Where things stand with the World Juniors in Edmonton
Yesterday was a big day for the U20 World Junior Hockey Championships, set to take place later this month in Edmonton, Alberta. A big day for hockey more broadly, frankly.
Hockey Canada formally announced that they’ve ended their 14-day quarantine period and returned to the ice. Sadly, five of those players who had to endure the quarantine collected their walking papers right as the group returned to action.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, fate delivered Sweden’s World Junior roster a haymaker clean to the jaw so robust it knocked all Tre of their Kronors clean from their visage. Will they pick themselves up off of the mat?
Positive COVID-19 tests. Injuries. The NHL’s plans for a 2020-21 season. Serious, credible allegations of sexual assault — plural.
It was, frankly, a really crummy day for the sport in a year that’s delivered a seemingly endless stream of just that. One could hardly fault the observer, casual or otherwise, who tried their best to step out from the shadow cast by the cloud flinging this deluge of information indiscriminately in that space.
We’re a site that covers the draft and prospects, so let’s do what we do best and look at how the last 24 hours have changed the landscape — or haven’t change it — going into the World Juniors.
Woe, Canada?
The last week delivered us a seemingly endless stream of positive test results (more on that later…) taking one player after the other out of the picture, and perhaps even jeopardizing the long-term health of the subjects in question.
Canada, however, was supposed to be different. They were supposed to be the exception that front, at least for today.
The Canadians started their Selection Camp a full 50-plus days out from the event, hoping that the buffer would provide them the time necessary to recover from any positive tests suffered before they arrived at the bubble in Edmonton.
Ideally, the protocols that Hockey Canada installed, with consultation from the Alberta government, were going to prevent any positive cases from arising in the first place. The pandemic, now raging unabated across much of Canada, Alberta included, had other plans.
While most of the Canadians who participated in the two scrimmages and the week of practices that preceded them were fortunate enough to return to the ice, five unlucky souls finished the fortnight in their hotel room only to find out they were homebound right at the quarantine’s conclusion.
Matthew Robertson (a New York Rangers second-round pick in 2019), Xavier Simoneau (2021 NHL Draft eligible), Mason Millman (Philadelphia Flyers, fourth-round, 2019), Daemon Hunt (Minnesota Wild, third-round, 2020), and Ridly Greig (Ottawa Senators, first-round, 2020) all got the news yesterday.
“I can’t thank those players enough,” Hockey Canada senior vice president Scott Salmond said in a Zoom conference call early Tuesday. “You can imagine how difficult that would be, to go through 14 days of quarantine, and then have a call I made to them and their parents yesterday informing them that based on the return to play protocols they wouldn’t be able to continue at camp.”
Salmond revealed that all five players were deemed unfit to play, and that each decision was one made with the health of the players in mind. This sort of language is in line with the NHL’s posture during their own Return to Play tournament just this summer.
“It is our intent now to continue on with camp. We have 41 players remaining in camp,” Salmond said. “We will have a Red/White game tomorrow; we will have a Red/White game the day after that. Then it’s our intention to get down to our final team prior to getting to Edmonton on the 13th.”
“Now our challenge is remaining healthy for the next five days, and then getting to Edmonton.”
TSN’s Mark Masters shared some of the safety protocols in place for the team’s arrival in Edmonton in this article, and it’s well worth checking out.
Sweden is reeling
The last few days have seen William Eklund, Karl Henriksson, and William Wallinder all test positive for COVID-19. Today’s news felt like the sort of knockout punch that follows a series of bodyblows to end the match though.
Swedish head coach Tomas Montén, one of his assistants, and another staffer have also tested positive for COVID-19, and Albin Grewe, too.
The Swedish hockey federation is reviewing all of their options, and is in direct contact with the IIHF about how best to proceed.
This is a major pressure point for Sweden, who’ve maintained an undefeated record in round robin competition at the World Juniors over a 13-year span, a stretch during which they’ve won 52 games.
Henriksson came into Sweden’s camp as the preemptive favourite to centre a potent first-line between Alexander Holtz and Lucas Raymond; it’s a group of players who have shown chemistry in previous years, particularly at the U18 tournament in 2019.
The next option for Sweden is Arvid Costmar, a Vancouver Canucks first-round pick in 2019. He dominated the J20 Nationell last season, and has since graduated to Linköping’s SHL roster, but it’s a tall ask nonetheless.
Should Costmar falter, and that’s a distinct possibility, then it’s going to be Theodor Niederbach, a Detroit Red Wings second-round pick last October, who steps into the breach.
Wallinder’s absence, meanwhile, is Emil Andrae‘s gain, as he now seems a virtual lock for the Sweden’s third-pairing on the left side. This, of course, increases Viktor Persson and Simon Edvinsson‘s chances of making the team as the seventh-defenceman.
This, of course, could all be moot anyway. One of Sweden’s options, after all, is to withdraw from the tournament.
Stars are falling
Team USA got most if not all of their bad news (for now…) out of the way this weekend.
Team USA officially updates their preliminary World Juniors roster.
Out: Alex Vlasic (@NHLBlackhawks), Robert Mastrosimone (@DetroitRedWings), and Drew Commesso (also Blackhawks)
In: Tyler Kleven (@Senators), Hunter Skinner (@NYRangers), and Logan Stein (@FerrisHockey) pic.twitter.com/l4Hdfw7qMY
— J.D. Burke (@JDylanBurke) December 7, 2020
Alex Vlasic (a Chicago Blackhawks second-round pick in 2019), Robert Mastrosimone (Detroit Red Wings, second-round, 2019), and Drew Commesso (Chicago Blackhawks, second-round, 2020) all tested positive for COVID-19 on the weekend.
In their stead steps Tyler Kleven (Ottawa Senators, second-round, 2020), Hunter Skinner (New York Rangers, fourth-round, 2019), and Logan Stein (2021 NHL Draft eligible).
As far as the on-ice implications go, this news barely registers. Vlasic had no business making the roster; Mastrosimone was likely to play in a depth role; and Commesso was the prohibitive favourite to be the team’s third goalie.
***
There’s no way to dance around it — today’s news placed a pretty sizeable dent in the public trust going into this event. The events outlined in this article are enough to do that, never mind the positive tests that Austria’s Thimo Nickl, and Germany’s Lukas Reichel and Nino Kinder suffered.
There are probably more on the way, too. It’s winter. There’s a pandemic raging across the two continents participating in the event.
Whether they should be carrying on with the tournament at all or not — that’s the plan. Salmond revealed today that Hockey Canada doesn’t have a threshold in place for what it would take to cancel the event, and then went on to add that the IIHF has a contingency plan in place for an eight-team tournament, in case teams drop out.
We will see.
