Dallas Stars: Confirmed Players So Far For World Championships
By Josh Clark
The IIHF World Championships will take place from May 4-20, 2018 in Denmark. A few NHL players that missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including those from the Dallas Stars, will take place. Here is a look at all of the Stars who are confirmed so far, including those who are and are not going.
The great thing about following professional hockey is that there really is always something to keep up with. Even if your favorite team (say, the Dallas Stars) misses the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there is still something to watch in April and May.
And that something to watch is the IIHF World Championships. If you are new to taking on early summers, the World Championships are a two week tournament against some of the top hockey-playing countries in the world.
Countries such as Canada, Finland, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and even America form teams and compete for the championship. It involves pool play between two groups before the top four teams are taken from each group and entered into an eight-team bracket. Those eight teams then compete for a chance at winning the championship.
And the best part (at least for all the North American viewers) is that most of the teams are comprised using a fair share of NHL talent.
The 15 teams that don’t qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs sometimes use the World Championships as a chance to give players both young and old extra experience. It’s another competitive stage of hockey that can further entice an audience and mold a player.
And this year, the Dallas Stars will send a few players to continue building on their skills on a new stage of competition.
After missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third time in four years, the Stars are becoming all too familiar with the World Championships. But there’s nothing more that you can really say besides, “We’ll see what happens come October.” Until that happens, however, it’s good to keep players active and competing for as long as possible.
Last season, the Stars sent Antoine Roussel for France, Julius Honka for Finland, and John Klingberg for Sweden.
Though the final rosters have not been announced yet, there are already a few confirmations for Dallas. And a few of them may end up shocking you.
Some of the likely Dallas Stars candidates are already confirmed and will head out soon to meet with their respective countries. Those include forward Radek Faksa for the Czech Republic, Julius Honka for Finland, and John Klingberg for Sweden.
Another one you may have missed is 2017 first round pick Miro Heiskanen. He will join Team Finland as well along with Honka.
On the other hand, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin will not be participating in the World Championships for Team Canada. As arguably the two most talented Dallas Stars on the roster, it comes as a bit of a surprise. But every player has their reasoning for going or not going, so it’s perfectly reasonable. But still, it’s interesting not seeing them heading over for Canada. In fact, Seguin, Jason Spezza, and Cody Eakin all won a gold medal with Canada in 2015 after the Stars missed the postseason.
These are simply the names that are confirmed so far. There could be a few more that pop up before rosters are announced, but this is a good group for the Dallas Stars to send over.
Next: Trust Is A Must: New Coach Must Believe In Stars
There’s nothing like getting a little extra practice in before the long hunt for October begins.