high-end scoring talent into their prospect system. The team was eventually allowed to send him to the AHL instead of back to the QMJHL where he played last season, and Zadina has excelled with 15 points in his first 23 games as a North American professional. That success should carry over to the World Juniors, where he was already a dominant presence last year alongside Martin Necas. Zadina’s seven goals trailed only Kieffer Bellows’ nine for the tournament lead, and this year should be more of the same.

The fact that Rasmussen will not be released to join Team Canada comes as no surprise, given that he is playing regularly for the Red Wings this year. Another high draft pick, ninth overall in 2017, Rasmussen turned heads at training camp and earned a spot despite his still developing offensive game. Things really started to click for the 6’6″ center in the WHL playoffs last season, where he scored an incredible 33 points in 14 games for the Tri-City Americans. Though he has just nine points in 26 games for the Red Wings this year, the development he’s receiving by being around the team on a daily basis is clearly worth more to the organization than a few weeks at a junior tournament.

Canada meanwhile has plenty of options down the middle already, likely adding another reason to the decision to keep Rasmussen in Detroit. There is no guarantee that he would even play a big role on the team, something that Zadina is assured of. In fact, another Detroit prospect Joe Veleno might actually get an increased role given Rasmussen’s absence, as part of a center group that also includes Cody Glass, Gabe Vilardi, Barrett Hayton and Ty Dellandrea among others.

Snapshots: Despres, Maple Leafs, Zuccarello

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Simon Despres was offered a contract by the AHL’s Laval Rocket before this season began, but opted not to sign with the team. After spending a couple of months examining his options, the veteran defenseman has decided to take them up on their offer after all. Except now, the deal is just on a tryout basis. Laval announced today that Despres has signed a PTO with the team. Despres, a former first-round pick and NHL regular with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Anaheim Ducks, struggled with injuries and was more or less forced out of the league in recent years. After finally returning to full health last season and performing well with the KHL’s HC Slovan Bratislava, Despres expressed an interest in returning to the NHL this year. Interestingly, he specifically mentioned his interest in the relatively new AHL franchise in his hometown of Laval and eventually signed a PTO with the Montreal Canadiens this summer in hopes of landing a two-way contract where he could play in Laval and potentially work his way onto the Habs’ roster. He fell short of that goal, but a one-way AHL contract with the Rocket seemed like the next-best thing. Hopefully it’s not too late to land a real contract with Laval.

  • The official camp roster for Sweden’s World Juniors entry will be announced tomorrow. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the luxury of knowing two of their prospects – defensemen Tim Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin – will be selected to the team. The Leafs also have the luxury of ample depth that will allow them to send both to the tournament without a second thought, reports Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun. With the AHL’s Toronto Marlies this season, Sandin leads all defensemen on the team with four goals despite playing in all twelve games, while Liljegren has been arguably the team’s top defensive defenseman. Neither of the two look quite ready for the NHL just yet, but are well on their way.
  • Not many players have the clarity and foresight about their own status to predict when they’ll be traded, but a respected veteran like Mats Zuccarello does. The New York Post’s Brett Cyrgalis relays a report from a journalist in Zuccarello’s native Norway that Zuccarello believes a trade is more likely than him finishing out the year in New York. A career Ranger, Zuccarello is likely upset about the end of his time with the team coming, but as a pending free agent on a rebuilding club, he was likely moving on one way or another. Zuccarello will likely be a coveted piece at the trade deadline.

Ottawa Senators Recall Forward Drake Batherson

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The meteoric rise of Drake Batherson continues. A relative no-name just a few years ago, Batherson is now set to join the Ottawa Senators on his first NHL call-up as a first-year pro. The team announced that they have recalled Batherson from the AHL’s Belleville Senators and he could make his debut when the Sens host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Batherson, 20, was a fourth-round pick by Ottawa in 2017, merely the 121st overall pick. Batherson had completed just one full season in the QMJHL prior to being drafted, recording 58 points in 61 games for the Cape Breton Screming Eagles. Yet, Batherson was still included in the initial camp to compete for a spot on the Canadian World Junior roster. Against the odds, Batherson earned a spot and skated with the U-20 team at the World Juniors last January. Seemingly out of nowhere, Batherson tallied seven goals, tied for the second most in the tournament behind only American first-round pick Kieffer Bellows and tied for fourth-best in points for the Canadians. Batherson continued a strong campaign back in the QMJHL, totaling 77 points in 51 games between Cape Breton and the Blainsville-Boisbriand Armada, which was good enough to share eleventh place in league scoring. He then led all QMJHL skaters with an astounding 33 points in 22 postseason games for Blainville-Boisbriand, leading the team to an appearance in the league championship.

Some thought that Batherson may be unable to continue his impressive play after making the jump to the pro level this season. Instead, the rookie has 20 points through 14 games with Belleville, tied for second-best in the entire AHL. His 13 assists are additionally third in the league, while he leads the Senators across the board on offense by a wide margin. Ottawa hopes that Batherson can continue to find success against a new challenge, as he has for the past year or so. The Senators have won just three of their past eleven games and could use all the help they can get, especially if it comes from a young, potential future core piece. At this rate, Batherson is looking like just that.

Janis Voris Seeking Opportunity In North America

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Young Latvian goaltender Janis Voris has his heart set on a jump to North America and he’s being proactive about it. KHL squad Dinamo Riga announced today that they have suspended the contract of the 18-year-old netminder so that he may pursue other options overseas. The two sides mutually agreed that he should explore options in North America to further his development.

