With the WJC over, the participants are dispersing back home, and some have already played a league game again. With the NHL season about to start, the European seasons are trying to finish. The KHL is at more than 45 games played by most teams out of a 60-game season. Their trade deadline has passed, and they are in the thick of a stretch drive.
Meanwhile, in Finland and Sweden, particularly the Liiga in Finland, the exodus of NHL and AHL prospects who had overstuffed the teams has left them in re-tool mode, and also ready to play their own young talent coming home from the WJC.