The Colorado Avalanche have three players representing their countries at the World Championships with another three who turned invitations down due to injury.
The Colorado Avalanche’s season is done. As happens every year, some of the players leave to represent their countries at the IIHF Worlds Championship.
It’s bittersweet for us Avs fans. We get a little more hockey from some of our players, but it also means Colorado didn’t make a deep playoff run. Of course, we can console ourselves this year with the fact that the Avalanche did, at least, make the playoffs.
Three players are representing their countries this year. And additional three were invited but declined due to injuries.
The three representing:
- Tyson Jost, Canada
- Sven Andrighetto, Switzerland
- Mikko Rantanen, Finland
The three who declined:
- Gabriel Landeskog, Sweden
- Patrik Nemeth, Sweden
- Nikita Zadorov, Russia
What’s noteworthy about those two lists is that Rantanen is on the first, not the second. It was speculated during the playoffs that his poor performance was due to injury, and he all but confirmed it after Game 6. However, it appears that, two weeks later, he’s ready to play hockey again.
Of the three who declined, I hadn’t heard of any injuries to them. However, all three played pretty hard in the playoffs. Injury might explain their Game 6 performances — especially Landeskog’s.
The 20-year-old Tyson Jost has represented Canada four times:
- 2014: World Under-17 Hockey Challenge — Canada White, 5th place
- 2015: Hlinka Gretzky Cup — Gold
- 2016: World Junior Championship U-18 — 4th place*
- 2017: World Junior Championship — Silver
*Jost had an impressive 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists) in this seven-game tournament. He was voted the best forward at the tournament and made the All Star Team.
The 25-year-old Sven Andrighetto has represented Switzerland five times:
- 2010: World Junior Championship U-18 — 5th place
- 2011: World Junior Championship U-18 — 7th place
- 2012: World Junior Championship — 8th place
- 2013: World Junior Championship — 6th place
- 2016: World Championship — 11th place
The 21-year-old Mikko Rantanen has represented Finland an impressive seven times:
- 2013: World Under-17 Hockey Challenge — 7th place
- 2013: Hlinka Gretzky Cup — 5th place
- 2014: World Junior Championship U-18 — 6th place
- 2015: World Junior Championship — 7th place
- 2016: World Junior Championship — Gold
- 2016: World Championship — Silver
- 2017: World Championship — 4th place
In the 2017 World Championships, Rantanen had four goals and six assists.
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The 25-year-old Gabriel Landeskog has represented Sweden seven times:
- 2009: World Junior Championship U-18 — 5th place
- 2011: World Junior Championship — 4th place
- 2012: World Championship — 6th place
- 2013: World Championship — Gold
- 2014: Olympic Games — Silver
- 2016: World Cup of Hockey — Bronze
- 2017: World Championship — Gold
The 26-year-old Patrik Nemeth has represented Sweden three times:
- 2010: World Junior Championship U-18 — Silver
- 2011: World Junior Championship — 4th place
- 2012: World Junior Championship — Gold
The 23-year-old Nikita Zadorov has represented Russia four times:
- 2012: World Under-17 Hockey Challenge — Gold
- 2012: Hlinka Gretzky Cup — 5th place
- 2012: World Junior Championship U-18 — 5th place
- 2014: World Junior Championship — Bronze
According to Mile High Sports, Zadorov and Nemeth are undergoing surgery, Zadorov for a shoulder injury. Landeskog suffered a stomach injury in Game 3.
Last year, Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie represented Canada at the IIHF Worlds. While Barrie sustained some weird wrestling injury, MacKinnon won silver with Canada. He has a gold medal from their 2015 World Championship. It’s not clear why he’s not going this year — I’m guessing he indicated he didn’t want to go.
Next: Avs Report Card vs Stars
The action starts in Denmark on Friday, May 4th and will continue through to May 20.