Today's the final day for the World Cup of Hockey pre-tournament games.
The team from the Czech Republic takes on Team North America at 12:30 PT, then it's Sweden vs. Team Europe at 4 p.m. and Canada vs. Russia at 4:30.
Once today's games wrap up, all teams will converge on Toronto, where the round-robin portion of the tournament will kick off on Saturday.
The Finns looked like they were pretty jetlagged in their game against the Americans yesterday—which is fair enough considering the puck dropped at 2 a.m. Helsinki time. But after falling behind 3-0, the Finns pushed back with two late goals to make it interesting. The European teams playing today will have had one extra day to adjust but I expect we won't see them firing on all cylinders until the tournament games begin this weekend.
Meanwhile, we're one day away from the first practices in Penticton for this weekend's Young Stars tournament.
I reviewed the Canucks' lineup over the last couple of days. Here's a quick look at their opponents.
Click here for the Edmonton Oilers' roster, which is presented in strangely small text.
A few players to watch:
• Matt "nephew of Jim" Benning, a 22-year-old defenseman who was originally drafted by the Boston Bruins in 2012, when Jim Benning worked there. Matt was signed as a free agent by the Oilers after three seasons of college hockey at Northeastern.
• Drake Caggiula, the 22-year-old left wing who was Brock Boeser's linemate at North Dakota. The Canucks pursued Caggiula but he chose to sign as a free agent with the Oilers.
• Jesse Puljujarvi, the 18-year-old right wing who fell to the Oilers at fourth overall after the Columbus Blue Jackets elected to opt for Pierre-Luc Dubois. Puljujarvi was a standout for Team Finland at January's World Junior Championship and in last spring's under-18 tournament, but has been dealing with some injury issues over the summer.
• Tyler Benson, the Vancouver Giant left wing who had originally been projected as a top-10 pick, but fell to 32nd overall after being limited to 30 games last season due to injuries.
Click here for the Calgary Flames' complete roster. Some notable names:
• Mark Jankowski - the 22-year-old center who was infamously selected out of a high school in Quebec with the 21st pick back in 2012. Jankowski has now completed four years of college at Providence and will get his chance to show whether or not he can be an impact player at the pro level.
• Morgan Klimchuk - a 21-year-old left wing who was taken 28th overall in 2013. Klimchuk spent last season in the AHL, where he put up just nine points in 55 games. My impression is that he has been bumped down Calgary's depth chart by Hunter Shinkaruk—who is not participating in the tournament.
• Hunter Smith - the towering 6'7" center was selected in the second round in 2014. He spent last season with the Stockton Heat.
• Matthew Tkachuk - the Memorial Cup winner is Olli Juolevi's teammate on the London Knights. He's a big left wing who has skill and grit in his game, and was selected right after Juolevi at sixth overall at the draft in June.
The other intriguing element of the Flames this year will be the shift in the team under new coach Glen Gulutzan.
Click here for the Winnipeg Jets' roster. Second-overall pick Patrik Laine is absent, of course, because he's playing for Team Finland at the World Cup—he scored Finland's first goal on Tuesday.
Still, the Jets are rich in interesting players:
• Kyle Connor, the first-round pick from 2015 who played at Michigan last season. He was also part of Team USA at the World Championship in Russia last spring.
• Brendan "son of Claude" Lemieux, the 20-year-old first-round left wing who was acquired by the Jets as part of the Evander Kane trade. Like his dad, Lemieux is an agitator—he made plenty of waves at last year's tournament.
• Jansen Harkins, the 19-year-old North Vancouver native who's the son of former NHLer Todd Harkins. He plays centre and fell to No. 47 in the 2015 draft.
• Logan Stanley, the 18-year-old defenseman from the Windsor Spitfires who was selected 18th overall, essentially with the first-round pick that the Jets acquired from Chicago in the Andrew Ladd trade-deadline deal.
Now, a couple of other notes from Canuck-land:
Add one more name to the list of players joining the Canucks' training camp on PTO deals. In addition to forwards James Sheppard and Tuomo Ruutu, goaltender Kevin Carr will also be suiting up.
Carr, 26, spent the last two seasons with the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL. I think it's safe to assume that he's being brought in primarily to fill out a roster spot while Jacob Markstrom is away with Team Sweden.
Also, as players return to Vancouver and participate in their informal skates, it looks like the veterans are also doing some off-ice bonding.
I like a number of things about this photo, including the big grin on Chris Tanev's face and how he looks to be taking care of Alex Edler—in a rare situation where Edler doesn't have any other Swedish teammates to hang with.
I also like how this group stretches in age from young Bo Horvat to old Alex Burrows, and how Erik Gudbranson seems to have already inserted himself right into the heart of the team.
Gudbranson has also already started his community work, stepping out last week as a spokesperson for the #MenGiveLife campaign, which is looking to boost the number of donors on Canada's adult stem cell registry.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»