December 25, 2012

HD 411 Staff
HockeyDraft411 Prospects

This event is generally thought of as representing the best 19-year olds, so it is quite an achievement when players a year or two younger are chosen to represent their National teams. Obviously it is easier to make the team of a country that isn't one of the powerhouses. However, the Latvia and Germany's of the world also have to worry about being relegated to a lower pool so that keeps them wanting to ice an older group of players in order to compete.

Below is a list of the best players and the country they are representing, note that there are still some teams that are making cuts. We've bolded the prospects that appear in the Top 30 of the HockeyDraft411.com's 2013 NHL Entry Draft Rankings:

Nathan MacKinnon (2013), F, Canada
Jonathan Drouin (2013), F, Canada
*JC Lipon (2013), F, Canada

Jan Stencel (2013), D, Czech Republic

Rasmus Ristolainen (2013), D, Finland
Aleksander Barkov (2013), C, Finland
Artturi Lehkonen (2013), RW, Finland
Saku Salminen (2013), C, Finland

Valeri Nichushkin (2013), RW, Russia
Bogdan Yakimov (2013), C, Russia

Linus Arnesson (2013), D, Sweden
Jacob de la Rose (2013), LW, Sweden
Elias Lindholm (2013), C, Sweden
Nick Sorensen (2013), RW, Sweden
Alex Wennberg (2013), C, Sweden

Mirco Mueller (2013), D, Switzerland

Seth Jones (2013), D, USA
Ryan Hartman (2013), RW, USA
*Cole Bardreau (2013), RW, USA

*eligible to be drafted in 2012.