Semifinal Showdowns

The International Ice Hockey Championship in Finland began mid-May with five Kraken players on rosters of their native countries. The full quintet advanced to Thursday's quarterfinals with their national squads, but come Saturday's semifinals just three Kraken players will be in uniform.
This world championship represents a high level of play ideal for NHL GMs and scouts to evaluate young draft-eligible players on various national teams along with assessing European or even NHL players who might become available via trades or free-agent signings this winter, along with sizing up younger prospects from other NHL teams who might be facing the Kraken soon enough.

"It's a very good tournament," says Robert Kron, the Kraken director of amateur scouting who viewed play in person for a week before Seattle GM Ron Francis traveled to Finland for the quarterfinals. "There are a lot of guys already in the NHL or played in the league before. The quality of play is very high. There are many players who had prominent roles with their NHL teams during the regular season."

Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer and his German teammates were eliminated by Czechia, which took advantage of Germany's penalties to score three power play goals. Grubauer made several big stops to keep the game close in the first two periods.
Czechia now faces Team Canada, which won a Thursday overtime thriller defeating Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson and Sweden. Czechia's top line features former Boston Bruins teammates David Krejci (playing in Czech pro league) and David Pastrnak (still with the B's) while former Bruins coach Claude Julien will be strategizing how to stop his former players as Canada's head coach.
"Krejci [two goals, eight assists] looks like he could still do it at the NHL level," says Kron, "and Pastrnak [4 G, 3 A] adds integrity to the tournament."
One note for NHL draftniks: 2022 draft-eligible defenseman David Jiricek (returning from a knee injury) has one goal and five assists in eight games, placing him squarely in the discussion for being selected in the first five to 10 slots during July 7's first round.
Julien has trusted Kraken forward Morgan Geekie (one goal, one assist) to play significant minutes and continue to prove his worth playing all zones in the tournament.

During earlier round-robin play, Vegas rookie goaltender Logan Thompson surrendered five goals on 26 shots in a 6-3 defeat. It prompted Julien to turn to Driedger in the last three Canada games, all wins. The Kraken goalie has posted a 2.02 goals-against average during the tourney.
On the other side of the Worlds bracket, Kraken forward Kuhlman has a pair of assists in eight games, including a primary assist on the third goal of a 3-0 U.S. quarterfinal win over an impressive Switzerland team Thursday. Like Geekie, Kuhlman is earning regular ice time, defending responsibly and playing on a productive line.
The winners of Saturday's semifinal showdowns will meet Sunday in the gold-medal game while the two teams who fall short will match up to play for the bronze medal.