Red Wings prospect, 2022 eighth overall pick to miss upcoming World Junior tournament

The 2023 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship will feature relegation for the first time since before the pandemic and the two teams that will most likely be fighting to stay in the top division are Austria and Latvia.

Given the star power that could have been on their roster, it would've been safe to say that Austria was favoured between the two teams to stay up, but now they'll have to do so without 2022 eighth overall pick Marco Kasper.

Hockey Austria recently announced their 27-man camp roster for the World Juniors and announced that Marco Kasper will stay with Rogle BK (SHL) and not participate at the 2023 World Juniors after an 'internal agreement'. Hockey Austria reportedly wants Kasper to focus on the senior men's national team, rather than the U20 team.

With Kasper not on the roster, Austria will look to Montreal Canadiens 2022 third round pick Vinzenz Rohrer to lead the way offensively. Rohrer is currently having a strong season with the Ottawa 67s in the Ontario Hockey League. In 23 games, he has 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists).

Austria will kick-off their World Junior schedule on Boxing Day against Sweden before facing Czechia on December 27th and Canada on December 29th. The game that Austria will be looking forward to is against Germany on December 30th. Barring any upsets before that date, that game will likely decide who finishes in the fourth and final quarter-final spot in Group A, while the losing nation will play in the relegation round.

𝗨𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗨𝟮𝟬-𝗪𝗠 𝗞𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿❗

2️⃣7️⃣ Spieler sind für die WM-Vorbereitung einberufen, nicht mit dabei nach interner Absprache ist Marco Kasper. pic.twitter.com/0QM4GLzgoX— ÖEHV (@hockeyaustria) November 29, 2022

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