Lightning Round: Good news for one Lightning prospect, not so good for another

With the 2022 IIHF World Junior Under-20 Tournament just a week away, the team rosters are starting to make the rounds. For embattled Team Canada, their final roster of 25 players was announced on Monday. Headlined by the probably number pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, Connor Bedard, the roster is stacked with high picks from the last couple of drafts. One name Tampa Bay Lightning fans will recognize is Jack Thompson. The defenseman will be one of eight players guarding the blue line for the Canadian team in the tournament.

Thompson, the 20-year-old third-round pick from 2020, is coming off a stellar season in the OHL where he put up 21 goals and 36 assists in 65 games between the Sudbury Wolves and Soo Greyhounds. He added another 6 goals and 8 assists in 9 playoff game for the Greyhounds.

When he returns from Alberta (the tournament runs from August 9th-20th) he’ll be gearing up for the Lightning training camp and his professional debut with the Syracuse Crunch.

On the flip side, another one of the Lightning’s highly-touted prospects won’t be in the tournament. While Team USA hasn’t released their final roster, they have cut it down to 27 players. Recent number one pick Isaac Howard was unfortunately one of the cuts. While a couple of his fellow 2022 draft mates like Frank Nazar and Logan Cooley did make the cut, the US team is skewing a little older.

While it’s got to be disappointing for the brash young forward, there is still a good chance he can make the 2023 version of the team that will be put together in a few months to start play just after Christmas. In the meantime he’s off to the University of Minnesota-Duluth to start his college career in a really good program.

It’s a credit to the Lightning’s scouting staff that they are finding players that are being considered for this tournament, especially considering, that with the exception of Howard, they haven’t had a first round pick in the last few years.

Lightning / NHL News

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