World Juniors

[HoweFan]

Looks like the Rangers aren’t letting Alex join Canada. They want him at home to practice. Puzzling in that the season won’t start until early January at the earliest.

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[Christien]

Should have plenty of Red Wings on Sweden: Raymond, Wallinder, Niederbach, Johansson, Soderblom, Grewe, Berglund all being invited.

I don't think he'll make it, but Pronman thinks Sebrango has a good chance to make Canada, being on the bubble and not a longshot. Possibly coming in as an extra.

Bednar should make the team for the Czech's. Not real sure if he'll be the starter.

Viro will likely earn a roster spot on Finland, hopefully Tuomisto as well.

I hope Mastrosimone has a good showing at camp for USA.

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

They're eye-balling another playoff berth & don't want him injured or corona'd is my guess.

 

[Oddbob]

Looks like the Rangers aren’t letting Alex join Canada. They want him at home to practice. Puzzling in that the season won’t start until early January at the earliest.

They don't want him to get hurt, as he will be a huge selling point and interest point for the Rangers.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Looks like the Rangers aren’t letting Alex join Canada. They want him at home to practice. Puzzling in that the season won’t start until early January at the earliest.

Not really that puzzling. They fully expect that he's going to be the NHL on their big roster whenever day 1 is. They're investing a lot into him. Why on Earth would you have him play in a tournament where he'd likely be targeted as he'd be one of the very best in it. Why expose him to that risk when the most likely start date for your season is only a month away.

He's a Rangers asset now, they're not going to allow him to be exposed to risk of injury for no gain.

 

[ChadS]

No Tuomisto for Finland but Viro is there as expected.

Leijonat - Nuorten Leijonien MM-ehdokkaat valittu

 

[Henkka]

No Tuomisto for Finland but Viro is there as expected.

Leijonat - Nuorten Leijonien MM-ehdokkaat valittu

That's too bad (for Tuomisto) but seems that they really preferred those guys already playing regularily at Men's level. That had big impact on defence. And Heinola can run the PP.

Finland will be THE "pain in the ass" - Team again for anyone. With coach Pennanen, his teams have always had superior defence, like, and I mean, THE most superior Finnish defensive structure ever.

EDIT:

Finnish center core is pretty impressive, at least, with size.

With Liiga-stats
C Anton Lundell, 6'1 1st line, 1st PP, 2nd PK center for HIFK. 17 games, 12+8=20 points, 19:17min icetime, Main faceoff guy for HIFK.
C Henri Nikkanen, 6'4 defensive center for Jukurit. 15 games, 2+5=7 points. Main faceoff guy. 18:54 icetime.
C Juuso Pärssinen, 6'3 offensive playmaking center for TPS. 18 games, 2+10=12 points. 17:06min, 2nd faceoff guy.
C Samuel Helenius, 6'7 13:26min, bottom6 center, 3rd faceoff guy, for JYP. Same sized as Söderblom/Rasmussen... Guy has 8 points at 18 Liiga-games, which is pretty good production on that role. Biggest risers for sure at 2021 draft. No one is talking about him yet, but there are scouts already watching 2022 Brad Lambert, they know.

Samuel Helenius is a son of former NHL-goon Sami Helenius, who played for several NHL teams. Born in Dallas, when father-Sami played for them at 2000-03.

 

[HoweFan]

Maybe the Kings should hold back Byfield. Maybe we shouldn’t let Raymond go, or even let him play in Europe. Players can get injured anywhere. Everyone is sending kids to Europe to get in game shape. The Worlds are an awesome place for development.

 

[raymond23]

My favorite time of the year.

 

[Henkka]

Finnish defence icetimes from Liiga:

LD Kokkonen 21:00 -- LhD Heinola 19:53
LD Eemil Viro 17:06 -- RD Rafkin 15:22
LD Hatakka 15:06 --- RD Niemelä 14:18
---- Think these are the Top6.
LD Matias Rajaniemi, 13:36

 

[Hen Kolland]

That's too bad (for Tuomisto) but seems that they really preferred those guys already playing regularily at Men's level. That had big impact on defence. And Heinola can run the PP.

