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USA Hockey Announces Final World Junior Roster

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A number of final rosters for the upcoming 2020 World Junior Championship have been revealed this morning, as the best U-20 players in the world prepare to compete later this month. Team USA gets us started, as USA Hockey has announced their finalized group. The roster is entirely comprised of NHL draft picks and presumptive 2021 selections, including sixteen players drafted in the first or second round, as well as 22 NCAA players. Below is the final roster:

F Matthew Beniers, Univ. of Michigan (2021)
F Brett Berard, Providence College (NYR)
F Matthew Boldy, Boston College (MIN)
F Bobby Brink, Univ. of Denver (PHI)
F Brendan Brisson, Univ. of Michigan (VGK)
F Cole Caufield, Univ. of Wisconsin (MTL)
F Sam Colangelo, Northeastern Univ. (ANA)
F John Farinacci, Harvard Univ. (ARI)
F Arthur Kaliyev, Hamilton Bulldogs (LAK)
F Patrick Moynihan, Providence College (NJD)
F Landon Slaggert, Univ. of Notre Dame (CHI)
F Alex Turcotte, Los Angeles Kings
F Trevor Zegras, Boston Univ. (ANA)

D Brock Faber, Univ. of Minnesota (LAK)
D Drew Helleson, Boston College (COL)
D Ryan Johnson, Univ. of Minnesota (BUF)
D Tyler Kleven, Univ. of North Dakota (OTT)
D Jackson LaCombe, Univ. of Minnesota (ANA)
D Jake Sanderson, Univ. of North Dakota (OTT)
D Hunter Skinner, London Knights (NYR)
D Henry Thrun, Harvard Univ. (ANA)
D Cam York, Univ. of Michigan (PHI)

G  Spencer Knight, Boston College (FLA)
G Logan Stein, Ferris State Univ. (2021)
G Dustin Wolf, Everett Silvertips (CGY)

The roster, which includes eight holdovers from last year’s squad and Knight returning for a third go-round, includes few surprises. As expected, Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nick Robertson will not be a member of the team as he is instead expected to compete for a roster spot in NHL camp, anticipated to begin toward the conclusion of the WJC. The L.A. Kings’ Turcotte was not given the same treatment, as he will compete for Team USA and then head to camp.

The other glaring omission is Boston Bruins prospect Johnny Beecher, who played for the WJC entry last year and had been in camp this year. The Boston Globe’s Matt Porter reports that Beecher tested positive for COVID-19, ending his bid for a roster spot. The loss could hurt the U.S., as teammate Caufield told The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler recently that he expected Beecher to play a big role for the team this year.

While the University of Michigan boasts an impressive three WJC selections for Team USA, Beecher and Thomas Bordeleau (SJS) were among the final cuts. The other player left off the final roster was undrafted defenseman Cam McDonald, who would have been the third inclusion from Providence College to join head coach Nate Leaman’s WJC team. Wheeler reports that Team USA GM John Vanbiesbrouck would have preferred 14 forwards and eight defenseman to their 13 forwards and nine defensemen, but that COVID protocols led to this final roster, insinuating that Beecher’s positive test likely led to roomate Bordeleau’s cut as well.

Among the 15 NHL teams represented on Team USA are four prospects from the Anaheim Ducks, a trio from the L.A. Kings, and four other clubs with multiple selections.

 

WJC Notes: Czech Republic, Alfredsson, Robertson

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The Czech Republic has cut their World Junior roster down to 28, the group that will travel to Edmonton to begin their quarantine. Three more players will then be cut from the official 25-man roster, but it looks promising for NHL prospects like Michal Teply, Adam Raska, and Jan Mysak. The Czechs will try to compete in a tough Group B where the United States, Russia, and Sweden—a team that hasn’t lost a group stage game in more than a decade—reside.

