EDMONTON — Nash Roed doesn\u2019t mind that he was born a few days late to be eligible for the 2027 NHL Draft. It should actually work to his advantage.<\/p>\n
The forward with Team USA at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup does not turn 17 until Sept. 25, missing the cutoff date for eligibility by 10 days. Instead, he\u2019s projected to be a top prospect for the 2028 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like it,\u201d Roed said after scoring a hat trick in a 5-2 win against Slovakia in the first semifinal of the under-18 international tournament here at Rogers Place on Friday. \u201cI get another year to develop, so it will be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another year of development should make Roed very attractive to NHL teams when he does become eligible for the draft. He is expected to be selected in the first round in 2028, according to Craig Button, TSN director of scouting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could have been a first-round pick this year,\u201d Button said. \u201cHe\u2019s an outstanding player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roed, a native of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, is playing with the United States National Team Development Program this season. He played with White Bear Lake High School and then joined Waterloo of the United States Hockey League last season. Roed had 47 points (20 goals, 27 assists) in 28 games with White Bear Lake and four points (one goal, three assists) in 11 games with Waterloo. He is committed to the University of Minnesota after high school.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s really, really competitive,\u201d United States coach Reid Cashman said. \u201cFor a kid that\u2019s just come out of high school hockey, he has not backed down from the competitiveness of these countries and these games and the speed components to go with it. He\u2019s not backed down and now he\u2019s getting rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roed had two assists in the first three games of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup before breaking out in the semifinal against Slovakia. The United States will face Canada in the final Saturday (7 p.m. ET; TSN 4, NHL Network). Canada won 6-3 against Finland in the second semifinal Friday. Finland will play Slovakia for the bronze medal (2 p.m. ET: TSN 4, NHL Network).<\/p>\n
Roed and linemate Gavin Burcar were too much to handle for Slovakia, combing for seven points. Burcar had a goal and three assists in the win. Burcar is projected to go in the second round in the 2027 draft according to Button.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (Roed) is unbelievable, he\u2019s so fun to play with,\u201d Burcar said. \u201cIt was going for him today; he was able to put three in the net and I\u2019m so happy for him. I love playing with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two have been playing together throughout the tournament with a third forward rotating through on their line. The instant chemistry has helped the United States win its first four games in defense of the title they won last season in Czechia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of fun to have guys work in pairs and those two guys have been together the whole tournament,\u201d Cashman said. \u201cThey both have that speed and that same competitiveness, and I think they enjoy playing with each other.”<\/p>\n
As two of the best players in the country in their age group, the two could be teammates for a while with the United States national program. Roed is eligible to play in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup again next season, where he will be a year older, stronger and more experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just work, that\u2019s what it comes down to at the end of the day, we just forecheck and backcheck hard and we\u2019re playing the right way,\u201d Burcar said. \u201cI believe if you do that it\u2019ll come. You try not to worry about the points, if you just play the right way, those things will come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON — Nash Roed doesn\u2019t mind that he was born a few days late to be eligible for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-850430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}