The U.S. roster for the upcoming IIHF World Championship has been set, a group that includes both NHL stars and prospects waiting for their first opportunity. The event will be held later this month in Helsinki, Finland, and will see the U.S. squad try to improve from their third-place finish a year ago.
The full roster:
G Jon Gillies
G Strauss Mann
G Alex Nedeljkovic
D Nick Blankenburg
D Jordan Harris
D Luke Hughes
D Caleb Jones
D Seth Jones
D Jaycob Megna
D Andrew Peeke
D Nate Schmidt
F Riley Barber
F Kieffer Bellows
F Thomas Bordeleau
F Sasha Chmelevski
F Sean Farrell
F Alex Galchenyuk
F Adam Gaudette
F John Hayden
F Sam Lafferty
F Vinni Lettieri
F Karson Kuhlman
F Ben Meyers
F Austin Watson
One of the most interesting names to watch will be Mann, who represented his country at the Olympics earlier this year and recently signed an entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. The 23-year-old netminder has had quite an odd path to this point, including going undrafted, playing three years at the University of Michigan, and then going to play in Sweden this season.
It will certainly be some mixed emotions for Canadian fans from the Montreal area, given how this squad includes two of the highly-touted Canadiens prospects in Harris and Farrell. The former signed and made his debut at the end of the year, while the latter just completed an outstanding rookie season at Harvard. Farrell was also a part of the U.S. Olympic squad this year, and scored three goals and six points in four games on the international stage.
The U.S. will kick things off on May 13 against Latvia.
This will determine if Luke Hughes makes the jump to the NHL….or back to Michigan…
Why so weak? Are they afraid of getting nuked?
Ooof. That is a sad-looking squad.
Where eichel, boeser, Kane, tchuck, they’re not in the play offs
Not one person in America cares at all about this tournament. Surprised they even bother paying for the jet fuel.
This team is elite relative to the interest in it.