Off-Day Watch 12/26: World Juniors time is nigh

Perhaps even more exciting than Christmas itself is the beginning of World Juniors; the tournament kicks off today in earnest.

happy world juniors to all who celebrate

— Bust a Nut(cracker) (@armadillorollup) December 25, 2018

Many of the games will be aired on the NHL Network (and, for our Canadian friends, on TSN), so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to watch Kings prospects in action.

A full broadcast schedule can be found here. Important games—and by important, we mean games that Kings prospects are in—over the next few days are highlighted below.

Wednesday, December 26

United States vs. Slovakia (3:30 p.m. Pacific)
Canada vs. Denmark (5:00 p.m. Pacific)
Finland vs. Sweden (7:30 p.m. Pacific)

Thursday, December 27

Slovakia vs. Sweden (3:30 p.m. Pacific) (Airing on the NHL Network December 28, 5:00 a.m. Pacific)
Switzerland vs. Canada (5:00 p.m. Pacific)
Finland vs. Kazakhstan (7:30 p.m. Pacific)

Kings Things

Kings defenseman prospect Mikey Anderson has been named captain of Team USA for World Juniors. This is his second year playing in the tournament; last year, his brother Joey captained the squad. [NHL]

Jaret Anderson-Dolan will wear an A for Team Canada, as well:

#NEWS | @HockeyCanada names Maxime Comtois, Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Evan Bouchard and Ian Mitchell as captains for @HC_Men; proudly #REPRESENT-ing the QMJHL, WHL, OHL and NCAA respectively. #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/VV96vZ2GMF

— #WorldJuniors (@HC_WJC) December 25, 2018

And it looks like any concerns about Anderson-Dolan’s wrist are minimal, as he’s been moved back to center:

Team 🇨🇦 lines in practice

Comtois-Glass-Tippett
Lafrenière-AndersonDolan-Suzuki
Frost-Hayton-Leason
Veleno-Bowers-Studnicka
Entwistle

Phillips-Bouchard
Brook-Mitchell
Smith-Dobson
McIsaac

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 25, 2018

Speaking of JAD, this is magnificent:

👀👀 BOBBLEHEAD REVEAL 👀👀

1st 2K fans at @SpokaneArena on March 9 vs. @victoriaroyals.

😈 Ty Smith (@NJDevils) & 👑 Jaret Anderson-Dolan (@lakings) combo bobble courtesy of @CocaCola! #GoChiefsGo

TICKETS 🎟️ | https://t.co/bWgRvbWUaI pic.twitter.com/4CWhD4xD8E

— Spokane Chiefs (@spokanechiefs) December 25, 2018

Former Kings Things

I regret to inform everyone that Nick Shore has grown a mustache.

Elsewhere

A brief look back at some NHL highlights in 2018. [NHL]

A review of draft-eligible players in this year’s World Juniors. [Stanley Cup of Chowder]

A comprehensive look at strengths and weaknesses of each team at World Juniors. [Raw Charge]

Brad Marchand was suspended for the last outdoor game the Bruins played; he’s thankful to have another shot at the outdoors game in January. [NHL]

Hayley Scamurra is the first woman to earn a spot in the US national women’s team camp based off of her play in the NWHL. [NWHL]

Canucks players, including Jake Virtanen, who took a lot of criticism for his play, talk about their experiences at World Juniors. [The Province]

Les Canadiennes goalies Emerance Maschmeyer and Genevieve Lacasse go head to head with some rapid-fire questions. [The Ice Garden]