One notable omission from Team USA’s World Junior Preliminary Roster was Boston Bruins’ prospect Will Zellers. Last year’s trade deadline acquisition in the Charlie Coyle deal has been making a name for himself in his first NCAA season, and many outlets were predicting that he could crack the USA roster as a depth forward. However, he wasn’t even on the initial roster heading into the team’s camp.
Nevertheless, Zellers put his head down and kept grinding, recording a goal and an assist against St. Cloud State over the weekend. The goal he scored went viral on social media for its difficulty and prompted people in the comments to question why this player couldn’t be an asset to Team USA at the World Juniors.
The growing mob on social media didn’t bully the staff. Still, they may have had a change of heart after looking at their roster further, according to college hockey reporter Brad Elliott Schlossman, via the Grand Forks Herald.
“Will Zellers will head to camp with the U.S. World Junior Championship team after all,” Schlossman reported. “The UND freshman forward is expected to be added to the preliminary roster this week and will join the under-20 team’s camp next week, multiple sources confirmed to the Herald.”
Team USA are reportedly righting a wrong with rising Bruins prospect
Zellers is one of the best forwards at the University of North Dakota, who are currently ranked fifth in the nation. He is averaging nearly a point per game with 15 in 16, and is one of the top goalscoring freshmen in the NCAA, sitting just one goal back of Justin Poirier, Porter Martone, and Markus Vidicek.
Zellers was also the NCHC’s Rookie of the Month for November, solidifying that he is playing his best hockey at the perfect time for a chance to represent his country. While he is still in an uphill battle to make the highly competitive roster, the recognition that the coaching staff realized their mistake and extended the invite tells us everything we need to know about his development this season.
As the Colorado Avalanche watched Coyle come and go without much of an impact on their roster, Zellers’ making Team USA would be another example of how well Don Sweeney handled last season’s trade deadline teardown, considering he managed to pry Zellers, Casey Mittelstadt, and a second-round pick away from the Avs.