With the 2022 IIHF World Hockey Championship getting underway in Finland on Friday, it’s time to take a look at some players to watch during the tournament. The sixteen skaters and three goaltenders I’m choosing are players that people may not have heard of before, but that I have watched occasionally. My list has several young players as well as veteran European players.
16 players (one per nation) (2021-22 team)
- Canada: Cole Sillinger (Columbus Blue Jackets – NHL)
- Denmark: Morten Poulsen (Herning – Metal Ligaen)
- France: Tim Bozon (Lausanne HC – NL)
- Germany: Yasin Ehliz (Red Bull Munchen – DEL)
- Italy: Luca Frigo (HC Bolzano – ICEHL)
- Kazakhstan: Darren Dietz (CSKA Moscow – KHL)
- Slovakia: Simon Nemec (HK Nitra – Slovak Extraliga)
- Switzerland: J.J. Moser (Arizona Coyotes – NHL)
- Austria: Marco Kasper (Rogle BK – SHL)
- Czechia: David Jiricek (HC Plzen – Czech Extraliga)
- Finland: Marko Anttila (Ilves – Liiga)
- Great Britain: Robert Dowd (Sheffield Steelers – EIHL)
- Latvia: Rudolfs Balcers (San Jose Sharks – NHL)
- Norway: Andreas Martinsen (Lillehammer IK – GET-ligaen)
- Sweden: Lucas Wallmark (CSKA Moscow – KHL)
- United States: Luke Hughes (University of Michigan)
Goalies (3)
- Denmark: Sebastian Dahm (EC KAC – ICEHL)
- Finland: Harri Sateri (Arizona Coyotes – NHL)
- Great Britain: Ben Bowns (Trincin – Slovak Extraliga)
Thanks to everyone who has been reading my articles, I appreciate it! The tournament gets underway on Friday morning with a pair of games at 9:20 a.m., France vs Slovakia and United States vs Latvia. Stay tuned throughout the tournament for daily recaps!