Well folks, it’s that time of the year again. The time where the best under-20 hockey players in the world in the top division come together and battle it out for a week and a half to find out which hockey nation has the best young talent. Canada is going for their sixth straight championship but it won’t be easy.
Last year it was P.K. Subban who represented the Canadiens on Team Canada but this year there are no Canadiens on Team Canada. We do have some prospects on other teams however, so let’s take a look at them. First off let’s look at what teams are in which group.
Group A: Canada, Slovakia, USA, Latvia, and Switzerland*
Group B: Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic, Finland, and Austria*
* Switzerland and Austria are the teams promoted after winning Division A last year.
In total, the Montreal Canadiens have four prospects representing three different countries in the top division with Finland containing the biggest representation so let’s start with them!
As I said above, Finland is playing two Montreal Canadiens in Petteri Simila, a goaltender for Niagara IceDogs in the Ontario Hockey League, and Joonas Nattinen, the 6′2″ center from the Espoo Blues of SM-liiga.
Petteri Simila hasn’t exactly had his best season, but considering it’s his first season playing in North America, a slow start is acceptable. He’s played 11 games with Niagara recording 1 win , 4 losses and 3 ties with an .891 save percentage and a 4.14 goals against average. Simila will be wearing jersey #28.
Joonas Nattinen is a big two-way center with very good vision and sees the game very well. Hockey’s Future has his ranked 9th among all Montreal Canadiens prospects. Nattinen is a guy you’ll see on an energy line in the NHL but I’m not sure where we’ll see in in the WJHC. He’ll be sporting jersey #29.
Moving onto Russia we have Maxim Trunev. Trunev has been an elusive prospect for the Habs as it’s unsure if he’ll ever come over the North America but his talent is unquestioned. Trunev is currently playing for the Cherepovets Severstal of the KHL and has recording 2 goals and 1 assist in 21 games. Just remember when those numbers don’t seem high, he’s only 19! This right-handed right winger will be in the #11 jersey.
Our last representative, playing for Team USA, is Danny Kristo. Kristo was drafted in the second round, 56th overall by the Canadiens and currently plays for the University of North Dakota. In 18 games this season Kristo has 6 goals and 10 assists along with 6 penalty minutes. This will be Kristo’s second straight WJHC. Last year he recorded 1 goal in 6 games with a +2 defensive rating and was mainly used as a third-liner but expect a bigger role from the tiny winger this year. Kristo will be dawning the #8 jersey this year.
Well, that’s it! WJCH action begins today, don’t miss any of it!
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