It’s been a little sleepy around here, since the draft has wrapped up and most of the big free agent signings are out of the way, but we’ve got some actual hockey news dropping on this fine Monday evening. That’s right, the World Juniors schedule is here!
This year’s tournament is going to be an interesting one, on a number of levels. For one, like the NHL playoffs, it’s going to be taking place in a bubble in Edmonton. Also, as the NHL is eyeballing a January 1 start (and may see that pushed back, depending on how things go), this could reasonably mean that we could see NHL teams allowing more of their eligible prospects (like those who have signed and would otherwise be playing in the NHL or AHL) to join or return to the tournament. So, super teams, hello?
We may not see the Flyers as highly represented in this tournament as they have been in past years (especially if we’re seeing more NHL teams allowing their signed but still eligible players return), but both Cam York and Bobby Brink are eligible to return to the US team, which will see a good number of players age out, so we may well see them given more meaningful roles this time around.
The tournament kicks off a little earlier this year, with teams entering the bubble early and playing ten (total) exhibition games between December 20 and 23, and the first group play games coming on December 25. You can check out the full schedule here, and the new groups are listed below.
GROUP A
Canada
Finland
Switzerland
Slovakia
Germany
GROUP B
Russia
Sweden
United States
Czech Republic
Austria
