NEWSLETTER
Through the exit interview process for the Chicago Blackhawks over the past two days, we’ve found out a number of players will be heading to Riga, Latvia this month to play for their countries in the IIHF World Championships.
Yesterday, five Blackhawks players were confirmed to be heading overseas. Today, another three were confirmed to be joining them as Brandon Pirri and Nicolas Beaudin were added to the Canadian roster and Phillip Kurashev was confirmed for Switzerland.
🇨🇦 Todavía no está confirmada pero la IIHF tiene este listado de Canadá para los #IIHFWorlds:
▪️ Incluyen a Owen Power (#2021NHLDraft). También están Perfetti & Schneider del pasado Draft.
▪️ La dupla de porteros de Arizona (Kuemper + Hill)
▪️ Me interesa mucho ver a Vilardi. pic.twitter.com/xhZF01cCXV— Iván Ortiz (@iortizm) May 12, 2021
Translated: This is the list of players on the IIHF website for the upcoming World Championships for Canada.
Pirri and Beaudin join teammate Brandon Hagel as part of the Canadian side looking for their first gold medal since 2016.
For Brandon Pirri, he will be making his first appearance for Canada at a major World Tournament in his career. He was re-acquired by the Blackhawks in late-September in a one-for-one trade for Dylan Sikura. Pirri played with the Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs from 2010-2014, making 35 appearances with the Blackhawks and 238 appearances with the IceHogs in the AHL. Skated in just the season-opening game with the Blackhawks this season and in seven games with the IceHogs this season. Wildly, he has eight goals and ten points in those seven AHL games.
Beaudin will also be making his first appearance with Canada in a major World Tournament. He made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in the final regular season game of the 2019-20 season before the pandemic shut the season down. He skated in 59 games with the IceHogs last year, tallying 15 points in his first professional season. This season saw Beaudin skate in 19 games with the Blackhawks, recording two goals and six points, and making nine appearances in the AHL with the IceHogs where he had two goals and ten points.
Philipp Kurashev will play for Switzerland at the #IIHFWorlds. #Blackhawks https://t.co/8YbGoHVbvp
— Brandon Cain (@brandonmcain) May 12, 2021
Philipp Kurashev, a dual-citizen in Switzerland and Russia, will be making his fourth appearance in a major World Tournament with Switzerland. The 21-year-old has previously represented his country at the 2018 and 2019 World Junior Championships, as well as the 2019 World Championships. He skated in 12 games and tallied ten points in his two World Junior Championship appearances, being named to the 2019 World Junior Championships All-Star Team and leading the tournament with six goals. He scored one goal and four points in eight games at the 2019 World Championships. Kurashev made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks this season, skating in 54 games with eight goals and 16 points as a rookie. He recorded seven goals and 19 points last season in 36 AHL games with the IceHogs.
Chicago will now have at least eight players playing at the upcoming World Championships, set to begin on May 21st. Team USA is still announce their roster invites, but we know Patrick Kane will already not be heading to the tournament to instead spending time with his family. Don’t blame him there. We will likely see USA Hockey reach out to Alex DeBrincat and Connor Murphy to join the World Championships squad in the coming days. Also, wouldn’t be surprised if Finland invited goalie Kevin Lankinen and newly signed centerman Henrik Borgström to join the squad looking to defend their 2019 Gold Medal.
