Rangers prospects to watch at the World Junior Championship
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jaroslav Chmelar was the last player cut from Team Czechia and will not be in the tournament.
The World Junior Championships begin on Sunday and there will be five New York Rangers prospects at the tournament. Here’s a look at the future Blueshirts who will be playing.
With five prospects, the Rangers are very well represented with only four teams with more players at the tournament. The Carolina Hurricanes lead with 10 prospects and the Detroit Red Wings are next with eight. The Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota Wild each have six prospects. The Rangers join the Ottawa Senators with five.
Ranger fans will be thrilled that the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning have no prospects good enough to make the WJC. The best news for the Rangers is that they have so many prospects under 20 years old while the Rangers have become a top NHL team. The same applies to Carolina and Minnesota. Other teams with many players at the tournament like Los Angeles, Detroit and Ottawa are still deep in their rebuilds.
In all honesty, the Rangers should have six players as hockey observers were very surprised that 2021 first round pick Brennan Othmann was not selected by Team Canada. All he is doing is leading the Flint Firebirds of the OHL in scoring with 20 goals and 37 points in 24 games. Those 20 goals are good for a tie for third place in the league.
Team USA won the gold last year, beating Canada 2-0 for the title. Finland defeated Russia 4-1 for the bronze medal. The tournament was held in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, the same host cities for this year’s WJC.
Let’s take a look at the Rangers prospects who were selected.
Brett Berard – Team USA
Brett Berard will be making his second straight appearance at the WJC. He was a fifth round selection in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft (#134 overall). While the knock on him has been his size, at 5’9″, 154 pounds, he is a ball of energy and he was one of the most effective players on the gold medal team last year.
He scored one goal and notched four assists in seven games at the tournament last year. He is in his second year at Providence College where he plays for Team USA coach Nate Leaman. He is the leading scorer in Hockey East with 12 goals and 24 points in 21 games. That puts him in a tie for sixth place in the national NCAA scoring race.
He was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island and turned 19 in September. He’s a left winger and hopes to push his way into an already crowded Rangers left wing roster in the coming years.
A returning player, Berard is expected to be one of the team leaders and Leaman will look for him to provide the same energy he did last year.
Will Cuylle – Team Canada
Ranger fans know Will Cuylle well from his audition with the team in training camp. He was one of the last cuts and he should be playing in Hartford this season, but couldn’t due to an NHL agreement with the CHL. Cuylle was selected in the second round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft (#60) with the pick the Rangers got from Los Angeles in exchange for Lias Andersson. If Cuylle is as good as he appears to be, it will salvage a disastrous 2017 first round choice.
Cuylle is another left winger, an issue for the Rangers with a loaded left side. He is the captain of the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL and has scored 18 goals and 25 points in 22 games. He leads the team in goals and is eighth overall in the league.
Cuylle played in Hartford last season due to the cancellation of the OHL season, so he has pro experience and he has already signed his Entry Level Contract. He has good size at 6’4″, 209 pounds.
Cuylle is the most NHL ready of all the Rangers prospects at this tournament and is expected to be a big contributor as Canada tries to wrest back the gold medal.
Dylan Garand – Team Canada
Dylan Garand is one of three goalies on Team Canada and he was on the team last year, getting into one game in relief. He is expected to split top duties with Sebastian Cossa, the 15th overall pick in the 2021 Draft. Garand was a fourth round selection in 2020 (#103 overall) and has been lights out for the Kamloops Blazers this season.
He has a 15-4 record in 19 games with a 1.85 goals against average and a sparkling .932 save percentage. He is the top goalie in the WHL this season and could steal the number one spot on Team Canada from Cossa.
At 6’1″, 181 pounds, Garand is not the prototype big goalie that GM’s covet these days, but he has gotten better every year and he has to be considered a top candidate for a future role in New York.
Kalle Väisänen – Team Finland
Kalle Väisänen is a versatile forward prospect for the Rangers, taken in the fourth round of the 2021 draft (#106 overall). After starting this season in the Finnish junior league where he had five points in four games, the 18-year-old was promoted to TPS Turku of Liiga where he has played 25 games with one goal and four points.
Väisänen has not seen a lot of minutes with Turku, not surprisingly considering his age. He succeeds Rangers prospect Lauri Pajuniemi and top pick Kaapo Kakko, as both played for Turku in Liiga.
The Rangers are going to let Väisänen develop in Europe. He’s got size at 6’4″, 181 pounds and will fill out as he gets older. He’s a right shot forward who can play all three positions, a skill that will help him as he gets older.
Jaroslav Chmelar – Team Czech Republic
Jaroslav Chmelar was a fifth round pick (#144 overall) in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. He’s a right shot forward who is currently playing for Jokerit’s U20 team in Finland. He is ticketed for fourth line duties with the Czech Team. Elite Prospects.com says “Jaroslav Chmelař has some touch as a goal-scorer, with a physical component to his game, and a knack for excelling on the cycle.”
Chmelar is kind of an unknown and it will be interesting to see him play in this tournament. He’s big at 6’4″, 209 pounds and he made a good choice to go to Finland to play junior hockey. He turns 19 in July and will look to be promoted to the varsity Jokerit club in Liiga next season.
The schedule
The pre-tournament games get underway on Thursday, December 23. Team USA will play Finland at 2pm EST in a game to be televised on the NHL Network. Canada plays Russia at 7pm, also on the NHL Network.
The tournament gets underway for real on Sunday, December 26 with the medal round beginning on January 2. The gold medal game is scheduled for Wednesday, January 5. All games will be played in Red Deer and Edmonton, Alberta.
Tomorrow, Blue Line Station will have a report on how to watch these Rangers prospects in action with a full television schedule for the tournament.
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