The Vancouver Canucks have four players to watch for at the IIHF World Championship in Switzerland.
Aatu Räty is suiting up for Finland, Filip Hronek for Czechia, Linus Karlsson for Sweden, and Max Sasson for Team USA.
The 16-team tournament plays a round-robin from May 15-26, with the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals taking place between May 28-31.
Hronek played all 82 games for the Canucks this season, recording 49 points (8-41-49) while averaging 25 minutes per game.
The Hradec Kralove native has represented Czechia since 2014, helping Czechia to a bronze medal at the 2022 IIHF World Championship, topping Team USA 8-4 in the bronze medal game. He had an elite performance at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia where Hronek was awarded Best Defenceman, posting the most points (11) and assists (8) by a defenceman in the tournament. He also earned 2019 IIHF World Championship All-Star Team honours.
Räty is coming off his first full season in the NHL in which he scored four goals and chipped in 10 assists, with an average of 59.2 percent off the draw.
This is Räty’s first time competing at the World Championship, but he has represented Finland internationally since 2017, participating in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and two World Junior Championships. In 2022, Räty had three goals and seven assists in seven games, helping Finland to a silver medal finish at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton.
Karlsson also finished his first full season in Vancouver, seeing action in 79 games and tallying 35 points (15-20-35) while averaging 12:31 of ice time per game.
Karlsson, 26, has been involved in Sweden’s national team program since 2017, and this will be his first World Championship. He has played in 14 games for the national team in tournaments, exhibition games, or qualifiers, and has seven appearances in the junior ranks.
Sasson recorded 19 points (13-6-19) in 66 contests with the Vancouver Canucks this past season. He also played two games for Abbotsford and scored two goals with the AHL club.
This is the first time in Sasson’s career where he will represent Team USA.
All four Canucks play in the first four games of the round robin tournament.
Puck drops for the first games at 7:20 a.m. PT with Finland taking on Germany and Sweden matching up against Canada.
Sasson and Team USA play Switzerland, while Czechia plays Denmark at 11:20 a.m. PT.
