Mailbag #11: World Juniors Week

RALEIGH, NC. -Happy Festivus, everyone. Or, Happy World Juniors Pre-Tournament Day if you're tuning in to those as well.
The NHL's Holiday Break is upon us and there's plenty to celebrate regarding the league-topping Carolina Hurricanes.
With that being said, there's always questions remaining from the inquisitive Caniacs, so let's get you some answers.

Are the World Junior Championships still on? - @gjyuhas
They are! The only way that the tournament has been impacted so far was that attendance was reduced to 50% in both Edmonton and Red Deer. Tune-up games are taking place today and the action gets going for real on Sunday.
(Update: Less than an hour after this piece was published, a pre-tournament game between the Czech Republic and Switzerland was cancelled due to COVID-19 Protocols.)
What prospect are you most excited to watch at the World Juniors? - @Bass8151
Great question. First, I'm going to give you the cheesy, "I'm looking forward to seeing everyone play!" In all seriousness though, I can't wait to see how many times the Canes are brought up on the broadcasts. It will have to be almost every game, right?
The team's ten prospects are on over half the rosters in the tournament.
Shameless plug, we'll have more on that tomorrow.
To be honest, I'm excited to watch Alexander Pashin play. From my understanding, he's that must-see type of a player who thrives with the puck. There's always highlight-reel goals scored in this tournament and he certainly posses the ability to produce one of them. Sure, a little undersized, but I think we've seen more and more examples over the last few years of that mattering less and less. This will be a great way to see what he can do, and how he can hang defensively against the best in the world from his age group.
What are your medal picks and which Canes prospect will finish with the most points? - @CanesProspects
A couple people from the office are probably going to be mad at me for the way I deflect this answer, so, sorry, if you're reading.
I try and stay away from predictions of any kind. Unfortunately in today's era of the internet, you can't be wrong without 36 people letting you know about it. So, I'll stay clear of both of those.
Instead, I wanted to take this opportunity to share that if you're on Twitter and you're not following

, you're missing out. The crew that runs the account has been a huge assistance, selfishly, to me, since joining the organization and not knowing a ton about the club's prospect pool off the bat. They do a really strong job at covering the future of the organization and they do it out of love, so please, check out their work if you also care about what's to come in Raleigh. I know they'll be enjoying the next few days.
Drury made a big impact. Do you see him coming back this season? - @jsingle919
Good question, Jason. I think that's going to depend on how healthy the roster can stay for the remainder of the regular season. What we learned is that the early returns show he can hang at this level right off the bat. Think about his standing in the recall order just a few weeks ago. We'd already seen Josh Leivo in November, Andrew Poturalski was the first phone call before the game that eventually didn't happen in Minnesota and we knew C.J. Smith and Stefan Noesen both had fantastic training camps, along with prior NHL experience. But now where does Drury rank in that mix? At this point we don't even know if it will be Carolina or Chicago who his next game will be with, so, like you, I am very interested to see if/when we see him again.
When can we expect an announcement about the 'Canes Stadium Series game at Carter-Finley being rescheduled? Is it for sure still happening or are things up in the air? - @IronCaniac
Historically the NHL has answered a lot of questions regarding the upcoming calendar year of outdoor games at the Winter Classic. Will that be the case this year? To be determined. As we've learned once again over the last few weeks, it's that a lot is still up in the air. The team will definitely be hosting a game at Carter-Finley, it's just a matter of when. At this point, I'm sure there's quite a bit of breathe-holding even regards to this year's Winter Classic being able to take place, so I'm sure they may just want to get through that first before they commit to 2023 functions.
That's all for this week, friends. Thank you, as always, for taking the time to ask questions and for reading.
Happy Holidays, however you celebrate. I wish you and yours good health and good times. Hope to see you at PNC Arena again soon!
Not a member of Twitter? We're always happy to take questions at [email protected] as well!
Canes Mailbags are powered by
Segra
.
Worth A Click:
Writers Roundtable: The Second Month
Holiday Break Come Early: Reflecting On The Canes Joyful Start
Update: Postponed Games & COVID-19 Protocol Tracker
Ten Canes Prospects Selected For World Juniors
All-Star Fan Voting Open Now