Montreal Canadiens: Cole Caufield, Jordan Harris Officially Make USA World Junior Team

The Montreal Canadiens already knew two of their prospects were going to the World Junior Hockey Championships. Two more have officially joined them today.

The Montreal Canadiens already knew two of their prospects were headed to the World Junior Hockey Championships that begins later this week. Today, two more Habs prospects were officially named to their country’s roster.

Alexander Romanov was exceptional at last year’s tournament and was named the top defenceman at the event. It was pretty obvious he would be back to play for Russia again this year, looking to improve on the bronze medal that he won a year ago. Mattias Norlinder was more of a surprise but he was named to Sweden’s team a few weeks ago.

We all knew that Cole Caufield was going to be named to the American roster. The 15th overall pick in last year’s draft has been fantastic for the Wisconsin Badgers as a freshman and was great during the exhibition games leading up to today’s announcement. In fact, the sniper scored four goals and added an assist today, in the final tune-up game for USA before they take on Canada on Boxing Day to open this year’s event.

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The only player that was still up in the air was Jordan Harris. Today, he finally found out that he is going to be playing alongside Caufield in this year’s tournament. The two Canadiens prospects should be playing for a powerhouse that has a great chance to medal and could very well take home the gold.

Last year, the Americans won silver thanks to huge efforts from Habs prospects Cayden Primeau and Ryan Poehling. With both of those players graduated to the pro ranks and showing their skills on the NHL stage at times this season, it’s time for a couple of more Habs prospects to take the reigns for USA.

Caufield is going to be counted on to score goals for this team. He will play a top six role and they will be looking to get him the puck often with the man advantage. He is difficult to stop as he has tremendous stickhandling skills, great speed, an unbelievable shot that can find the smallest of targets and an exceptional one-timer.

Harris is a left defender that has been asked to play the right side for the United States. He looked silky smooth on that side in the exhibition games, shutting down opposition cycles in the defensive zone and moving the puck up ice with good skating and great passing.

The American team is heavy on left shot defenders, so Harris has an opportunity to play a big role on the right side. The only right shot defenceman on the roster is Ty Emberson. We could see Harris playing a top four role on the right side if he gets off to a strong start.

With Habs prospects playing for USA, Sweden and Russia, we could see lots of them earning medals in this tournament. Caufield and Romanov will play enormous roles, Harris could earn a big role as well and we will see where Norlinder fits into the Swedish lineup. It promises to be an exciting tournament for Habs fans.