Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Winnipeg Jets will be well represented for the up coming World Championships in Belarus with Mark Scheifele playing for Team Canada, Jacob Trouba playing for the United States and Paul Maurice as one of the assistant coaches for Team Canada.
Maurice is not a huge surprise considering his considerable experience coaching in the NHL and of course his time over in Russia coaching in the KHL. He has considerable knowledge with the big ice surface and will be a huge help putting together a game plan for the tournament which gets underway May 9th. Canada’s first game is May 9th against France.
Scheifele is coming off a season ending knee injury so he hasn’t played a game in a while and it might get him a few games to get going, but he’s got youth on his side at only 21 years old he should bounce back quickly. This type of experience is huge for a young player, but it’s unknown how much he’ll play and if they’ll pick up some players eliminated from the first round of the NHL playoffs. It’ll all depend on how well Canada is doing during the tournament.
Trouba’s addition to Team USA is a huge feather in his cap and by the looks of the roster his role on this team could be similar to his role on the Jets. He’ll play large minutes, penalty kill, play the last minute of periods and possibly the power play. His time at the World Championships is going to help build his game and help him grow as a defenceman and can only mean good things to come for the Jets next season.