Lukas Parik, a third-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings, and Jan Bednar, a fourth-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings, will be joined in the goalie trio by a familiar NHL name. Nick Malik, the son of former NHL defenseman (and shootout superstar) Marek Malik has also made the team, though he was not selected in this year’s draft. The 18-year-old went last year too and actually got into one game for the Czechs, even though Parik and star prospect Lukas Dostal were on the team.

  • Daniel Alfredsson was contacted by the Swedish team that lost most of its coaching staff to positive COVID-19 tests, but he is ineligible to help out at the tournament thanks to quarantine rules. No other staff are allowed to be added to the traveling party at this point even if they are already residing in Canada, meaning the Swedes will be led by Joel Ronnmark, an assistant coach, and head coach Tomas Monten will help from home after testing positive. The Edmonton Oilers will also loan their video coach, Jason Pietrzykowski to the team, while Anders Eriksen, the coach of the U18 team, will serve as an assistant. It would have been fun to see Alfredsson behind the bench for the Swedes, but they’ll have to try and battle through this adversity without him.
  • The U.S. team was expected to name Nick Robertson to the squad later today, but Bob McKenzie of TSN tweets out there may be an issue keeping him from competing. The Toronto Maple Leafs have always been clear that they would let Robertson play if it did not interfere with NHL training camp, but as McKenzie points out, not only is the gold medal game scheduled to be held after the NHL is hoping to open camps, but Robertson would have to serve a seven-day quarantine if he flew from Edmonton to Toronto, potentially missing it entirely. Robertson did not attend the camp in Plymouth with the rest of the U.S. hopefuls, instead staying in Toronto to train (and avoid any border quarantines). The Chicago Blackhawks, who are in the same situation with Kirby Dach who has been named to the Canadian squad, have made the decision that he will have an NHL roster spot even without a training camp.

Hockey Canada Announces Final World Junior Roster

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After a month-long selection camp that included a two-week quarantine period, Hockey Canada has finally made their final cuts and announced the roster that will be competing at the upcoming World Junior Championship. The event starts in two weeks in Edmonton, Alberta and will host teams from all over the world. The best junior-aged players will compete for gold in a year unlike any other.

Because the NHL has not started yet, players like Kirby Dach and Quinton Byfield will get the chance to compete for Canada at the end of 2020. Dach missed the tournament a year ago thanks to his commitments with the Chicago Blackhawks but should be a leader this year at the tournament. Byfield meanwhile will get a chance to convince the world that his struggles at the event last year were not indicative of his talent, while trying to add a second gold to his trophy cabinet.

Canada’s roster is loaded up front, with incredible offensive talent all the way to the final forward spot. But perhaps their defense too will be a force with names like Bowen Byram and Jamie Drysdale leading the way. In net, somewhat unheralded prospects will get the chance to prove they are winners, with Taylor Gauthier the only undrafted player on the final roster.

The full roster is as follows:

F Kirby Dach (CHI)
F Connor Zary (CGY)
F Dylan Holloway (EDM)
F Cole Perfetti (WPG)
F Jakob Pelletier (CGY)
F Alex Newhook (COL)
F Ryan Suzuki (CAR)
F Connor McMichael (WSH)
F Peyton Krebs (VGK)
F Quinton Byfield (LAK)
F Dawson Mercer (NJD)
F Dylan Cozens (BUF)
F Philip Tomasino (NSH)
F Jack Quinn (BUF)

D Braden Schneider (NYR)
D Kaedan Korczak (VGK)
D Bowen Byram (COL)
D Thomas Harley (DAL)
D Jamie Drysdale (ANA)
D Jordan Spence (LAK)
D Kaiden Guhle (MTL)
D Justin Barron (COL)

G Devon Levi (FLA)
G Taylor Gauthier (undrafted, eligible for 2021)
G Dylan Garand (NYR)

This means that Mavrik Bourque, Samuel Poulin, Donovan Sebrango, Ryan O’Rourke, Jamieson Rees, Seth Jarvis, Graeme Clarke, Gage Goncalves, and Lukas Cormier were the team’s final cuts.

