It’s official- the Maple Leafs will see two of their own wearing a different Maple Leaf this holiday season.
A pair of Leaf prospects- Mitch Marner and Travis Dermott- were named to the final roster for the upcoming World Junior Championship kicking off this Saturday in Helsinki, Finland.
Team Canada has been officially named for the #WorldJuniors ??
Roster: https://t.co/HwWtVomAwF pic.twitter.com/HZSMxKBLAT
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) December 20, 2015
While Marner was considered a lock from beginning of this season due to his OHL dominance with the London Knights, Dermott battled his way through to earn one of the team’s final roster spots. Marner appears to be playing on one of the team’s top-two lines with Dylan Strome and returnee Lawson Crouse, while Dermott has been playing with a number of partners- and that’s more likely to change moving forward as today’s cuts will break up a few pairings. Dermott and Marner both saw significant power play time in the team’s two pre-tournament contests. In yesterday’s matchup, both Marner and Dermott contributed goals, while Dermott added a pair of assists as well.
With 7 defencemen on the roster, there will be significant competition for ice time.
Canada plays their first game Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern against the United States. As always, you can catch it on TSN.
It has been a very long time since the Leafs could contribute 6 prospects to the tournament. There could be more however at the Moment I have a brain cramp and cant think of them.
Marner, Dermott, Nylander, Timashov, Kapanen, Dzierkals and ????
With the season Nielson is having, I would have liked to see him invited to camp
Do you ever remember a time when we had so many top prospects we forgot the names of some of them? We might have some on Team USA and others
In 35 games just turned 19 year old Andrew Nielsen has–9 goals, 27 assists, and 56 minutes in penalties, for Lethbridge Hurricanes. Six foot three, 207 pounds.
The future is bright on the Leaf’s d
Here’s a write up on Nielsen based on a game I watched last Wednesday. Terrific prospect.
http://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2015/12/17/10452984/andrew-nieslen-game-summary-hurricanes-vs-blades
Nielsen probably got strong consideration, but missed out on invite. Dzierkals was in the Div 2 WJHC last week. They qualified for main tournament next year, which he will be eligible to play in.
You also forgot about Auston Matthews, another Leafs prospect. He’s pretty good.
Why Leo Komarov is going to get traded before he joins David Clarkson’s foot prints:
http://www.shanaplandebate.com/a-different-perspective-on-leafs-leo-komarovs-career-year/