I'm excited to see if Jonah Gadjovich and Riley Tufte make the Canada and U.S. teams respectively and throw their weight around. Tufte especially would make a lot of players look like munchkins.
Has anyone heard any updates as to whether Colton Point is eligible for the U.S. team or if he has even expressed a desire to play for them over Canada?
Hey, sometimes the 3rd-stringer just needs a chance to prove he should be the starter.
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First step is making the team though. Actually, in this case the first step is combing through a ream of IIHF eligibility rules and figuring out which nation(s) you can represent. After that, making the team.
If he gets healthy Drake Batherson could make it. One of the best players in the chl
Is Steel going to play, or is he too old?
Blades of Steel
9 Team Full Keeper - Pts Only (G,A,W,SO)
Crosby, Wheeler, Bergeron, Forsberg, Connor, Kopitar, E.Lindholm, Pastrnak, DeBrincat, Fiala
Jones, Klingberg, Hamilton, Theodore, Letang
Saros, Shesterkin
Garland, Vrana, Bjorkstrand, Verhaege, Backstrom, Karlsson, Perunovich, Spurgeon, Pulock, Hellebuyck
Steel is gonna play. Button has him playing first line over glass mostly due to age in my estimation.
Team Finland released their 27 man camp roster:
Goalies:
1 Luukkonen Ukko-Pekka, HPK H?meenlinna
30 Lehtinen Lassi, Lukko Rauma
31 Halonen Niilo, HIFK Helsinki
Defensemen:
2 Heiskanen Miro, HIFK Helsinki
4 Salo Robin, Sport Vaasa
5 R?s?nen Eemeli, Kingston Frontenacs OHL
6 V?lim?ki Juuso, C Tri-City Americans WHL
7 Juolevi Olli, TPS Turku
23 Vaakanainen Urho, SaiPa Lappeenranta
25 Laavainen Roope, HPK H?meenlinna
28 Jokiharju Henri, Portland Winterhawks WHL
36 Kotkansalo Kasper, Boston University NCAA
Forwards:
3 J??sk? Juha, HIFK Helsinki
9 Kuokkanen Janne, Carolina Hurricanes NHL
10 Turkulainen Jerry, JYP Jyv?skyl?
12 Koivula Otto, Ilves Tampere
13 Vesalainen Kristian, HPK H?meenlinna
15 Koppanen Joona, Ilves Tampere
18 Moilanen Sami, Seattle Thunderbirds WHL
19 Tuulola Eetu, HPK H?meenlinna
20 Tolvanen Eeli, Jokerit Helsinki
21 Nurmi Markus, TPS Turku
22 R?s?nen Aapeli, Boston College NCAA
27 Ikonen Joni, KalPa Kuopio
29 Luostarinen Eetu, KalPa Kuopio
32 Heponiemi Aleksi, Swift Current Broncos WHL
33 Innala Jere, HPK H?meenlinna
34 Kupari Rasmus, K?rp?t Oulu
Surprisingly, in the battle of projected 2018 1st round picks, Jesperi Kotkaniemi was left off this group while Rasmus Kupari is there. I cannot figure out what's the reason for that and apparently neither can any of the Finnish hockey media people. Either way, considering how deep their team is, it's very unlikely either would have cracked the final roster anyways.
Two forwards I forgot to mention earlier: Eetu Luostarinen and Jerry Turkulainen. Luostarinen was a 2nd round pick by Carolina last summer while Turkulainen is an undrafted 19-year-old. Both are already playing their 2nd full professional season at the top level in Finland, so I honestly thought they would have been too old for this event. But no, they're both still eligible and likely to play in top-9 role at the WJC.
On defense, Finland will have five (5!) 1st round picks in Miro Heiskanen, Olli Juolevi, Henri Jokiharju, Juuso Valimaki and Urho Vaakanainen. Add Robin Salo to that group who was a 46th overall selection last summer, and this group is just insane for a country with 5.5 million population. Four of those guys are playing professional hockey at the top level in Finland as well.
The 7th spot will likely go to Kasper Kotkansalo who was a 3rd round pick by Detroit last summer and is currently playing college hockey at Boston University. He's a guy who can play in any role with anyone, so he's pretty ideal for the 7th spot. That leaves Eemeli Rasanen as the odd man out despite him being a 2nd round pick by Toronto last summer and currently with 21 points in 26 games in the OHL - and oh yeah, he's 6'7" in case you didn't know that. And Roope Laavainen is out as well but he was only a 4th round pick last summer.
Finland has never had a 'D' group this deep on their U20 team, and their forward group is one of the deepest ever as well. The previous WJC was a disaster but their team there wasn't all that good and now they have a new coach (who replaced the old coach midway through the previous tournament) who is very familiar with these player having been their head coach at international tournaments starting from U16 level and leading them to gold last year at the U18 level.