Hockey Canada Cuts Seven From World Junior Camp

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The World Junior Championship is just a few weeks away and Team Canada has started making cuts. After sending home five players earlier this week who were deemed unfit to play because of COVID-19 tests or close contact, seven more were cut today. Brett Brochu, Tristan Lennox, Adam Beckman, Tyson Foerster, Hendrix Lapierre, Cole Schwindt, and Shane Wright will not be taking part in the tournament this year. That still leaves Canada with 34 players at their selection camp, meaning nine more will be cut before submitting the final roster.

The headline name here is Wright, though he was always a longshot to make the team this year. The 16-year-old would have been one of the youngest to ever play for Team Canada at the U20 event, but instead, he’ll have to wait a year and go as a 17-year-old next year. The potential first overall pick in 2022 was granted exceptional status to enter the OHL a year early and scored 66 points in 58 games for the Kingston Frontenacs. That earned him the CHL Rookie of the Year award and the honor of being the youngest player in OHL history to wear an “A” as an alternate captain.

One other name that may catch the eye is Lapierre, who was picked 22nd overall by the Washington Capitals this year. The 18-year-old forward was once considered to be in the running for the top few selections, but head and neck injuries have slowed his development considerably. He too will likely get another chance to go next year should he have a full healthy season with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.

With two goaltenders cut today, one can assume that the position is set with the three names remaining in camp. Dylan Garand, Taylor Gauthier and Devon Levi will be the team’s goaltending trio, though no starter has yet been named. For all the firepower that the Canadians possess upfront and skill on the back end, the goaltending position is still something of a question mark without that star prospect. Gauthier wasn’t drafted at all, while Levi was a seventh-round pick out of the CCHL.

Overseas Notes: Guskov, Kochetkov, Postma

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Minnesota Wild prospect Matvey Guskov has reversed course on his development plan, and in a big way. The 19-year-old Russian forward, a fifth-round pick in 2019, has spent the past two seasons in the OHL with the London Knights. Even after an off-season trade to the North Bay Battalion, there was no indication that Guskov planned to leave North America. Whether due to the delayed start to the OHL season or for some other reason, that has now changed. Guskov has signed with the KHL’s CSKA Moscow, the top team of the program that he grew up in. However, this is not just until the OHL season resumes or even just for the 2020-21 season. CSKA has announced a three-year contract with Guskov, keeping him in Russia – and away from Minnesota – until at least 2023. The Wild are no strangers to playing the waiting game with Russian prospects; the club was finally able to sign 2015 pick turned KHL superstar Kirill Kaprizov this year. CSKA is one of the KHL’s best clubs and Guskov could very well beneift from his time spent there. However, it has to be frustrating for Minnesota to have another talented player skip out of team control and into the Russian void, especially one that seemed committed to the North American development route.

  • Since he was selected in the second round by the Carolina Hurricanes, things have not gone according to plan for goaltender Petr Kotchetkov.  The Hurricanes were happy to take the overager early in the second round in 2019 after he dominated the Russian minor league VHL and looked strong in a pair of KHL starts. However, he failed to take a step forward last season; his VHL numbers improved, but he struggled in his KHL opportunities and was eventually traded away by powerhouse SKA St. Petersburg. His play improved somewhat with Vityaz Podolsk, but he was still demoted to the junior-level MHL for some time as well, where he continued to struggle. So far this season, Kotchetkov had played exclusively on the KHL with Vityaz, however his play has again failed to live up to expectations. As a result, Kotchektov has been demoted to the VHL. He is headed back to HK Ryazan, the same team he made his name with in his draft year, showing full circle how the prospect has failed to improve since then. With a very weak pipeline in net and questions at the NHL level in the immediate future, the Hurricanes need to decide whether Kotchetkov, 21,  is still their potential goalie of the future and if so may need to bring him over to North America soon to try to get him back on track.
  • Defenseman Paul Postma has been unable to stay in one place for very long since leaving the NHL and is on the move again. The veteran over more than 200 NHL games with the Winnipeg Jets and Boston Bruins, Postma left North America 2017-18 after he was used sparingly by the Bruins. He landed with the KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan, where he was an All-Star and one of the best defensemen in the league in 2018-19. He jumped to Metallurg Magnitogosk last summer on a lucrative one-year deal, but ended up leaving the club early in the season. He eventually signed with HC Lugano of the Swiss NLA where he was again a productive player on the blue line. Yet, Postma opted not to stay in Switzerland either. Possibly waiting for an NHL offer, Postma has remained a free agent well into the seasons of many European leagues. He has finally landed with Austrian club Klagenfurter AC, where he should again be a dominant presence on a one-year deal. What happens after this contract expires is anyone’s guess, but Postma should have his pick in Europe if the interest in North America continues to be underwhelming.

