Gabriel Vilardi has a back injury and the Los Angeles Kings forward prospect will not play for Canada at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship next week.
Vilardi, who was loaned to Canada by the Kings on Dec. 10, was skating on his own since the start of selection camp in Victoria, British Columbia but was not practicing.
Selected in the first round (No. 11) of the 2017 NHL Draft, Vilardi has had a back injury since the offseason but stayed with the Kings to start the season. The 19-year-old was on a conditioning stint with Ontario of the American Hockey League, where he had one assist in four games, before being loaned to Canada.
Kings general manager Rob Blake told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that Vilardi would not play for the Kings again this season and there is no timetable to return from the injury to play in juniors.
Forward Alexis Lafreniere of Rimouski in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League will be on the Canada roster. He would be the sixth 17-year-old to play for it in the WJC, joining forwards Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Jason Spezza and Eric Lindros, and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.
Lafreniere (6-foot-1, 192 pounds), who turned 17 on Oct. 11 and will be eligible for the 2020 NHL Draft, was on the second line with left wing Jaret Anderson-Dolan (Los Angeles Kings) and center Nick Suzuki (Vegas Golden Knights) at practice Tuesday, according to TSN.
“[Alexis] is capable of playing on this team because he is good enough,” Canada coach Tim Hunter said Dec. 12. “We like what he brings as a player. He doesn’t play like a young player. He’s real smart, plays heavy, plays hard, and doesn’t have those young-player moments where ‘Oh this is hard’ or he forgets his assignments and what have you.”
Lafreniere had 80 points (42 goals, 38 assists) in 60 games in his first season with Rimouski, becoming the first 16-year-old since Crosby to score more than 40 goals in the QMJHL (54 with Rimouski in 2003-04). He has 54 points (17 goals, 37 assists) in 31 games this season.
The 2019 WJC will be held in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5. Canada, which won the 2018 WJC, is in Group A with Czech Republic, Denmark, Russia and Switzerland. Group B is Finland, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States.
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