Four Flyers Prospects Set To Skate In August World Juniors Re-Do

It has been seven months since Covid-19 brought the first instalment of the 2022 World Junior Championship to an abrupt end after just a few days.

Next week in Edmonton, the IIHF will give it another go. The re-mounted version of the tournament will run from Aug. 9-20.

Tournament eligibility remains the same — players born in 2002 or later. Though this is officially an under-20 event, players who have turned 20 since Jan. 1 will be eligible to participate. It doesn’t matter if they played in the first edition of the tournament or not.

And yes, every team’s roster for the upcoming event has been tweaked. Top draft picks like Owen Power and Matty Beniers have now turned pro. They’ve been asked by their teams to focus on their upcoming NHL seasons.

Meanwhile, some players who were injured or in Covid protocol last Christmas are now healthy and able to participate. That list includes Philadelphia’s top prospect, Tyson Foerster.

Another big change for the summer tournament: Russia is no longer participating. Currently under suspension from IIHF events following its invasion of Ukraine in February, the Russians have been replaced by Latvia in the 10-team tournament.

Latvia joins Group A, along with Canada, Finland, Czechia and Slovakia.

Team USA, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria will square off in Group B.

All games will be televised on the NHL Network in the U.S. Flyers fans should keep their eyes on Canada, Sweden and Switzerland.

Tyson Foerster Debuts For Canada

Two Flyers’ draft picks from 2020 were on the list when Team Canada announced its final roster on Monday.

They’re back! 🇨🇦

2⃣5⃣ players will wear the 🍁 at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton.

ROSTER ➡️ https://t.co/Vs5gBIxaiF
NEWS RELEASE ➡️ https://t.co/bH3Z0uPAHJ#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/c1maH8PN9p

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) August 1, 2022

Foerster, selected 23rd overall in 2020, missed out on the first edition of the tournament. Nine games into his season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last fall, he suffered a shoulder injury. That required surgery and kept him out of action for four months.

When Foerster was healthy, he returned to his junior team, the Barrie Colts. He put up 11 points in 13 regular-season games to round out the year, then added four more in six playoff contests.

Born on January 18, Foerster is now 20 years old.

He has NHL size at 6’2″ and 194 pounds, good puck sense and strong offensive instincts. Foerster has impressed since being drafted by the Flyers but has had a hard time staying healthy.

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Elliot Desnoyers Returns

Midway through a breakout 2021-22 season with the Halifax Mooseheads, Elliot Desnoyers played his way onto Team Canada 1.0. He’s a versatile center who’s strong in a bottom-six role, and can also put up points.

A fifth-round pick by the Flyers in 2020, Desnoyers was off to a good start in Edmonton in December. He had three assists in two games before the tournament was shut down.

Desnoyers resumed his torrid scoring pace after returning to Halifax. He finished the year with 42 goals and 88 points.

Also born in January, Desnoyers will be another 20-year-old on the Canadian roster. Eight players aren’t returning from the December edition, but Canada still looks like the team to beat.

Both Foerster and Desnoyers will be at Flyers’ training camp in September, but are waiver exempt next season. With so many young forwards fighting for jobs on the main roster, they’ll likely be ticketed for Lehigh Valley, at least at first.

A strong showing at World Juniors could help pump up their odds for an NHL roster spot or an in-season call-up.

Andrae Returns For Sweden

Though it won’t be counted this way, defenseman Emil Andrae will be making his third World Juniors appearance in Edmonton this month. As an 18-year-old, he was part of the Swedish roster in the 2021 tournament, which was played with no fans in the stands at Rogers Place. In five games, he tallied one assist.

At 19, he served as captain for Sweden in December. Andrae had a goal and an assist in his team’s first two games, before the tournament was shuttered.

Now, after turning 20 in February, he’ll get another kick at the can. He’ll be captain again, and part of a strong Swedish defense that will also include Detroit’s sixth-overall pick in 2021, Simon Edvinsson, as well as big Helge Grans, selected early in the second round in 2020 by the Los Angeles Kings.

The Flyers drafted Andrae 19 picks behind Grans, at No. 54. He doesn’t have the same kind of size — he’s listed at 5’8″ and 181 pounds.

Still without an NHL contract, Andrae didn’t make it over to Philadelphia’s development camp in July. He’s slated to return to HV71 this season, after the squad was promoted from second-tier Allsvenskan back to the top-level Swedish Hockey League.

Zanetti Is Also Back

Finally, keep an eye out for defenseman Brian Zanetti with Switzerland.

Drafted by the Flyers in the fifth round in 2021, Zanetti played his first year of North American hockey last season, putting up a respectable four goals and 26 points in 53 games with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League.

Still 19, Zanetti is also a returnee from December’s tournament, where he dressed in one game. He has come up through the Lugano program in his native Switzerland, and was also absent from the Flyers’ development camp.

Gauthier, McLaughlin, Samson In The Next Wave

The World Junior tournament is expected to get back onto its regular cycle this winter. The 2023 edition returns to Canada and set to be played in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick.

USA Hockey just wrapped up its combined 2022 and 2023 evaluation camp in Plymouth, Michigan. The Flyers’ 2022 fifth-overall pick, Cutter Gauthier, and 2021 seventh-rounder Owen McLaughlin were left off the roster for Edmonton. Both are still in the mix for the 2023 event.

Hockey Canada’s evaluation camp was for 2023 candidates only. Defenseman Ethan Samson, Philadelphia’s 2021 sixth-round pick, earned a camp invite after making his way up the Canadian depth chart thanks to an excellent draft-plus-one season. He also has a chance to play himself into the mix for the Maritimes this winter.