William Wallinder Will Not Play In WJC

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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.

Minor Transactions: 12/05/20

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With a mix of some leagues currently in action, others preparing to start, some postponing play, and others still trying to sort it all out, there has been a constant stream of minor moves with players jumping from league to league via signing, loan, reassignment, and more. Today has been no exception, as a number of players are on the move:

  • With the ECHL planning to get underway next week, some NHL and AHL players have begun to be reassigned to the “AA” level to get a jumpstart on their seasons and many more moves are likely to come over the next few days. For now, the Boston Bruins have made the decision on a pair of young players, assigning goaltender Kyle Keyser and forward Matt Filipe to the Jacksonville Icemen, the Bruins’ temporary affiliate for this season. Keyser, 21, saw very limited action last year in his first pro season but the former OHL standout is looking to prove with his  play this year that he too belongs in the “goalie of the future” conversation with top prospects Dan Vladar and Jeremy Swayman. Filipe, 22, is set to make his pro debut after signing with the Bruins out of nearby Northeastern University. The former Carolina Hurricanes prospect plays with size and a nose for the net, which served him well as a reliable producer in the NCAA.
  • A pair of Oshawa Generals stars are getting their seasons started overseas. With the OHL not getting started until at least February, the Generals announced that NHL prospects Ty Tullio (EDM) and Allan McShane (MTL) have been loaned to Slovakia. The pair will join MHK Liptovsky Mikulas of the Slovakian Extraliga until the time that they are either recalled by their NHL clubs or by Oshawa for training camp. McShane and Tullio finished second and third respectively in scoring last season for the Generals, with 67 and 66 points apiece.
  • Although Finland’s hockey seasons are currently on pause, the Dallas Stars do not plan to recall top prospect Ty Dellandrea right away, according to Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. Dellandrea has been playing with the Liiga’s JYP this past month, recording three points in six games, and will continue practicing with the team for the time being. The Liiga is tentatively scheduled to return to action on December 20, but that start date is not guaranteed. With the NHL hoping to be up and running by mid-January with two weeks of training camp beforehand, Dellandrea may still be recalled before he can play with JYP again. The Stars hope that Dellandrea can compete for a roster spot this year and will want to make sure that he is in attendance for day one of training camp.

Maxim Cajkovic Removed From Slovakia WJC Camp

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Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Maxim Cajkovic will not be taking part in the World Junior Championship this year after being expelled from the Slovakian training camp. In a release, the team explains (via Google translate) that Cajkovic has been removed for a gross violation of sports and human values. Matej Deraj of Dennik Sport in Slovakia tweets that Cajkovic delivered several dirty hits on his potential teammates in a split-squad game.

Selected 89th overall by the Lightning in 2019, Cajkovic actually already took part in a WJC last season, recording two assists for Slovakia in five games. Though he had played the last two seasons for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL, he was spending this first part of this year with the Bratislava Capitals in the ICEHL, where he had nine points in 12 games.