Finland's expected offensive leaders are Eeli Tolvanen, Janne Kuokkanen, Aleksi Heponiemi and Miro Heiskanen but don't sleep on Kristian Vesalainen who is also playing professional hockey at the top level in Finland and actually leading his team in scoring.
Solid analysis J-P, thanks!
On a fantasy hockey break.
Uffe Bodin @UffeBodin
The Swedish #WJC2018 preliminary roster:
Uffe Bodin @UffeBodin
No Adam Boqvist on the roster is a bit odd and I definitely would have loved to see him playing at this level.Jesper Bratt is not going to be released by New Jersey Devils. But Still hope for Alex Nylander, but the Sabres have yet to give the Swedes an indication. #wjc2018
USA HOCKEY SELECT CAMP ROSTER
GOALTENDERS:
Jake Oettinger, Boston University, H-EAST (Dallas Stars);
Jeremy Swayman, Maine, H-EAST (Boston Bruins);
Joseph Woll, Boston College, H-EAST (Toronto Maple Leafs)
DEFENSEMEN:
Michael Anderson, Minnesota-Duluth, NCHC (Los Angeles Kings);
Adam Fox, Harvard, ECAC (Calgary Flames);
Quintin Hughes, Michigan, BIG10 (2018 draft eligible);
Cole Hults, Penn State, BIG10 (Los Angeles Kings);
Philip Kemp, Yale, ECAC (Edmonton Oilers);
Ryan Lindgren, Minnesota, BIG10 (Boston Bruins);
Andrew Peeke, Notre Dame, H-EAST (Columbus Blue Jackets);
Scott Perunovich, Minnesota-Duluth, NCHC (2018 draft eligible);
Dylan Samberg, Minnesota-Duluth, NCHC (Winnipeg Jets);
Reilly Walsh, Harvard, ECAC (New Jersey Devils)
FORWARDS:
Joey Anderson, Minnesota-Duluth, NCHC (New Jersey Devils);
Jack Badini, Harvard, ECAC (Anaheim Ducks);
Kieffer Bellows, Portland, WHL (New York Islanders);
Logan Brown, Windsor, OHL (Ottawa Senators);
Trent Frederic, Wisconsin, BIG10 (Boston Bruins);
Patrick Harper, Boston University, H-EAST (Nashville Predators);
Max Jones, London, OHL (Anaheim Ducks);
William Lockwood, Michigan, BIG10 (Vancouver Canucks);
Hugh McGing, Western Michigan, WCHA (2018 draft eligible);
Casey Mittelstadt, Minnesota, BIG10 (Buffalo Sabres);
Joshua Norris, Michigan, BIG10 (San Jose Sharks);
Ryan Poehling, St. Cloud State, NCHC (Montreal Canadiens);
Brady Tkachuk, Boston University, H-EAST (2018 draft eligible);
Riley Tufte, Minnesota-Duluth, NCHC (Dallas Stars);
Kailer Yamamoto, Spokane, WHL (Edmonton Oilers)
Piranha Hockey League est 1990 - Oakley Doakley's - 16 teams
Pts only W=2 OL=1 SO=3 Auction Draft
WHL - est 2016 Expansion - Glasgow Kiss - 24 teams
25 pro players / 10 minor league players
G,A,+/-,PPP,SOG,Hits,Blk,PIM,FOW, W,Sv,GA,SHO
One forward I completely forgot to mention: Alexei Lipanov (TBL). For whatever reason, Nikita A. Popugayev (NJD) isn't even invited to camp. The other, Nikita O. Popugayev (undrafted) was invited to camp to replace an injured player.
It will be interesting to see if Artyom Minulin (undrafted) makes the team and how he plays. I was very surprised he didn't get drafted last summer, so perhaps a strong tournament can help him with that. It's sad that Grigori Dronov (undrafted) is injured and can't participate but that opens even more minutes for Minulin.
I was completely off with the goalies - only Mikhail Berdin (WPG) was invited to camp from the names I mentioned, and the other goalies are some unknown 19-year-olds instead of these better-known 18-year-olds. That's no surprise really. This will be a huge opportunity for Berdin who could become a household name after the tournament. He's worth adding in deep leagues. The other 3 I mentioned will battle for the starting job next year.
Russian Prospects @RUSProspects
Russian Prospects @RUSProspectsFollowing NA-based players have been invited to the Russia U20 NT WJC camp:
GK
Mikhail Berdin
D
Alexander Alexeyev
Artyom Minulin
Dmitriy Samorukov
FW
Vitaliy Abramov
Klim Kostin
Alexei Lipanov
German Rubtsov
Dmitriy Sokolov
Andrei Svechnikov
#WorldJuniors
Russian Prospects @RUSProspectsBig loss for the Russia U20 WJC team's defense, as it has been confirmed that top KHL young defenseman Grigoriy Dronov won't be able to recover from a broken ankle in time for the #WorldJuniors.
Russian-based part of the Russia U20 NT WJC camp roster has been announced (NA-based part to be announced later). #WorldJuniors