Knicks and knacks from the hockey world, and peeking at Sweden's leaked WJC roster in this Sunday Ramblings…

 

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Rumors are never worth banking on, but in the case of the Team Sweden World Junior Championship roster leaked by Swedish newspaper Expressen, things seem to check out. The official confirmatinon will happen tomorrow.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">According to newspaper <a href="https://twitter.com/SportExpressen">@SportExpressen</a> this is the preliminary Swedish <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldJuniors?src=hash">#WorldJuniors</a> roster that will be officially announced on Monday <a href="https://t.co/SHgEleYZnu">pic.twitter.com/SHgEleYZnu</a></p>&mdash; Eliteprospects (@eliteprospects) <a href="https://twitter.com/eliteprospects/status/804246348430245888">December 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Names like Jacob Larsson (ANH), Joel Eriksson Ek (MIN), and Alex Nylander (BUF) are sure bets assuming they aren't needed by their respective NHL clubs, while names like Liljegren (2017), Kylington (CGY), and Grundstrom (TOR) (see his SHL hat-trick below) are not a surprise. This is, of course, a preliminary roster and we'll be letting you know when final cuts are made. Given how many top Canadian and American players have stuck with their NHL clubs, Team Sweden will be even more of a force this holiday season. 

 

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="sv" dir="ltr">Det krävs tydligen ett hattrick för att få Rönnberg att le. <br>Carl Grundström får det att se lätt ut.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fhc?src=hash">#fhc</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fr%C3%B6lunda?src=hash">#frölunda</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/twittpuck?src=hash">#twittpuck</a> <a href="https://t.co/1gpvOdw8zX">pic.twitter.com/1gpvOdw8zX</a></p>&mdash; RoadLaker (@RoadLaker) <a href="https://twitter.com/RoadLaker/status/789175545883865088">October 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
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If you missed the updates over the last few days, you can find top-notch Ramblings discussing the Team Russia preliminary roster HERE, and the Team Canada preliminary roster HERE.

 

DobberProspects scouts will be attending the tournament in-person this December and January, so look forward to loads of content when the time rolls around. 

 

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Now, major junior games are usually high-scoring – the skating is typically more developed than the hitting, and goaltenders are still young and prone to mistakes. That being said, its not every day we see a blowout like last night, where the regina Pats beat the Prince Ablert Raiders 12-2. Sergey Zborovskiy (NYR) had himself 2 goals and 5 assists in the contest, which should probably help his chances of making the Team Russia WJC roster cut. The only other player to tally more than three points was Adam Brooks (TOR)  who picked up four – he now leads the WHL with 42 points and was named WHL Player-of-the-Month for November.

 

Speaking of Players-of-the-Month, Erie Otters teammates Taylor Raddysh (TBL) and Alex DeBrincat (CHI) shared the honors in the OHL. With both of them tearing up the league together, I can understand why the league couldn't choose just one. Raddysh currently sits tops with 23 goals and 56 points, while DeBrincat has netted 26 goals and 53 points, good for second in the league. 

 

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Get it, <a href="https://twitter.com/Raddy1998">@raddy1998</a>!<br><br>He netted a beauty of a ??? last night for the <a href="https://twitter.com/ErieOtters">@erieotters</a>. <a href="https://t.co/dOBHpkKb5i">pic.twitter.com/dOBHpkKb5i</a></p>&mdash; Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) <a href="https://twitter.com/TBLightning/status/804037306755616769">November 30, 2016</a></blockquote>
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Finally, my favorite thing to ramble about – first NHL goals. Fewer and fewer to talk about as the season rolls on, so lets imagine Sam Henley (COL) and Ondrej Kase (ANH) are superstars when watching these messy beauties:

 

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As always, thank you for reading and best of luck in your fantasy leagues of all sorts. 

Hayden Soboleski

@soboleskih