The 19-year-old winger possesses a lethal shot but will obviously have to avoid these kinds of situations in the future if his professional hockey career is to take off. The World Juniors is a chance for many young players to show off their skills against the best in the world and can only help the prospect stock of a player like Cajkovic. Given he’s still waiting on his entry-level contract from the Lightning, this certainly won’t help things. It will obviously also weaken the Slovakian squad, who aren’t loaded with NHL prospects like Cajkovic and were relying on him to provide some offense at the tournament.

Jack Hughes, Alexis Lafreniere Will Not Be Released For WJC

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5:00pm: As if in response, Hockey Canada has announced that Alexis Lafreniere will also not be released to the tournament. Lafreniere will instead focus on training and preparing for the upcoming season with the New York Rangers, where he is expected to step right into a prominent role. After narrowly escaping major injury at the tournament last year, but still earning MVP honors and taking home the gold medal, it seems reasonable for the Rangers to want to keep Lafreniere at home,

3:37pm: Though it doesn’t come as much of a surprise, Jack Hughes will not be released to USA Hockey for the upcoming World Junior Championship. Though the program had interest, Darren Dreger of TSN reports that New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has informed them the star forward will not go this year.

Hughes of course was the first-overall pick in 2019 by the Devils and missed the tournament last year as well thanks to his NHL commitments. Now 19, he is still eligible but doesn’t have a lot to gain from suiting up against the junior-aged players other than getting in some competitive action before the season begins. That’s what the Chicago Blackhawks are hoping for Kirby Dach for instance, who will go for Team Canada despite playing all last season in the NHL.

The Devils have high hopes for the upcoming season and a step forward from Hughes is imperative to any playoff run they may chase. It’s hard to call him anything but a disappointment in year one, with just seven goals and 21 points. That’s not what you hope for from a first-overall pick, but Hughes was always expected to take a little longer because of his slight frame. Off-ice training and practice with the Devils is likely more important to his development than dominating prospects at the World Juniors.

Team USA could potentially lose another talented youngster that has already made his NHL debut, as Dreger also notes that if the league starts up soon Nick Robertson would stay with the Toronto Maple Leafs instead of traveling to Edmonton. Robertson was listed on the preliminary roster and is currently training in Toronto with some Maple Leafs teammates.

Morning Notes: Boston University, 2021 UFAs, Wild

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It’s 2020 still, so there is more disappointing COVID-19 news to pass along. The Boston University men’s hockey program has paused all activity after a positive test result, canceling the upcoming game against UConn in the process. The positive test was from the team’s Tier 1 personnel, but the identity of the player, coach, manager, or support staff has not been revealed.

Though stoppages like this are not unexpected, it is frustrating for prospect watchers looking forward to seeing some of the best young players in the country at BU. The team is loaded with NHL prospects that need as much development time as they can get over the next few months.

  • Eric Stephens of The Athletic (subscription required) took a look forward to the 2021 offseason and ranked some of the pending unrestricted free agents into tiers, with Alex Ovechkin coming in at the very top of the “elite” category. No one really believes that the legendary forward will play anywhere outside of Washington (at least in the NHL), but his negotiation is still an interesting one to keep an eye on. Now 35, he hasn’t shown any real sign of slowing down—in fact, Ovechkin was on a 58-goal pace this year had the season been a regular 82-game schedule. That would have been the second-best goal-scoring season of his career, a point almost unbelievable this far into it. The rest of the free agent list is just as interesting, with several “affordable” names popping off the page as potential steals.
  • The Minnesota Wild should have a new captain soon, as GM Bill Guerin told media today including Sarah McLellan of the Star-Tribune that the team will “have something done before training camp.” The Wild allowed Mikko Koivu to leave in free agency after wearing the “C” for more than a decade in Minnesota, but Guerin has spoken before about the need to have someone take over the role this year. There are plenty of candidates, including defensemen Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon, who are both still under contract for at least another five years.

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