Voris played in all but six games for Riga’s youth team in the MHL last season, posting a .907 save percentage and 2.81 GAA in 58 contests against some of the best young players in Russia and Eastern Europe. He was also one the major highlights of the U-18 World Juniors 1A tournament, where he turned in an incredible .969 save percentage and 0.67 GAA in three games.

With Latvia’s top pro goaltender and former NHLer Kristers Gudlevskis returning home to man the net at the KHL level for the foreseeable future, as well as two other veteran keepers on the roster, Voris likely did not have much of a path to tougher competition in his current situation. However, his talent demands more of a challenge. Although Voris was not selected this past June in his first year of NHL Draft eligibility, he could be an intriguing option for an NHL team to sign to an entry-level contract and let develop at the junior level for several years. At the very least, the young goalie should find a new home in the junior ranks in no time.

Vladislav Kolyachonok Joins OHL’s London Knights

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The London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League used their second-round pick in the CHL Import Draft in June to select a very intriguing prospect. Now, they have been able to convince him to come over to North America and join the team for the coming season. The OHL announced today that the Knights have signed Belorussian defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok to  a standard player agreement, as the 17-year-old will begin his draft-eligible year in London.

Kolyachonok is part of what might just be the most highly-regarded class of prospects out of Belarus this century. While no one is expecting the import blue liner or any of his countrymen to be taken in the first round – at least not yet – Kolyachonok is one of eight Belorussians selected in the Import Draft out of a class of 77 players. There have only been 15 players selected out of Belarus in the NHL Draft since 2000 and only two of those picks – Andrei Kostitsyn and Konstantin Zakharov in 2003 – have come in Round Three or earlier. In that same time span, there have been nine drafts in which no players hailing from Belarus were selected. While Kostitsyn and brother Sergei, as well as Mikhail Grabovksi, developed into capable NHLers, there has not been a Belorussian player of note in the league for some time. Philadelphia Flyers forward prospect Maxim Sushko, a 2017 fourth-rounder, might just be the most well-known active prospect, while multiple Belorussians were selected this year for the first time since 2005, with both Yegor Sharangovich and Vladislav Yeromenko being chosen in the fifth round.

Kolyachonok is just one of a number of talented draft-eligible players from Belarus who could turn the tides for the country’s developmental history next June. Vladimir Alistrov, the second overall pick in the Import Draft and now a member of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, leads a group that includes Kolyachonok, Aliaksei Protas, Daniil Stepanov, and more who could hear there names called next June. Kolyachonok is likely to be the top defenseman of the bunch, as last season he was one of the top players for the U-18 national team, recording 20 points in 43 games on the top pair. He was also a hidden gem at the World Juniors, where he led all Belorussian defenders in points and plus/minus. While Kolyachonok still has a long season ahead of him, adjusting to tougher competition and a more intense pace of play in the OHL, if he is able to thrive in London, then he could potentially even be the highest-drafted player from his country in some time at the draft next year.

Overseas Notes: Lundestrom, Vesalainen, Free Agents, Paille

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While the Anaheim Ducks finalized an entry-level contract with newest first-round pick Isac Lundestrom yesterday, don’t expect to see him donning a Ducks jersey right away. Beat writer Eric Stephens reports that Lundestrom is expected to remain in Sweden for at least one more year to finish out his contract with the SHL’s Lulea. This would line up with the specifics of Lundestrom’s contract, which contains a European Assignment Clause for next season. After that, Lundestrom’s future is more of a mystery, but the high-ceiling center is still relatively raw and likely a few seasons away from an NHL debut.

  • Another prospect in limbo between the NHL and Europe is the Winnipeg Jets’ 2017 first-rounder, Kristian Vesalainen. The 19-year-old power forward had a breakout campaign last year, recording 43 point in 49 games between HPK and Karpat of the Liiga, the top pro league in his native Finland, and impressing at the World Juniors. However, Vesalainen’s contract in Finlad has expired and he remains an unsigned – and highly sought-after – free agent across the continent, having now spent time in both Sweden and Finland. Yet, Vesalainen may be holding out for a spot with the Jets this season. The budding young star has yet to sign his entry-level contract, but may be hoping that he can somehow work his way in to a loaded forward corps in Winnipeg. Otherwise, one would think that he would have already signed with another team in Europe.
  • Speaking of European free agents, Vesalainen is not the only recognizable name still available who played overseas last season. After a point-per-game season with SC Bern of the Swiss NLA, Mason Raymond still remains unsigned, perhaps hoping for NHL interest. Raymond, offensive defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti, and capable two-way forward Nick Spaling highlight NLA players awaiting jobs, while Brandon Gormley and Jonathon Blum are puck-moving defenders still looking for a contract after playing in the SHL and KHL respectively last year. In Finland, veteran defenseman Henrik Tallinder has remained productive well into his late thirties but is still looking for another shot, while consistent forward Jesse Saarinen, a top 20 per-game scorer in the Liiga, also remains unemployed.
  • Joining the list of European free agents today is long-time NHL checking forward Daniel Paille. Paille, 34, spent 11 years with the Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers before departing for Sweden in 2016. Paille signed a three-year deal with Brynas IF of the SHL and played well in his first season. However, injuries limited the two-way forward to just 14 games last season and Brynas decided to move on. The team announced today that both they and Paille have mutually agreed to terminate the final year of the contract, allowing Brynas to get out from under the contract and allowing Paille to focus on getting healthy. At this point, it is unclear if Paille will be actively looking for work this season or if he is leaning toward taking the year off or perhaps hanging up the skates for good.

 

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