The hockey world is collectively holding its breath and crossing its fingers as the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship gets underway in Edmonton and Red Deer on Sunday.
Despite the Omicron surge that has postponed NHL games until later in the week, the annual tournament is going ahead on schedule under much the same circumstances it did last year in the Edmonton bubble, though there will be a limited number of fans allowed to attend.
Four Devils prospects are in action, three of whom are likely to play key roles on medal contending teams.
Luke Hughes, taken fourth overall in last summer's NHL Draft, will suit up for the U.S. and become the third sibling from his family to take part in the annual holiday tournament.
Hughes, off to a roaring start to his collegiate career at the University of Michigan, is expected to get plenty of ice time as the U.S. attempts to defend its gold medal won in the Edmonton bubble last year. Hughes is just 18 and could cede a bigger role to older defensemen on coach Nate Leaman's side, in particular Jake Sanderson (Ottawa) who is on a heater in his sophomore year at the University of North Dakota
Four Devils to Play in World Junior Championship | PROSPECT WATCH
A preview of the four Devils players that will represent their country in this year's annual tournament
Two Devils prospects, both a year older and taken a year earlier than Hughes, are also front-and-center in their lineup.
Alexander Holtz will play a leading role for Sweden, who are smarting after a quarter-final exit at the hands of Finland last year. The Swedes also had a 14-year-long pool play winning streak snapped in Edmonton and were decimated by COVID last time around. Holtz, who has played six games for the Devils this year and registered two assists, is suiting up for Sweden for the third time. Holtz has scored four goals and four assists in 12 World Junior games.
Shakir Mukhamadullin was taken 20th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, 13 picks after Holtz, and will play for Russia for the second time. He was pointless in seven games last year for Russia, who lost to Finland in the bronze medal game.
Czech goalie Jakub Malek, selected in the fourth round (100th overall) in July, is set to make his World Junior debut.
The U.S., Russia and Sweden, along with Finland, are expected to challenge the favored Canadians. Like last year, Canada appears to have the strongest team on paper. Unlike 2020, where five current/future Devils prospects won gold, there are no New Jersey-affiliated players on the 25-man Canadian roster.
Played in an empty building, last year's gold medal final was won by a much sharper U.S. team, who got better as the tournament went along, and skated off with a stunning 2-0 win, the third time in 11 years it had beaten Canada at home in a gold medal game.
With the best teenagers - aside from the relative few playing in the NHL - competing for their country head-to-head in a short, intense format, the World Junior has always provided a fascinating glimpse for what awaits in pro hockey.
There is no better example than Nico Hischier. Back in 2017, Hischier was playing for the Halifax Mooseheads and projected as a high pick. But his spectacular performance for Switzerland that year was likely the single biggest reason why the Devils took him No. 1-overall later that spring. Hischier scored both Switzerland's goals - the first was assisted by Jonas Sigenthaler - in a 3-2 quarterfinal loss to the U.S., who would eventually win gold over Canada in a shootout in Montreal.
Jack Hughes played just once in the World Junior, losing in the gold medal game in 2019 to Finland. But the then-17-year-old cemented his No. 1 status with a gutsy four-assist performance despite being hobbled by injury that saw him miss three games. Brother, Quinn, was also on that U.S. team.
Speaking of brothers, Dougie Hamilton and his brother, Freddie, became the first siblings to play on Team Canada in 30 years when they teamed up to win a bronze medal in Calgary in 2012.
The most recent Devils gold medalists at the World Junior were Kevin Bahl, Dawson Mercer and Ty Smith, who all contributed to Canada's triumph two years ago. Though they weren't members of the Devils organization at the time, prospects Nolan Foote came on-board in the Blake Coleman trade a couple months later, and Nico Daws was selected in the delayed 2020 NHL Draft. Both Daws and Foote also won gold that year, bringing the Devils golden group to five that year in the Czech Republic.
A year earlier, Devils prospect Aarne Talvitie was captain of Finland's gold medal winning team, hoisting the championship trophy despite being knocked out of the final game with a knee injury that ended his season.
Other Devils to have won gold at the World Junior include Jimmy Vesey (2013) with the U.S., and P.K. Subban, who did it twice with Team Canada in 2008 and '09; Jonathan Bernier was also on the victorious Canadian squad in 2008. Mikey McLeod won gold with Canada in 2018 in Buffalo, a year after winning silver in Montreal.
It was in Buffalo where Yegor Sharangovich played for just-promoted Belarus, scoring three times, and adding two assists in six games. That performance led to the Devils taking the previously little-known Sharangovich in the 2018 NHL Draft.
