The eight teams to participate in the World Cup of Hockey this September are spending the day announcing the initial 16 players who will be on their team’s roster. As of this writing the rosters have been announced for Russia, Finland, Czech Republic and Sweden. This afternoon/evening they will announce the rosters for Team Europe, the Young Guns, Team Canada and Team USA.
The Blue Jackets only have one representative thus far and that is goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. This was expected and is most obvious pick of all the Blue Jacket players. As I
wrote back in October Sergei was one of just two Blue Jackets (Brandon Saad the other) I had pegged as a lock to play in this event.
Bobrovsky has struggled with injuries and stretches of poor performance this season. Still though his save percentage in 27 games is a respectable .911. That puts him right in line with the other Russian goalies. Semyon Varlamov has a .912 in 44 games, and Andrei Vasilevskiy has a .914 in 18 games. Even in a down year Bobrovsky is arguably the best goalie from Russia.
Here is the initial Russian roster:
The team to look forward to as a Jackets fan is Team North America, commonly referred to as the Young Guns or Under 23 team. The Jackets should have at least three players on that team and potentially four. Seth Jones and Brandon Saad are both locks. Ryan Murray with the season he's had should be close to a lock. Boone Jenner will be in consideration for the team as well. I'm not sure he will make the initial roster but he could be on the team come September.
The initial roster for the Young Guns will be announced at 5:15pm EST.
Update: Three Blue Jackets Named to Team North America
As expected Seth Jones, Ryan Murray and Brandon Saad were named to Team North America. Saad currently leads the Jackets in goals with 24, a career high. He is someone who will play a bottom six role on this team and be a leader. Saad is a veteran on this squad having played in 271 NHL games.
Jones and Murray have done well as the Jackets top pair since Jones came over from Nashville. They have developed good chemistry and they should continue to be a pair on the Young Guns. I would guess they will be the second pair behind Aaron Ekblad and Morgan Rielly.
Team North America Roster:
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