Catching up with the Flyers playing at the 2019 IIHF World Championship

Several Philadelphia Flyers are representing their countries in Slovakia during the 2019 IIHF Men’s World Championship. Though the tournament is still in the middle of the group stage (they’ve played four of seven games), it’s a decent time to check in and see just how the Flyers who made the trip are repping the Orange and Black.

Team USA (JVR)

A stalwart for the Americans, James van Riemsdyk has provided some offense through four games with a goal and an assist. Much like his role with the Flyers, JVR is expected to help out on the man-advantage and he’s done just that with a power play marker over in Slovakia already.

JVR and the Americans will finish up group play with dates against Denmark, Germany, and Canada, where he’ll get a good look at his new coach in Alain Vigneault.

Team Canada (Sean Couturier, Carter Hart, Philippe Myers)

While Sean Couturier and Carter Hart were representing the Flyers quite well through three games (more on that in a minute), but wait there’s more! A wild Philippe Myers appeared! Yes, that’s right the Flyers’ 22-year-old defenseman hopped on a plane and joined the team just in time for their 5-2 win over France yesterday after an injury sent fellow defender Brandon Montour home early.

Couturier added an assist in the win over France, his second point of the tournament. The Flyers’ No. 1 center is showing his new bench boss his all-around game, and no doubt he will be leaned on heavily again going forward.

Myers skated nearly 10 minutes in his tournament debut, and figures to see more action unless more NHLers make the trip over in the coming days.

To complete the Flyers’ trio, Hart made 19 saves on 21 shots to secure his second win of the tournament. He has a 94.29 save percentage with 33 saves on 35 shots to date.

Hart, Coots, and Phil will finish up group play against Germany and Denmark before finishing with JVR and Team USA.

Team Sweden (Oskar Lindblom, Robert Hagg lol)

Taking advantage of a team with a tournament-best 28 goals through four games, Oskar Lindblom has enjoyed quite the start over there. The forward has three goals and an assist in four games, enjoying playing with the top-end offensive talent his home country has to offer.

Lindblom has taken advantage of the talent around him, and should bode well as he hopes to stick around in the Flyers’ top-six next season. Proving he can score against some of the best in the world should go a long way in showing the Flyers’ brass that he’s worthy of the minutes.

A way less fun part of an otherwise awesome Swedish team is Robert Hagg, hits leader. Hits apparently aren’t an official stat over there right now, but we can tell you that Hagg is scoreless in four games and has picked up a couple minors. He’s really just over there because there are some pretty high profile Swedish defenseman still chasing the Stanley Cup (Erik Karlsson, hello).

Lindblom, Hagg, and the rest of the Swedes will face Switzerland, Latvia, and Russia to close out the group stage.

Team Czech Republic (Jakub Voracek, Radko Gudas)

We’re all blocked by Jakub Voracek on Twitter, but goalies over in Slovakia haven’t been able to block our guy.

Voracek is tied for third in scoring with two goals and six assists for eight points in four games so far. That trails Nikita Kucherov and William Nylander with 10 points, and just behind Anthony Mantha’s nine points. Jake is no stranger to playing for his national team, but he’s already on pace for his best showing for the Czech’s on the international stage with plenty of puck left to go.

Joining Voracek in Slovakia is Radko Gudas, fresh off winning the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the Flyers’ top defenseman this past season. Gudas has played in all four Czech games and has notched a lone assist.

Voracek, Gudas and his mates will finish up group play against Italy, Austria, and Switzerland.

The group stage will end on May 21st with the quarterfinals beginning on the 23rd. All of the teams above are in position to advance past the group stage as of this writing. We’ll keep you updated on the very important Worlds as there isn’t much other hockey going on right now otherwise.