World Cup Player Notes (Sep 3)

First up on the notes is a brand new injury, as the North American 23 & Under team will no be without Flames forward Sean Monahan, thanks to a strained back, suffered in his off-season training regiment.  The Flames are calling his departure from the roster a precautionary measure and will likely be looking to do everything in their power to have him ready for training camp and then opening night, which is still over a month away.

Taking Monahan's spot will be Florida's Vincent Trocheck.  The 23-year old American has been trending in the right direction for the Panthers in the last couple of seasons, finishing last year with 25 goals and 53 points in 76 games.  Arguably, he could have been on the team from the outset, but an injury replacement will have to do.

Team Canada named Corey Perry to be the replacement for the injured Jeff Carter, as expected.  Perry has much more international experience than the other two expected names that were mentioned yesterday and should fit in fairly well with a familiar bunch of player.  Last season, it was a bit of an off year for the 31-year old, only finishing with 34 goals and 62 points in all 82 games, but this should give his season a good head start for bigger and better things.

None of the expected names were taking David Krejci's spot in the Czech Republic roster.  As of Saturday morning, the Czech team had announced that Roman Cervenka will take his spot.  We last saw Cervenka in the 2013 season, when the Calgary Flames made him into a failed experiment from the KHL.  Last season, in the top Czech league, Cervenka finished with 61 points in 49 games for his club, Chomutov Pirati.

Cervenka will join Vladimir Sobotka as the only two players on the Czech team to not feature in the NHL last season.  One will certainly wonder if this tournament will springboard one, the other or both players back in the NHL before too long.  Of course, Sobotka would be forced to re-sign with the Blues, but Cervenka would be an unrestricted free agent.