The 2017 IIHF World Championship begins in just a few days, and when your team gets beat in the first round of the playoffs, you have to immediately consider who might have a chance to play some more hockey this spring. There is already a report that the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Nikita Zaitsev is slated to join the Russian team.
The opening games of Worlds are May 5. This year’s event is unusual in that there are two host cities in two different countries. One group of teams plays in Cologne, Germany, the other in Paris, France.