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World Junior Championships evaluation camp kicks off in Lake Placid

USA Hockey Junior Evaluation Camp - Sweden v USA

LAKE PLACID, NY - AUGUST 10: Seth Jones #7 of Team USA skates against Team Sweden at the Lake Placid Olympic Center on August 10, 2011 in Lake Placid, New York. Team Sweden defeated Team USA 4-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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It’s a bit early to start getting excited about the 2013 World Junior Championships set to take place in Russia, but the time to evaluate the talent is now.

The WJC evaluation camp featuring Team USA, Sweden, and Finland kicked off their week of action in Lake Placid, NY today. During the week, the teams will practice and face off against each other in scrimmages and the amount of future NHL talent on display this year is hefty.

Chris Peters at the United States of Hockey previewed the camp extensively and highlighting the Americans group of talent are 2012 third overall pick Alex Galchenyuk (Montreal) and potential 2013 top pick defenseman Seth Jones (pictured).

I’ve written about Jones here after seeing him in last year’s camp as a 16 year-old. Seeing how the son of former NBA player “Popeye” Jones has improved in a year is virtually worth the price of gas to get there.

Joining Galchenyuk and Jones for the USA will be a handful of other 2012 first-round picks in Jacob Trouba (Winnipeg), Jordan Schmaltz (St. Louis), Henrik Samuelsson (Phoenix), Brady Skjei (Rangers), and Stefan Matteau (New Jersey).

Sweden and Finland aren’t slacking off either as the Swedes will have 2012 draftees Filip Forsberg (Washington), Oscar Dansk (Columbus), Pontus Aberg (Nashville), and Hampus Lindholm (Anaheim). They’ll also have some highly touted 2011 picks in Mika Zibanejad (Ottawa) and Oscar Klefbom (Edmonton) as well.

The Finns will counter with 2012 picks Teuvo Teravainen (Chicago) and Olli Maatta (Pittsburgh) and Sabres 2011 first-round pick Joel Armia who was impressive last year in WJC camp.

PHT will be in Lake Placid this week providing observations of Team USA’s games against both Sweden and Finland on August 8 and 9.