Four New York Ranger prospects make the WJC final rosters and full television schedule is released.

The World Junior Hockey Championships get underway on Wednesday and the Rangers are represented by four top prospects.   Every game will be televised so you will have an opportunity to watch the baby Rangers in action.

Four Ranger prospects will take part in the tournament.   Three are defenseman and Russia is led by winger Vitali Kravtsov, the ninth overall pick in the 2018 draft.

This will be a great opportunity for Ranger fans to see these prospects in action. All three 2018 first round picks will be in action.  Kravtsov is expected to be one of the top scorers on team Russia.  K’Andre Miller will be a stalwart on defense for the United States.  Lundkvist is one of the top defensemen on team Sweden.  Here are the four future Rangers.

United States: :  K’Andre Miller, defense

Russia:  Vitali Kravtsov, forward

Sweden:  Nils Lundkvist, defense

Switzerland: Nico Gross, defense

As expected, a pair of Ranger prospects were dropped from their teams and will not participate in the tournament in Vancouver.  Defenseman Joey Keane didn’t make the final roster for the USA and defenseman Jakob Ragnarsson was cut from the final roster for Sweden.

Blue Line Station’s David Bruce did a full report on all of the Ranger prospects,

Which games to watch

All of the tournament games will be televised on the NHL Network.  They released a full television schedule this week.  

The teams are divided into two groups.

• GROUP A
  • Canada
  • Czech Republic
  • Russia
  • Switzerland
  • Denmark
• GROUP B
  • Finland
  • Kazakhstan
  • Slovakia
  • Sweden
  • United States

  If you want to see the baby Rangers, here is a schedule of games they will appear in.  The marquee match-ups in each group will be USA vs. Sweden on December 29 and  Russia-Canada on New Years’ Eve.

  Wednesday, December 26 

  1. 4pm: Switzerland vs. Czech Republic (Gross)
  2. 630pm:  USA vs. Slovakia (Miller)
  3. 1030pm:  Sweden vs. Finland (Lundkvist)

  Thursday, December 27

  1. 4pm:  Russia vs. Denmark  (Kravtsov)
  2. 8pm:  Switzerland vs. Canada (Gross)

  Friday, December 28

  1. 8am: Slovakia vs. Sweden (tape delay)  (Lundkvist)
  2. 8pm:  Russia vs. Czech Republic  (Kravtsov)
  3. 1030pm:  USA vs. Kazakhstan (Miller)

  Saturday, December 29

  1. 4pm: Switzerland vs. Denmark (Gross)
  2. 1030pm:  Sweden vs. USA  (Miller vs. Lundkvist)

  Sunday, December 30

  1. 8pm:  Switzerland vs. Russia (Gross vs. Kravtsov)

  Monday, December 31

  1. 8pm: Russia vs. Canada (Kravtsov)
  2. 1030pm:  USA vs. Finland (Miller)

  Tuesday, January 1

  1. 6am: Sweden vs. Kazakhstan (tape delay)  (Lundkvist)

  The playoffs

  The top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals.  Four surviving teams make it to the semifinals.  There are two games in the final round to determine who wins the gold, silver and bronze medals.  All game times are TBA and will be televised on the NHL Network live.

  The Quarterfinals will be on Wednesday, January 2

  The Semifinals will be on Friday, January 4

  The Bronze and Gold Medal games will be on Saturday, January 5

  If Russia can get past Canada in Group A, there is a good chance it will be a head to head matchup of Ranger prospects in the gold medal game.