It's looking like another year will pass without a Penguins prospect in the World Junior Championship.
National teams are beginning to announce their rosters for their World Junior selection camps in preparation for the tournament to be held from Dec. 26 through Jan. 5 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick.
The Penguins haven't had too many high draft picks in their last two draft classes, the draft classes that are mostly still eligible to play in the U20 tournament. Their 2022 first-round pick Owen Pickering was probably their best bet for having a prospect make the tournament this year, but he wasn't one of the nine defensemen included on the selection camp roster announced by Canada this week.
Pickering, 18, attended Canada's selection camp for the World Junior tournament that was held over the summer, a retry at the Dec. 2021 tournament that was cancelled due to COVID. He was cut before the roster was finalized, which wasn't a surprise. It was a deep Canadian roster, and the only underager who made the cut was anticipated 2023 first-overall pick Conor Bedard.
The Penguins had three prospects make rosters for the initial attempt at the Dec. 2021 tournament, the one that was shut down after only a few days because of COVID outbreaks within the poorly-run bubble. Then-goaltending prospect Calle Clang made Sweden's team, goaltending prospect Joel Blomqvist made the Finnish team, and forward prospect Kirill Tankov made the Russian team. By the time the tournament resumed in the summer, the Penguins had no prospects in the tournament. Clang was on Sweden's roster but the Penguins had traded him to the Ducks in the Rickard Rakell trade. Blomqvist was snubbed by Team Finland's management over a belief by the coaching staff that he was prioritizing his NHL future over the national team. Tankov and Russia were removed from the tournament entirely as a result of IIHF sanctions stemming from the war in Ukraine. Latvia replaced Russia in the main tournament and Penguins forward prospect Raivis Ansons was eligible to play and would have been one of the better players on that Latvian team, but opted to sit out of the tournament in order to fully devote his time to preparing for his first professional season.
Russia is still banned from IIHF play, but if the Russians were in this year's tournament, the Penguins might have had another prospect playing in 2022 fourth-round pick Sergei Murashov, who is having an incredible season in the Russian junior league with six shutouts, a .953 save percentage and a 1.49 goals-against average in 22 games.
Pickering still has one year left of World Junior eligibility after this year. He should have a pretty good chance of making Canada's roster for next year's tournament, which is set to be held in Sweden.
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Here's how the Penguins' other prospects in junior, college, and Europe did over the last two weeks:
FORWARDS
Tristan Broz
Position: Center/wing
Size: 6-0/178
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, second round
Age: 20
Team: Denver (NCAA)
Season totals: 16 games, 2 goals, 3 assists
Broz played in four games over the last two weeks and recorded a goal and two assists.
Broz was promoted to Denver's top-line left wing in his last two games.
Judd Caulfield
Position: Right wing
Size: 6-4/212
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, fifth round
Age: 21
Team: North Dakota (NCAA)
Season totals: 17 games, 5 goals, 2 assists
Caulfield played four games in the last two weeks and scored two goals and two assists. His first goal was a deflection:
The second goal was an empty netter after intercepting a pass:
Luke Devlin
Position: Center
Size: 6-2/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2022, sixth round
Age: 18
Team: West Kelowna Warriors (BCHL)
Season totals: 20 games, 3 goals, 8 assists
Devlin scored one goal in his last four games, a deflection in his net-front role on the Warriors' power play:
Zam Plante
Position: Center
Size: 5-9/161
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2022, fifth round
Age: 18
Team: Chicago Steel (USHL)
Season totals: 8 games, 1 goal, 4 assists
Plante has two assists in his last four games. This assist came when a teammate knocked in the rebound from Plante's initial shot:
Plante started the season in a bottom-six capacity after missing the first month rehabbing from his shoulder surgery, but he has since been promoted to Chicago's top-line center.
Kirill Tankov
Position: Center
Size: 6-1/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Age: 20
Team: SKA-Neva (VHL)
Season totals: 1 game
Tankov suffered a season-ending neck injury in the opening game of the season and required surgery to repair a fractured vertebrae. He is expected to be able to play next season.
Tankov and SKA's MHL team celebrated last season's championship this week, and it's great to see that Tankov is finally out of his neck brace:
SKA / INSTAGRAM
Chase Yoder
Position: Center
Size: 5-10/176
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2020, sixth round
Age: 20
Team: Providence (NCAA)
Season totals: 17 games, 5 goals, 6 assists
Yoder picked up two assists in his last four games.
DEFENSEMEN
Santeri Airola
Size: 5-11, 163
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, seventh round
Age: 22
Team: Ilves (Liiga), KOOVEE (Mestis)
Season totals: 5 games (Liiga), 14 games, 2 goals, 3 assists (Mestis)
Airola has struggled to crack the Ilves' lineup when healthy this season and has bounced between the first and second Finnish leagues as a result.
Airola played four games in the second league this week and scored two goals and an assist. The goals were the first of his four-year professional career, years in which he was extremely limited due to injury:
Isaac Belliveau
Size: 6-2/185
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, fifth round
Age: 19
Team: Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL)
Season totals: 16 games, 3 goals, 14 assists
Belliveau remained sidelined with the undisclosed injury he sustained three weeks ago. He could return as early as this week.
Nolan Collins
Size: 6-3/194
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2022, sixth round
Age: 18
Team: Sudbury Wolves (OHL)
Season totals: 16 games, 3 goals, 4 assists
Collins played in six games in the last two weeks and picked up a goal and an assist:
He was thrown out of the Wolves' most recent game in the first period after apparently slew-footing a player behind the play.
Daniel Laatsch
Size: 6-5/183
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Age: 20
Team: Wisconsin (NCAA)
Season totals: 16 games, 3 assists
Laatsch played in two games in the last two weeks and recorded an assist. The assist came when a teammate tipped in his shot:
Ryan McCleary
Size: 6-2/180
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2021, seventh round
Age: 19
Team: Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
Season totals: 23 games, 5 goals, 8 assists
McCleary played in six games in the last two weeks and scored a goal and an assist. His goal was a power-play tally:
Owen Pickering
Size: 6-4/180
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2022, first round
Age: 18
Team: Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
Season totals: 19 games, 4 goals, 11 assists
Pickering played in four games in the last two weeks and scored a goal and an assist. His goal came on a power play:
GOALTENDERS
Joel Blomqvist
Size: 6-2/183
Catches: Left
Drafted: 2020, second round
Age: 20
Team: Karpat (Liiga)
Season totals: 17 games, 2.39 GAA, .901 SV%
Blomqvist played in five games in the last two weeks: He made 30 saves on 31 shots in his first game, then 20 saves on 21 shots, 25 saves on 28 shots, 21 saves on 27 shots, and finally 21 saves on 23 shots in his most recent game.
Sergei Murashov
Size: 6-0/167
Catches: Right
Drafted: 2022, fourth round
Age: 18
Team: Loko Yaroslavl (MHL)
Season totals: 22 games, 1.49 GAA, .953 SV%, 6 shutouts
Murashov returned to the junior from Lokomotiv's KHL club, where he spent a couple of games dressed as backup but didn't play. He played in three games since returning and suffered an apparent undisclosed injury.
