T-Birds’ roster likely to thin even more for World Junior tournaments
Dec 2, 2014, 12:00 PM | Updated: 12:05 pm
Alexander True may miss multiple games as he tries out for Denmark's World Junior tournament teams. (T-Birds)
(T-Birds)
BY
710 ESPN Seattle
Seattle has been missing key contributors for each of its 27 games so far this season, and it’s likely that the World Junior Championships will thin the roster even more.
The biggest name that could be missing is Shea Theodore, Seattle’s star defenseman who has played in only seven games this season after missing significant time with an elbow injury and more recently an illness. He’s already been invited to Team Canada’s World Junior Championship Selection Camp, which begins on Dec. 11. Selections for the 22-man roster must be finalized by Dec. 25 as the tournament begins the next day.
Hockey Canada has invited 29 players to take part in the camp, including 10 defensemen. The team should plan to carry seven blueliners for the tournament, meaning that three will ultimately be returned to their respective Canadian Hockey League teams. Only Chris Bigras from the Owen Sound Tigers in the OHL and Josh Morrissey from the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders are potential returning defensemen for this year’s Canadian World Junior squad.
Aside from Theodore, both of Seattle’s 2014 import picks, Alexander True and Florian Baltram, will likely miss time for World Junior events.
True has been named to Denmark’s preliminary roster, and could potentially participate in both the World Jr. A Challenge and the World Junior Championships. The World Jr. A Challenge will begin on Dec. 14 and end on Dec. 20, during which time the T-Birds have only one game. But it’s likely he’ll leave a few days early, which would mean he’d miss a couple more contests as well.
A similar situation will apply for Baltram, who is likely to represent Team Austria from Dec. 14-20 in the World Junior Championships Division 1A tournament in Asiago, Italy.
With all three players set to be missing time this month, the T-Birds’ offensive ranks will thin even further. Mathew Barzal is still out after injuring his knee, and Lane Pederson is day-to-day with an upper body ailment.
After a successful weekend in which the T-Birds won two out of three games with both victories coming against division rivals, including what may have been their most complete performance of the season against Spokane, Seattle will be forced to adjust its lineup even further to accommodate more missing players.
