Mr Viral
The Junior World Hockey Championship will take place from December 26 to January 5 in Ottawa.
We now know the rosters of all the clubs that will participate… Finland has shared its official roster in anticipation of the tournament.
It’s tough for Aatos Koivu, but he didn’t make the team:
No Aatos Koivu with the Finnish team #MondialJunior https://t.co/0zL4UahO6w
— Stephane Leroux (@StephRDSJunior) December 15, 2024
It is often said that this tournament is for 19-year-old players.
That being said, Aatos Koivu celebrated his 18th birthday a few days before the last NHL draft in June, and it’s normal to see that there are other players who made their mark before him.
Additionally, Saku’s son had to deal with mononucleosis at the start of the season and had to miss five weeks of action.
It’s hard to gain points when you can’t play…
In the end, there will only be one Canadiens prospect at the World Championship this year.
And we’re not talking about a super exciting prospect: we’re talking about Rasmus Bergqvist, a guy who was selected by the Canadiens in the 7th round of the last draft.
In 21 games this season in the Swedish league, the defenseman has one assist and a differential of -4.
And perhaps he won’t even have a big role on the Swedish roster…
ALERT Habs Prospects
Habs Prospects at the 2025 World Junior Championship
Unfortunately, the Montreal Canadiens will have just one representative at the 2025 World Junior Championship — defenseman Rasmus Bergqvist. This comes after Aatos Koivu was cut from Team Finland’s… pic.twitter.com/pAEmGtCkYZ
— HABS NATION (@CoachFrenchy10X) December 15, 2024
Ultimately, Ivan Demidov would have been there if Russia had the right to participate in the event.
We can also believe that Michael Hage deserves a spot, even if he wasn’t invited by Canada to the training camp.
Otherwise, it’s just bad timing. Jacob Fowler and David Reinbacher (2023 draft) would have been too old, as is the case with Bogdan Konyushkov… And after Koivu’s selection in the 2024 draft, there weren’t really any guys who had logical chances to go to the tournament.
That said, there will still be things to watch because the Canadiens have (for now) nine picks in the first four rounds of the 2025 draft.
This will be a great opportunity to scout young talent ahead of the draft!
In Brief
– He is so good.
MacKinnon, the first to 50 points: https://t.co/HwPCpezqpf
— TVA Sports (@TVASports) December 15, 2024
– That’s crazy.
Players in the NHL right now who are/could realistically be a top-5 player in the world one day:
— Connor McDavid
— Leon Draisaitl
— Nathan Mackinnon
— Auston Matthews
— Nikita Kucherov
— Cale Makar
— Quinn Hughes
— Kirill Kaprizov
— Aleksander Barkov
— Jack Hughes
— Connor… pic.twitter.com/IUVGsHAJpN
— Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) December 15, 2024
– There’s action today in the American League.
Sunday showtimes#AHLToday
: December 15
: https://t.co/xslzIvekI0 pic.twitter.com/vfmrkM6yxH
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) December 15, 2024
