Two Rangers prospects going to Team Sweden’s WJC Camp

Team Sweden announced its preliminary roster for the 2020 World Junior Championships and the New York Rangers will be represented by two prospects.

Team Sweden is expected to contend for a gold medal at the WJC championships and two future New York Rangers will be at their training camp and are expected to make the final roster.

First round draft pick Nils Lundkvist will man the blueline for Team Sweden and he will be accompanied by center Karl Henriksson, selected in the second round in 2019.  This is yet another example of the benefits  of the February 2018 trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Both of these draft picks were acquired from Tampa along with current Rangers Brett Howden and Libor Hajek.

One disappointment is that goaltender Olof Lindbom did not get an invite to training camp.  There had been a belief that he was a dark horse contender to make the team.

Nils Lundkvist

Defenseman Nils Lundkvist is in his second season with Lulea of the Swedish Hockey League.  He has blossomed as an offensive force this season. The righthanded shot has four goals and 16 points in 22 games. He is close to doubling his best points output in just half the games.

Lundkvist is a veteran of 47 international games and is expected to be a leader for Team Sweden.  He was on the WJC U18 team in 2018 and played in the U20 tournament last January.  He was on the Swedish team that was upset by Switzerland in the quarterfinals of the playoff round.

Karl Henriksson

Henriksson is a speedy, playmaking center who was picked 58th overall in the second round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.   He tore up the Swedish SuperElit junior hockey league this season with Frolunda, scoring five goals and 18 assists for 23 points in 17 games.   He was promoted to the Allsvenskan league (Sweden’s version of the AHL) on loan to Södertälje SK where he has one assist in 11 games.

Henriksson was a star for Sweden in the U18 World Juniors in April, with three goals and nine points in seven tournament games.  For team Sweden, he plays on a line with Lucas Raymond, expected to be a top pick next June.

Henriksson and Lundkvist join Leevi Aaltonen who has been invited to the Finnish training camp.  Team USA’s roster has not been announced yet and Ranger prospect K’Andre Miller is expected to be named to that team with fellow defenseman Zac Jones an outside possibility.

The 2020 World Junior Championship will be held in the Czech Republic and will start on December 26, 2019 with the playoff round to be played in January.  The gold medal game is scheduled for January 5, 2020.