Three current members of the Montreal Canadiens will be taking part in the 2018 World Championships in Denmark.
Jacob de la Rose will be representing Team Sweden. The former World Junior team captain will represent his country for the first time since the 2015 WJC tournament in Montreal. De la Rose played 55 games in the NHL this season, scoring four goals and adding eight assists.
It was his most productive NHL stint since his first appearance in 2014-15. He had gone 31 NHL games over the last two seasons getting only a point.
It will be the first time he is representing Sweden at the senior level.
Charlie Lindgren will also be representing his country for the first time. The undrafted NCAA signing played 14 NHL games (4-8-2, 3.03, .908%) and 37 at the AHL level (8-19-2, 3.39, .886%) this season.
His numbers belie his play, as like most goaltenders in the Canadiens organization, the defence in front of him left a lot to be desired.
It is unsure whether Lindgren will play as he shares the net with two NHL goaltenders in Keith Kinkaid of the New Jersey Devils and Scott Darling of the Carolina Hurricanes.
He is the first Canadiens goaltender since Mike Condon to represent the US at the tournament.
Markus Eisenschmid will represent Germany. Eisenschmid also played for his country at the 2015 World Juniors. He had six goals and 10 assists in 57 games for the Laval Rocket this season and has yet to play in the NHL.
It is his first tournament representing Germany at the senior level.
There are former Canadiens who will be in the tournament. Sven Andrighetto and Raphael Diaz will be representing Switzerland. Tomas Plekanec will be playing for the Czech Republic and Nikita Nesterov is on Team Russia. Former Habs defenceman Jaroslav Spacek is an assistant coach with the Czech team. The team’s 2005 fourth-round pick Juraj Mikus is representing Slovakia.
The tournament gets underway Friday and TSN will be showing every game on TV or on TSN Go. Canada’s first game is Friday at 10:00 AM against the United States.
