Jason La Rose
The puck dropped Wednesday night to kick off the 2018-19 National Hockey League season, and it did so with 70 alumni of the World Junior A Challenge earning spots on rosters across the league.
The United States led the way with 19 alumni in the NHL, followed by Russia (12), Canada West (12), Canada East (11), Sweden (eight), the Czech Republic (five), Denmark (two) and Switzerland (one).
The Canada West and United States contingents both included players who won gold at the World Junior A Challenge; 25 players in all – eight Canadians and 17 Americans – stood atop the podium, with U.S. forwards Craig Smith (2007 and 2008) and Kyle Connor (2013 and 2014) to only players to hoist the trophy twice.
The list of alumni also included eight players who earned MVP honours – Kyle Turris (2006), Scott Mayfield (2010), Devin Shore (2011), Vinnie Hinostroza (2012), Nick Schmaltz (2013), Nikolaj Ehlers (2014), Tyson Jost (2015) and Andrei Svechnikov (2016) – and 14 WJAC all-stars.
Twenty-eight of the NHL’s 31 teams had at least one alumnus on their 23-man roster, led by the Colorado Avalanche with five; Boston, Columbus, Detroit, the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Washington had four each.
In addition to the 70 who cracked the rosters, five alumni started the season on the injured list with the respective teams, and may or may not join the NHL roster once they’re deemed healthy.
WORLD JUNIOR A CHALLENGE ALUMNI ON SEASON-OPENING NHL ROSTERS
Oliver Bjorkstrand – Columbus Blue Jackets (Denmark, 2014) Brock Boeser – Vancouver Canucks (United States, 2014) Drake Caggiula – Edmonton Oilers (Canada East, 2011) Dennis Cholowski – Detroit Red Wings (Canada West, 2015) Kyle Connor – Winnipeg Jets (United States – 2013-2014) Austin Czarnik – Calgary Flames (United States, 2010) Evgeni Dadonov – Florida Panthers (Russia, 2006) Jacob de la Rose (injured) – Montreal Canadiens (Sweden, 2011) Casey DeSmith – Pittsburgh Penguins (United States, 2010) Nic Dowd – Washington Capitals (United States, 2009) Sheldon Dries – Colorado Avalanche (United States, 2012) Ryan Dzingel – Ottawa Senators (United States, 2010) Nikolaj Ehlers – Winnipeg Jets (Denmark, 2014) Jesper Fast – New York Rangers (Sweden, 2009) Tanner Fritz – New York Islanders (Canada West, 2008-2009) Derek Grant – Pittsburgh Penguins (Canada West, 2008) Vinnie Hinostroza – Arizona Coyotes (United States, 2011-2012) Ben Hutton – Vancouver Canucks (Canada East, 2011) Zach Hyman – Toronto Maple Leafs (Canada East, 2010) Calle Jarnkrok – Nashville Predators (Sweden, 2009) Nick Jensen – Detroit Red Wings (United States, 2009) Luke Johnson – Chicago Blackhawks (United States, 2012) Tyson Jost – Colorado Avalanche (Canada West, 2014-2015) Vladislav Kamenev (injured) – Colorado Avalanche (Russia, 2013) David Kampf – Chicago Blackhawks (Czech Republic, 2012) Ondrej Kase (injured) – Anaheim Ducks (Czech Republic, 2012) Alexander Kerfoot – Colorado Avalanche (Canada West, 2011-2012) Jujhar Khaira – Edmonton Oilers (Canada West, 2011) Nikita Kucherov – Tampa Bay Lightning (Russia, 2010) Dean Kukan – Columbus Blue Jackets (Switzerland, 2010-2012) Dmitry Kulikov – Buffalo Sabres (Russia, 2007) Sean Kuraly – Boston Bruins (United States, 2011) Evgeny Kuznetsov – Washington Capitals (Russia, 2008) Johan Larsson (injured) – Buffalo Sabres (Sweden, 2009) Elias Lindholm – Calgary Flames (Sweden, 2011) Hampus Lindholm – Anaheim Ducks (Sweden, 2011) Scott Mayfield – New York Islanders (United States, 2010) John Moore – Boston Bruins (United States, 2008) Vladislav Namestnikov – New York Rangers (Russia, 2009) Riley Nash – Columbus Blue Jackets (Canada West, 2006) Patrik Nemeth – Colorado Avalanche (Sweden, 2009) Valeri Nichushkin – Dallas Stars (Russia, 2011) Joakim Nordström – Boston Bruins (Sweden, 2009-2010) Dmitry Orlov – Washington Capitals (Russia, 2008) Colton Parayko – St. Louis Blues (Canada West, 2011) David Pastrnak – Boston Bruins (Czech Republic, 2012) Matthew Peca – Montreal Canadiens (Canada East, 2010) Neal Pionk – New York Rangers (United States, 2013) Mike Reilly – Montreal Canadiens (United States, 2011) Evan Rodrigues – Buffalo Sabres (Canada East, 2010) Joakim Ryan – San Jose Sharks (Sweden, 2010) Justin Schultz – Pittsburgh Penguins (Canada West, 2008) Jordan Schmaltz – St. Louis Blues (United States, 2010-2011) Nick Schmaltz – Chicago Blackhawks (United States, 2013) Jaden Schwartz – St. Louis Blues (Canada West, 2008) Devin Shore – Dallas Stars (Canada East, 2011) Dominik Simon – Pittsburgh Penguins (Czech Republic, 2011) Jaccob Slavin – Carolina Hurricanes (United States, 2012) Brendan Smith – New York Rangers (Canada East, 2006) Craig Smith – Nashville Predators (United States, 2007-2008) Reilly Smith – Vegas Golden Knights (Canada East, 2008) Libor Sulak – Detroit Red Wings (Czech Republic, 2011) Troy Stecher – Vancouver Canucks (Canada West, 2011-2012) Andrei Svechnikov – Carolina Hurricanes (Russia, 2016) Evgeny Svechnikov (injured) – Detroit Red Wings (Russia, 2013) Cam Talbot – Edmonton Oilers (Canada East, 2006) Vladimir Tarasenko – St. Louis Blues (Russia, 2008) Kyle Turris – Nashville Predators (Canada West, 2006) Andrei Vasilevskiy – Tampa Bay Lightning (Russia, 2011) Mikhail Vorobyov – Philadelphia Flyers (Russia, 2014) Jakub Vrana – Washington Capitals (Czech Republic, 2012) MacKenzie Weegar – Florida Panthers (Canada East, 2011) Alexander Wennberg – Columbus Blue Jackets (Sweden, 2011) Scott Wilson – Buffalo Sabres (Canada East, 2010) Valentin Zykov – Carolina Hurricanes (Russia, 2011)