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Blue Jackets well represented at IIHF World Championships

May 4, 2018, 10:30 AM ET [6 Comments]
Paul Berthelot
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Blue Jackets were hoping to be playing well into May, and while it might be in the tournament they had wanted, many are going to be still playing hockey; representing their countries at the IIHF World Championships being held in Copenhagen and Herning Denmark.

The Jackets will have 12 players, six from the active NHL roster, three from Cleveland and three prospects.

This is a really good opportunity for these players to get some extra ice time and get used to playing games this late into the season. For the prospects it’s a chance to experience playing with and against NHL players, which will be huge for them in their development.

This tournament is going to be a special one for Oliver Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstrand is from Herning Denmark and has the rare opportunity to be representing his country in his hometown. Bjorkstrand was a late addition to the Danish team, as Bjorkstrand, a pending restricted free agent, does not have a contract for next season. He needed to obtain insurance before he could go over and play. He was able to get that insurance and will be suiting up for Denmark.

Other NHL players participating include Pierre-Luc Dubois and Ryan Murray representing Canada, Markus Nutivaara for Finland, and Cam Atkinson and Sonny Milano representing the USA.

This is a great chance for players like Murray and Milano to get some more games in. Murray missed 38 games this season. Milnao even when he was in the line-up he didn’t play much. This is a really good chance for him to get some extra minutes and make up for missed opportunities during the season. This will be Murray’s third appearance at the Worlds. He won gold at the event back in the 2011-12 season when he was still a draft eligible player, playing for the Everett Silvertips.

As for prospects the Jackets will have Vladislav Gavrikov on Russia, Alexandre Texier, the team’s second best prospect will be playing for France, and Dean Kukan will play for the Swiss. The Jackets will also have three goalie prospects at the event with both of Cleveland’s goalies, Ivan Kulbakov (Belarus) and Matiss Kivlenieks (Latvia) and top goalie prospect Elvis Merzlikins (Latvia) all representing their countries.

This is a good opportunity not only for the players but for the Blue Jackets front office. They get another good chance to see how these players stack up against a higher level of competition and can see how close they are to being NHL players. Persoanlly I am looking forward to seeing how Gavrikov and Texier do. Gavrikov was given a big role for Russia at the Olympics, and I wasn’t too impressed with what I saw. This will be another step up from that and it will be interesting to see how he handles it. Texier had a fine season in the Liiga, which was a big jump from the professional league in France. He is going to be playing on a worse team against better players so we will see if he is able to elevate his game up to that level.

The tournament gets underway today with Canada taking on the USA and France playing Russia.

You can follow me on Twitter @PaulBerthelot
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