IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: What teams to watch for Blue Jackets connections

The season isn't quite over for all of the Blue Jackets, despite their exit last month in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Eleven players and one member of the Jackets' executive staff will play roles in the 2018 IIHF Men's World Championship, which begins Friday and runs through May 20 in Herning and Copenhagen, Denmark.
All games for the United States will be televised on NHL Network, starting Friday at 10 a.m. ET, which means Blue Jackets fans can watch U.S. forwards Cam Atkinsonand Sonny Milano play for a team that was constructed by Bill Zito, the Jackets' assistant general manager and GM of the Cleveland Monsters.
Fans can also follow on BlueJackets.com, which will have coverage throughout the tournament.
Here's a breakdown of which teams to watch for Blue Jackets players and prospects:

LEARN MORE: IIHF Worlds schedule, stats and rosters
GROUP A (Copenhagen)
FRANCE
Last year, the French national team was supposed to feature a dynamic young center, who was just 17 at the time and coming off his first season of professional hockey in the French league. The kid's name was Alexandre Texier, who was set to begin the 2017 world championship as France's second-line center - competing in front of French fans during pool play in Paris. Instead, Texier was injured in a tune-up game prior to the tournament and didn't play a single game.
He watched the tournament in person and then focused on getting healthy. Texier was then drafted by the Blue Jackets in the second round (No. 45 overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft in Chicago, trading up to take him with their first pick in the draft.
Texier, who's 18 and won't turn 19 until September, played for KalPa in Liigue, Finland's top professional league. He made a strong impression by putting up 22 points (13 goals, nine assists) in 53 games and adding two more points on a goal and assist in six playoff contests. Texier, who's listed at 6-foot-1, 192 pounds, also played for France in the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship, Division I bracket.
RUSSIA
This year, the Russian team is lacking some high-end NHL talent that was present in last year's world championship, including Blue Jackets left wing Artemi Panarin and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Panarin sustained a minor knee injury in Game 5 of the Jackets' first-round series against the Capitals and is rehabbing in Columbus before returning to Russia for the remainder of the offseason. Bobrovsky opted to begin his offseason after playing the most he's ever played in the NHL.
The Russians do have a Blue Jackets connection, though, in defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, a 22-year old who's prospect status got a good bump playing for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL. This season. Gavrikov, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound blue-liner with a left shot, had 14 points (five goals, nine assists) and a plus-20 plus/minus rating in 50 games during the regular season and five points (one goal, four assists) with a plus-7 in 15 playoff games.
Gavrikov, who was drafted in the sixth round of the 2015 NHL Draft (No. 159 overall), also played for the Olympic Athletes of Russia team in the Pyeongchang Olympics this past winter, finishing with two goals, one assist and three points in six games to help OAR win a gold medal.
SWITZERLAND
Few within the Blue Jackets organization did more to improve their standing than defenseman Dean Kukan this season. He didn't make the NHL roster coming out of training camp, started out with the Cleveland Monsters in his third season in the American Hockey League and then took advantage of injuries in Columbus to catch the eye of Blue Jackets coaches.
Kukan had four points, all assists) in 11 games for Columbus, before getting injured against the Pittsburgh Penguins om Feb. 18, a week before the NHL Trade Deadline, and not getting back into another game until the regular-season finale April 7 in Nashville. Kukan, 24, also had 15 points (one goal, 14 assists) in 32 games with Cleveland and was named to the AHL All-Star Game.
He'll play for his country for the sixth time, after representing Switzerland in two world-junior tournaments (2012, 2013) and three men's world championships (2014, 2015 and 2017).
GROUP B (HERNING)
CANADA
The Canadian roster, like that of the U.S., is dotted with high-end NHL talent, starting with Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. Among the others are two Blue Jackets who played key roles this season, defenseman Ryan Murray and Dubois.
Murray, 24, missed 34 games with a reported back injury but finished the season with 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) in 44 games. He helped the Jackets stay hot down the stretch run of the regular season and qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive season, the first time they'd ever accomplished that feat as an organization.
Murray has a decorated international resume, representing Canada in the 2012 and 2016 men's world championships and winning a gold medal in 2016. He also played for Canada in the 2012 world junior championships, winning a bronze medal, and played in the 2010 and 2011 U18 world championships.
Dubois' decision to play is interesting, since he played all 82 games in the regular season - the only Blue Jackets rookie to ever pull that off - and then played all six games in the playoffs against the Capitals.
Dubois, who had 48 points (20 goals, 28 assists), is representing Canada for the third time in his career, after winning a silver medal in the 2017 world junior championships and a bronze in the 2015 U18 world championships.
DENMARK
There will also be a Blue Jacket playing in this tournament in front of his hometown fans. Forward Oliver Bjorkstranddecided this week to play for Denmark, which will compete in Group B during pool play, with all games held in Herning, Bjorkstrand's hometown - where his father coached a local team to multiple championships.
Bjorkstrand, 23, is no stranger to international competition. He's competed for Denmark in the 2012 and 2015 world junior tournaments and also played in the men's world championship in 2015, when he was just 20.
Bjorkstrand had 11 goals, 29 assists and 40 points in 82 games with the Blue Jackets this season, which was his first full season in the NHL.
READ MORE: Bjorkstrand thrilled playing for Denmark, in his hometown
FINLAND
It was a big developmental year for defenseman Markus Nutivaara, who didn't make the NHL roster out of training camp and started the season in Cleveland while working his way back from a hip injury that required surgery last offseason.
Nutivaara took advantage of an early injury to Gabriel Carlsson, earned an everyday role and eventually a nice contract extension. This will be the first time that he represents his country in international action, after putting up 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) in 61 games for the Blue Jackets this season.
LATVIA
The Latvian team will have two backstops with ties to Columbus, as Elvis Merlikins and Matiss Kivlenieks are in Herning with their country's national team.
Merzlikins, who was the Jackets' third-round pick in 2014 (No. 76 overall), is coming off a strong season playing for Lugano in Switzerland's top league (NLA). He went 19-16-1 with a 2.72 goals-against average (GAA) and posted a .921 save percentage with four shutouts in 40 games. This will be the third time Merzlikins, 24, represents Latvia in the men's world championship, previously competing in the 2015 and 2016 tournaments.
Kivlenieks, 21, played his first professional season with Cleveland, going 14-21-4 with one shutout in 43 games, jumping straight into the AHL from the United States Hockey League (USHL), a U.S.-based junior league. He's competed for Latvia previously at the junior level, helping his country win bronze and gold medals in the 2015 and 2016 world junior D1A championships.
UNITED STATES
This year, the selection of the U.S. roster was headed-up by Zito, the Blue Jackets' assistant general manager. It's not surprising, then, to see two familiar names on the roster in Atkinson and Milano, who each accepted the offer to play for the U.S.
READ MORE: Atkinson's heroics highlight Day 1 at Worlds
Atkinson had an odd year, statistically, for Columbus. He started off slow, with just six goals through Dec. 23, and then got scorching hot after returning from a broken bone in his right foot that kept him out a month. Atkinson had 18 goals and 33 points in the Jackets' final 33 games, playing mostly with Panarin and rookie center Pierre-Luc Dubois, and then had four points (two goals, two assists) in the playoffs against Washington.
He'll look to stay hot for the red, white and blue in Denmark, where he's wearing No. 89 rather than his usual No. 13, which is being worn by the Calgary Flames' Johnny Gaudreau.
Milano is looking to build on his rookie season, in which he finished with 22 points (14 goals, eight assists) in 55 games for the Blue Jackets.