Don't you think there's a possibility that Tuomisto just chose against participating? We're talking about a guy who put off playing in Liiga in order to maintain his NCAA eligibility. He finally gets over to the United States, and he finally starts playing collegiate hockey for Denver. Yes, playing for your country is a huge honor, but look at Seider opting out of representing Germany in order to avoid more quarantine periods and missed hockey games.

We can even look at the University of Michigan hanging onto Power due to the extended window in which he would be away from the program. This could be a joint decision between the Wings management, player development, Tuomisto himself, and Denver is determining that there's more value in staying the course with NCAA for the season and missing as little game time as possible.

It would have been great to see him participate just to have a platform for visibility by the interested fan base, but really we should just hope that he's in the best spot to play as much high level hockey as he can.

 

[Henkka]

It's pretty meaningless to speculate with that selection process. There are great reasons to select these Liiga guys with their current strengths, or it could be Tuomisto's own decision to decline. It doesn't really matter at all for anything with future potential. People just tend to create conspiracy theories immediately when something doesn't go in "potential order".

They choose the right players for this tournament, maximizing winning probabilities. For same reasons, struggling Aatu Räty was not selected, and he could still become decent NHLr, but not anyhow near 1st overall level of guy.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Just put yourself in the shoes of Finnish management. Are you really going to: (a) take a guy who has played one meaningful game in the last nine months, and (b) a player who has not played beyond the Finnish junior level?

I think this is a good decision for everyone. The WJC is one of my favorite times of the year and is probably the most entertaining and enjoyable hockey we watch all year. As a Wings fan, however, I just want our prospects playing as much as possible at this point. Call me a fan of the bird in the hand.

 

[Henkka]

As a Wings fan, however, I just want our prospects playing as much as possible at this point. Call me a fan of the bird in the hand.

I think Denver has 10 NCAA games at same time as WJC and the preparing periods for WJC are. Tuomisto can still play hockey, at National team or not.

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

 

[lhsgolf19]

So we got 11 guys headed to Selection Camps:

Sweden - Raymond, Niederbach, Grewe, Soderblom, Johansson, Wallinder & Berglund
USA - Mastrosimone
Canada - Sebrango
Finland - Viro
Czech Republic - Bednar

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

Looks good, even though they got it backwards. Stars should be on left/stripes on right & bottom.

 

[TCNorthstars]

Looks good, even though they got it backwards. Stars should be on left/stripes on right & bottom.
View attachment 378117

Depends on which side of the flag you are looking at. The left boot is probably opposite. Don’t want the stars no visible on the inside of the boot.

 

[lilidk]

What kind of injury does Elmer has, and when is he going to play again

 

[Marky9er]

Looks good, even though they got it backwards. Stars should be on left/stripes on right & bottom.
View attachment 378117

Easterly winds? Stars on only left foot would look cool IMO.

 

[waltdetroit]

Looks good, even though they got it backwards. Stars should be on left/stripes on right & bottom.
View attachment 378117

maybe this helps -why a flag looks backwards on uniforms and planes

Flying Backwards: How Planes Display The American Flag

 

[Christien]

What kind of injury does Elmer has, and when is he going to play again

Some sort of a foot injury, but he is day to day and should be available for the tournament

 

[ChadS]

Eklund out for Sweden so better chances for our guys, especially Niederbach. The Swedish coach basically said that Niederbach is a guy who you either give an offensive role or don't bring at all.

 

[theslatcher]

Eklund out for Sweden so better chances for our guys, especially Niederbach. The Swedish coach basically said that Niederbach is a guy who you either give an offensive role or don't bring at all.

It hurts Niederbach, doesn't help, as Montén sounded like he wanted Eklund on the wing(which means he'd play on Niederbach's wing).

 

[ChadS]

It hurts Niederbach, doesn't help, as Montén sounded like he wanted Eklund on the wing(which means he'd play on Niederbach's wing).

Okay although Niederbach can play wing too if they need to fill that spot. I don't really see how it hurts Niederbach's chances in any case.