Big Blue Jackets contingent heads to 2021 World Championship

Sixteen national teams are in Riga, Latvia, where they will all go for gold in this year's IIHF World Championship, which begins Friday with four games that will showcase some of the best hockey talent in the world.
This year's event won't be quite as star-studded as in the past -- after a long year of Covid protocols, notable names like CBJ players Zach Werenski, Seth Jones, Patrik Laine and others will not take part -- but there are 11 players with Columbus ties playing in the event. With many of those players trending on the younger side, it could be a good chance for the future of the organization to add some experience against high-level competition.

Countries have been split into two eight-team groups, with each country to play seven contests against each group foe. From there, the top four teams in each group will advance to quarterfinals June 3, with semifinals to follow June 5 and the championship game June 6.
Here are the 11 Blue Jackets players who are taking part, with notes on their experience with both club and country.

Russia (Group A): D Vladislav Gavrikov, F Mikhail Grigorenko, F Dmitri Voronkov

Playing under the Russian Olympic Committee name because of past doping allegations involving Russian athletes, the two players who spent this past year with the Jackets will skate with 2019 fourth-round draft pick Voronkov, who is coming off an impressive season in the KHL.
Gavrikov
For club: Gavrikov has spent the past two years with Columbus after coming over from Russia, slotting in as a second-pair defender the past two seasons. The 25-year-old blueliner is coming off a season in which he played in 55 games, only missing one because of the birth of his daughter, posting two goals and 10 assists.
For country: Gavrikov is a regular with the Russian national team, including earning an Olympic gold medal with the squad at the 2018 Winter Olympics. A former captain of the Russian World Juniors team, the Yaroslavl native will play a big role and serve as a leader for the squad in his fourth World Championships.
Grigorenko
For club: Grigorenko came to the Blue Jackets on a one-year contract this past season and was in and out of the lineup. A former first-round pick who resurrected his career in the KHL from 2018-20, Grigorenko never quite find a consistent role with the CBJ but produced at times, finishing with a 4-8-12 line in 32 games.
For country: The 27-year-old from Khabarovsk is, much like Gavrikov, a regular with the Russian national team. He also earned gold at the 2018 Winter Olympiad, is a former World Juniors standout and is slated to take part in his third World Championships.
Voronkov
For club: At age 20, Voronkov was a regular with Ak Bars Kazan for the second year in a row, finishing his campaign with seven goals and 19 points in 53 regular-season games. He then turned in an impressive KHL playoff run, getting better as the postseason went on, posting a 6-4-10 line in 15 games for an Ak Bars team that lost to Avangard Omsk in the conference final.
For country: Voronkov will be taking part in his first World Championships, but he's worn the Russian sweater before. The hulking forward from Angarsk took part in the World Juniors in 2019-20, posting a point per game (3-4-7 in seven games) for a team that won a silver medal, and appears to have the respect of his federation given his KHL success.

Slovakia (Group A): D Samuel Knazko

Still just 18, Knazko -- a third-round pick in the 2020 draft this past October -- will compete on the Slovakian squad along with 17-year-old Juraj Slavkofsky, a teammate with his TPS club in Turku, Finland.
For club: Playing for his Finnish club team's Under-20 team, Knazko sakted in 23 games this past season and showed the ability to contribute offensively from the blue line, posting five goals and 10 assists for 15 points with a plus-19 rating. He played for TPS along with 2020 fourth-round CBJ pick Mikael Pyyhtia, who moved into the senior squad for the team's playoff run.
For country: Knazko has worn the Slovakia sweater from the U-16 level to now, serving as captain for the Slovak squad at the World Juniors this past December/January. This will be the youngster's first trip to the World Championships, and it will be interesting to see how much playing time the native of Trencin gets.

Switzerland (Group A): F Gregory Hofmann

The 28-year-old forward was acquired by the Blue Jackets this winter from Carolina for a seventh-round pick. A 2011 fourth-round pick of the Canes, he's never headed over to North America full-time but could join the Blue Jackets next season if he wants to give the top level of hockey another shot.
For club: As he has for much of his career, Hofmann tore up Switzerland's National League, posting an 18-23-41 line in 36 regular-season games then 14 points in 13 playoff games as EV Zug won the title. Over the past three seasons with Zug and HC Lugano -- where he played with Elvis Merzlikins -- Hofmann has a 72-67-139 line in 136 games.
For country: Hofmann is no stranger to the Switzerland jersey as he competed in the World Juniors twice and now will be skating in the World Championships for the fourth time. The Biel-Bienne native also skated in two games at the 2018 Olympics, notching an assist for the Swiss.

