Handful of Golden Knights to Play in World Championships

Starting on May 13th, 16 countries will compete in this year’s International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship in Tampere and Helsinki, Finland. Three members of the Vegas Golden Knights will play for Team Canada– Nicolas Roy, Zach Whitecloud, and Logan Thompson.

Roy had an impressive season in 2021-22 and set new career highs with 15 goals, 24 points, and 39 assists. He was one of the most reliable secondary scorers for the Golden Knights amidst a year with tons of injuries.

Whitecloud emerged as an NHL defenseman this season with the highest plus-minus on the team (+21).

Lastly, Thompson broke into the NHL with both Robin Lehner and Laurent Brossoit going down with injuries. He played in 19 games with the VGK in 2021-22 and had a save percentage of .914.

The World Championships or ‘Worlds’ are often used as a tournament for NHL players in the Spring to condition their bodies for the offseason. Typically, rosters are made up of NHL players who missed the playoffs or were eliminated in the first round as well as players from international rosters.

Here is a list of every player competing in the 2022 World Championship, including former Golden Knights, Nate Schmidt, and Tomas Tatar.

Banged up players tend to rest their bodies in the offseason which is why we don’t see Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Robin Lehner, or Reilly Smith on any of these rosters. As for Jack Eichel, William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, and Mattias Janmark, they all must have declined invitations.

Evgenii Dadonov is also unable to compete in Worlds as Russia has been banned from the IIHF due to their ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

Four players on the Golden Knight’s current roster have won a World Championship– Evgenii Dadonov (2014), Ben Hutton and Mark Stone (2016), William Karlsson (2017), and Mattias Janmark (2018).