3 Red Wings Invited to Team Canada’s Summer Camp

The World Juniors are months away and Team Canada has already begun preparation. Earlier today, they announced the players who are invited. There are 3 Detroit Red Wings.

This comes as no surprise as the monstrous centre took off during the second half of the season last year and well into playoffs for the Tri-City Americans.

However, Rasmussen will be a member of the Red Wings this season and Detroit likely won’t loan the 6’6″ forward. Unless he struggles in the first few months of the NHL season, Rasmussen will be in Detroit.

In 2015-16, top prospect David Pastrnak struggled in Boston before being loaned to Czech Republic for the World Juniors. It can happen, but I’m guessing Rasmussen won’t be a member of Team Canada.

Rasmussen would also have to compete with Gabe Vilardi, Nick Suzuki, and Cody Glass at centre.

This draft steal already has teams regretting passing on him. The 30th pick in this year’s draft is a speedy centre with Dylan Larkin-esque skill. Veleno will likely be back in Drummondville of the QMJHL this fall but may be granted the 9 games allocated to rookies.

Like Rasmussen, Veleno will need to show the Team Canada coaching staff why he was granted exceptional status as a 15 year old in the CHL. I imagine he’ll make the team as a winger.

Team Canada has shown why (through failure) the World Juniors tournament is won by the most-skilled team. They are not the most well-rounded team, though they do have Jared McIsaac, a puck-moving offensive defenseman, at their disposal.

For a Team Canada, it is a relatively thin defensive list. However, there is a lot of skill in the top-end players. Notable competition to McIsaac are Evan Bouchard, Noah Dobson, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Ty Smith, and Jett Woo.

Needless to say, this is just the summer invite list. There is a series of tryouts to compete in and NHL teams need to decide if their player(s) will be loaned to their respective national teams.