Canada (Group B): F Liam Foudy, F Justin Danforth

With many Canadians choosing not to take part, it'll be a young but talented roster for the squad heading to Riga. The team's 2018 first-round pick, Foudy was an NHL rookie this past year while the veteran Danforth, signed earlier this month, played in the KHL. They could be skating with a future teammate, as young defenseman Owen Power, a projected top-10 pick out of the University of Michigan, has made the squad.
Foudy
For club: Foudy had an up-and-down first full pro season, simply dominating the AHL -- a 3-13-16 line in 12 games with the Cleveland Monsters -- but notching four assists and zero goals in 24 games at the NHL level. It was a learning experience, but he appeared to be much more confident on the puck at the end of the season after his AHL success.
For country: Foudy's most recent stint with the maple leaf on his sweater came at the 2020 World Juniors, where he earned a gold medal as his Canadian squad downed Russia in the final. A native of Toronto, Foudy had three goals in seven games there and now heads into his first-ever World Championships as a 21-year-old hoping to make his mark.
Danforth
For club: The 28-year-old showed no trouble jumping from the Finnish Liiga to the KHL, continuing to essentially be a point-per-game player with Vityaz. After earning MVP honors in the Liiga in 2019-20 with 60 points in 56 games, Danforth also stood out in Russia, posting a 23-32-55 line in 58 games for the Moscow-based team. He has signed a one-year deal with Columbus and will battle to make his NHL debut next season.
For country: Danforth is a late bloomer -- the Oshawa native played college hockey at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut and last made his mark in North America as an ECHL standout with Cincinnati in 2017-18 -- and thus this is his first time in the Canadian sweater. As a prolific overseas scorer, he could add some offense to the squad.

Latvia (Group B): G Matiss Kivlenieks

The slightly less celebrated of the CBJ's Latvian goalies, Kivlenieks left Cleveland to join the national team late in the campaign and has to be excited to get the chance to play in his hometown of Riga. He won't be able to play with fellow Blue Jackets netminder Merzlikins, who is not making the trip with his wife soon expected to deliver the couple's first child.
For club: With the shortened season at both the NHL and AHL levels, consistent playing time was hard to find for Kivlenieks, who sits third on the CBJ depth chart. He was a standout in eight AHL games, going 6-2-0 with a 2.25 GAA and .929 save percentage with the Monsters, and started the last two Blue Jackets games, getting the win in the finale and posting a .901 save percentage while ceding seven goals.
For country: Kivlenieks was a standout for the Latvian World Juniors team trying to move up from qualification to the main event in 2015 and '16, posting back-to-back save percentages of .928 and .941 for those squads. Since then, he traveled to the Worlds in 2018 but did not play; this time, the 24-year-old could be the Latvian starter, with the hopes of the home nation on his back.

Norway (Group B): D Ole Bjorgvik-Holm

A 2020 fifth-round draft pick of the Blue Jackets,
the protégé of former CBJ defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen
will join the plucky underdogs at this year's tournament.
For club: It was an interesting year for the 18-year-old defenseman, who spent last year with Mississauga of the OHL. Because of the pandemic, Bjorgvik-Holm started the season with Manglerud in his home country, notching 12 points in 22 games, then headed to North America to sign with Cleveland. With the Monsters, he was a solid second- or third-pair option, posting a goal and four assists in 16 games.
For country: Bjorgvik-Holm will be making his first appearance on a senior national team, so it will be interesting to see how much playing time he gets. Still, he has worn the bear-inspired Norwegian sweater before, including in World Juniors qualification events.

United States (Group B): F Eric Robinson, D Adam Clendening

Team USA will have a pair of CBJ players on it with Robinson, who played every game with the Jackets this year, and utility defenseman Clendening joining the squad. They could be skating with a future teammate just like the Canadians, as forward Matty Beniers, a projected top-10 pick out of the University of Michigan, has made the squad at age 18.
Robinson
For club: For the first time, Robinson spent the entire season with Columbus in his third season with the franchise, and he was just one of four players to skate in every CBJ game. He finished with an 8-10-18 line in 56 games and had some of the best advanced stats on the team while playing everywhere from the first line to the fourth.
For country: This will be the 25-year-old's first-ever stint with a U.S. national team, as the native of Bellmawr, N.J., has had to fight and claw his way up the hockey ladder including four seasons at Princeton before signing with Columbus. His speed should make him an asset for Team USA.
Clendening
For club: The pandemic-mandated creation of the taxi squad affected someone like Clendening the most, as the longtime AHL standout instead spent much of his season practicing with the Jackets but not able to crack the lineup. In all, the 28-year-old had a 1-3-4 line in nine games with the Monsters but on a team with plenty of defensive depth did not see action with the Blue Jackets in the final year of his contract.
For country: The native of Niagara Falls, N.Y., hasn't put on a Team USA sweater since 2011-12 when the then-Boston University standot joined the World Juniors squad. There, Clendening had five points in six games, and his offensive game -- he has 82 points in 109 AHL games the past three years -- could make him an intriguing option for the Americans.