USA Hockey announces roster for upcoming World Juniors

With the start of the World Juniors now just a week-and-a-half away, rosters for the event are starting to be finalized. The latest to do so is Team USA with USA Hockey announcing their full squad for the tourney. The team lines up as follows with the players' NHL affiliation in parentheses.

Goalies

Trey Augustine (DET)
Jacob Fowler (MTL)
Sam Hillebrandt

Defense

Zeev Buium
Seamus Casey (NJ)
Ryan Chesley (WSH)
Drew Fortescue (NYR)
Lane Hutson (MTL)
Aram Minnetian (DAL)
Eric Pohlkamp (SJ)
Sam Rinzel (CHI)

Forwards

Gavin Brindley (CBJ)
Quinn Finley (NYI)
Cutter Gauthier (PHI)
Gavin Hayes (CHI)
Isaac Howard (TB)
Ryan Leonard (WSH)
Rutger McGroarty (WPG)
Oliver Moore (CHI)
Frank Nazar (CHI)
Danny Nelson (NYI)
Gabriel Perreault (NYR)
Will Smith (SJ)
Jimmy Snuggerud (STL)
Carey Terrance (ANA)

As expected, it’s a roster that features many NHL prospects, including two of the top eight selections from the draft back in June. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks are well-represented in this group with four prospects making the cut.

Corey Pronman of The Athletic points out that there are still two cuts that will need to be made before the roster is formally registered for the tournament. With 14 forwards and eight blueliners on the roster, it stands to reason that one will be trimmed from each of those groups. However, those cuts will serve as standby injury replacements so they will still make the trek to Gothenburg, Sweden, for the event, which gets underway on Dec. 26.