To date, the biggest story from a Flyers-affiliated prospect standpoint has been the play of Team Sweden captain Emil Andrae. The 20-year-old defenseman, whom the Flyers selected in the second round (54th overall) of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, has stood out in many facets of the game while absorbing heavy ice for the "Junior Crowns".
Most notably, Andrae has posted seven points (3g, 4a) through the first four games, ranking tops among defensemen and tied for fourth among all blueliners in the tournament.
In a 6-0 win over Austria, Andae posted two goals and an assist. On the first takky, Andrae pinched down the weak side and took a cross-ice feed from Buffalo Sabres prospect Isak Rosén. Andrae measured a shot from the left circle that beat goaltender Sebastian Wraneschitz to the blocker side. Shortly thereafter, Andrae chipped in a power play goal. He took advantage of a screen in front by Jonathan Lekkerimäki and found the net with a point shot that Wraneschitz was unable to track
WIth first place at stake in Group B of the preliminary round, Team USA withstood a late push from Sweden to skate off with a 3-2 victory. The Americans methodically built a 3-0 lead before goals in the latter half of the third period by Flyers defense prospect Emil Andrae and by BIK Karlskoga forward Åke Stakkestad on a power play (assisted by Andrae and Oskar Olausson) narrowed the gap to a single goal. The latter goal was scored off an Andrae rebound.while the first one was off a fortuitous bounce of the puck.
Sweden closed out the preliminary round with a 4-2 win over Germany. Andrae collected two more assists for Sweden, including a highlight reel bank pass to Oskar Magnusson on the sequence that produced the team's third goal.
Apart from the offensive panache that Andrae has shown thus far, he's also displayed poise under pressure. Although he stands just 5-foot-9, Andrae is deceptively strong and is fearless about competing against bigger rivals.
Among the other three Flyers prospects in the tourney, Team Canada's Tyson Foerster (two goals. one assist in three games) has come to the forefront over the last couple games. Foerster was not lacking for scoring chances in the tournament but it took until the third period of Canada's third match, a 5-1 victory over the Czechs, to collect his first goal. Unmarked in the slot, Foerster received a feed from Kent Johnson and wasted no time burying in the back of the net.
Foerster scored again in Canada's 6-3 win over Finland to close out the preliminary round. This tally was a power play rebound goal. Foerster's Team Canada teammate and fellow Flyers' draftee, Elliot Desnoyers has exclusively played a fourth-line role during the tournament. He has not collected a point to date, although Desnoyers had three assists in two games during the originally scheduled tournament in the winter.
Team Switzerland defenseman Brian Zanetti, did not play in his team's last game against Austria and was used very sparingly due to injury in a game against Germany. Zanetti's tournament started out decently in terms of his play on the ice in a 3-2 loss to Sweden but he had a first-period mishap in which he accidentally clipped himself in the mouth with his own stick and lost a couple of teeth.
