With less than two weeks before the tournament begins in Vancouver, Team Canada’s World Junior team has made their first cuts of selection camp. The team surprisingly lost 5-3 at the hands of the USports All-Star team in an exhibition match yesterday, and decided to trim some of the fat from the large camp roster. Ty Dellandrea, Raphael Lavoie, Cameron Crotty and Calen Addison have all been sent back to their respective junior or college teams and will not be participating in the World Juniors this season.
For all four of these players, making the team was a long shot to begin with. Dellandrea may be the most well known of the bunch, given his 13th-overall selection in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft (Dallas), but that could change over the coming months. Lavoie, who turned 18 in September, has 31 points in 29 games for the Halifax Mooseheads and is a top eligible prospect for the 2019 draft. He could in fact climb all the way into the top ten with a good second half, given his all-around appeal. The 6’4″ forward can play the middle of the ice and is a good bet to be on the Canadian team next season.
Addison too could very well find himself on the team next season, given his outstanding production so far for the Lethbridge Hurricanes. The puck-moving defenseman is stuck behind several similar players on Canada’s radar, but should get a chance when those like Evan Bouchard move on next time around. Addison has 31 points in 30 games this season and already looks like a steal by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the 2018 draft.
dellandrea being cut has to worry the stars. I was surprised to see him go as high in the draft as he did. has very little defensive game and isn’t a stud point producer. the worlds would have been a good experience boost but he also may have been exposed against world class competition.
I wouldn’t be too worried, if at all. The Juniors are typically a 19 year old tournament and Canada brought in a mostly 19 year old forward group(Ty was one of just five 18 year old at selection camp, not including Lafreniere). It was always a long shot for Dellandrea to make it and even if he had, it would have been in a 4th line/13th forward role. This is more setting him up to be part of the core for next year’s tournament.
As for his OHL performance, you have to take into consideration that he plays for Flint and they are flat out awful and have been for years now. If he’s lucky, he’ll be traded to a better team before the OHL deadline.
agree I just dont believe he was or is a first round talent.
You know nothing about his d.. he plays on the worst team in the league, hard to put up good stats there but by all accounts dellandrea is solid 2 way forward with top 6 potential. He doesn’t have flashy skills but he competes and does everything well as opposed to excelling at one specific thing..