Valimaki was already named captain of the team during the summer camps so put his name down in ink on the final roster. He is currently in Calgary rehabbing a minor injury (expected to be cleared this week).
Tri-City Americans - 16gp 5g 12a 17pts
Tuulola needs to survive 3 forward cuts and is playing against men in the Finnish league.
HPK (Liiga) - 24gp 7g 1a 8pts
Lindstrom has attended the summer camp and the U 20 4 nations cup for Sweden. Playing against men in Sweden's top league. Lindstrom needs to survive 2 forward cuts.
Skelleftea AIK (SHL) - 24gp 2g 1a 3pts
Ruzicka is a returning player and one of the few Slovakians that is NHL drafted. Projected to make the team.
Sarnia Sting 29gp 17g 18a 35pts
Others
The only other Flames prospects eligible are Joly, Sveningsson, and Mattson and there hasn't been much buzz about them and the WJC. Joly and Sveningsson are still eligible for next year's tournament. This is Mattson's final year of eligibility.
All other Flames property are too old for this tournament.
Last edited by sureLoss; 12-13-2017 at 12:09 PM.
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For the 4 RW spots he had the following:
Locks: Kyrou, Raddysh
Frontrunners: Steenbergen, Batherson
Fighting for jobs: Lind, Mascherin, Phillips, Suzuki, Tippett
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As expected Fox invited. USA has invited 10 defenceman. As a returning player from the gold medal team and excellent showings so far, hard not to imagine Fox isn't on the final roster barring injury.
I'm most excited for Dube but the most intrigued by Lindstrom. I know nothing about him other than he has been likened to Backlund in playing style.
I know the word on him was he needed time to physically develop so I wonder where he's at and how he shapes up against his peers. I have a read on most other prospects but it's hard to get one on Linus due to the league he plays in. Hopefully he makes Swedish roster.
Sweden's preliminary roster now released. As expected Lindstrom is one of the 15 forwards. Assuming they take 13 forwards, he has to survive 2 cuts. edit: Also Sweden waiting on a decision for Alex Nylander from the Sabres. So if Nylander does come that is another forward Sweden will need to cut.
Canada's announcement expected around 11pm MT.
Last edited by sureLoss; 12-06-2017 at 09:52 AM.
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A little surprised to see Phillips off the list. Stats wise, he seems to be having another good year in Victoria. He looked pretty good in the summer dev game that I watched as well.
Team Canada in general looks weaker than most years. Should make for a fun tournament. Dube is by far my favourite Flames forward prospect so I'm really curious to see how he stacks up in a more senior role on the team.
In the few Royals games i've been too this year I havent been all that impressed by Phillips. In most cases I barely even noticed him. I noticed Dube way more when they were in town.
The thing I remember most about Phillips this season is him having a tantrum and stepping on his opponents blade after a scrum and getting an unsportsmanlike conduct which salted that game away.
Kevin Charach @Kcharach_CHEK
For anyone in need of a template on how to handle rejection or failure, here's Victoria Royals Captain Matthew Phillips just minutes after finding out he wasn't invited to Team Canada's World Junior selection camp.