How has each of the Philadelphia Flyers prospects playing in the Czech Republic faired during the preliminary round?
The 2020 IIHF Under-20 World Junior Championships are in full swing, with preliminary action wrapping up Tuesday afternoon. The Philadelphia Flyers have had four prospects performing for their home countries at this year’s event, and most of them have looked solid through the opening three and four games of the international tournament.
Starting with the creme of the crop, Egor Zamula’s arguably been Team Russia’s best defenseman at the World Juniors through the early stages. The Undrafted blueliner came out of the gates on fire, scoring two of the Russians three goals in their 4-3 loss to the Czech’s in the tourney-opening contest. He displayed his excellent offensive IQ on both them, shot-faking his way by a Czech defender to snipe a wrister from the point for his first tally and driving to the slot on the rush and burying a feed from Dmitri Voronkov. He now has three points in three games, which leads all Russian defensemen, and will have the opportunity to add to that total in Russia’s final prelim game against Team Germany on Tuesday.
Next, Bobby Brink and Cam York haven’t received a whole lot of ice time from Team USA Head Coach Scott Sandelin but have shown flashes in the small amount of shifts they’ve been given. Brink’s posted two points in four games for the Red, White, and Blue, earning a goal and an assist during group play. He could’ve easily added a second assist to that mark in USA’s first game vs Team Canada, but the power-play goal he helped set up was waived off as time expired in the second. York, in a different boat, has yet to produce a point in the same span of games. He’s been used at Sandelin’s seventh d-man, hindering his ability to see a decent amount of action. Still, York’s looked good on the second power-play unit, using his skating to create a chance here and there.
Lastly, Adam Ginning hasn’t had the best showing in his second year at the World Juniors for Team Sweden. He’s registered just one assist in three games as Captain of the Swedes and while he’s more known as a stay-at-home defenseman, he’s struggled with keeping himself out of the penalty box. Most of his 14 Penalties in Minutes came from a ten-minute game misconduct due to a boarding penalty against Team Switzerland, but even without that major, he’d still be tied for the club lead in penalty minutes.
You’d like to see a team leader and guy who’s considered good in his own end to keep himself out of the sin bin more often, and I think it’s safe to say Ginning’s performance with Sweden has been slightly disappointing thus far. The Swedes do have one more preliminary matchup left as they’ll take on Team Slovakia in the final day before the quarterfinals, so maybe Ginning will be able to turn it around a bit.
It seems all four Flyers prospects will make it to the playoff round, as Sweden sits first in Group A while USA and Russia sit second and fourth. Russia’s game against Germany will decide their fate given they’re both tied for the final quarterfinal spot. Stay tuned for more updates from the Czech Republic as the tourney rolls on!