A pair of international rivals unveiled their preliminary World Junior rosters on Monday.
Leading the way for the Swedes will be Leafs prospect and AHL scoring leader William Nylander.
The 19-year-old has 13 goals and 29 points in 22 games with the Toronto Marlies this season. He had three goals and 10 points in seven World Junior games last year.
Kings prospect Adrian Kempe, who’s also playing in the AHL, is also on the roster.
Sweden’s preliminary roster has a total of 20 players selected in the NHL draft, including first rounders: Nylander (TOR), Kempe (LAK), Jacob Larsson (Ana), Gabriel Carlsson (CBJ) and Joel Eriksson-Ek (MIN).
Here’s the full list of invitees:
#Juniorkronornas förbundskapten Rikard Grönborg har tagit ut denna preliminära trupp till JVM 26/12-5/1! #twittpuck pic.twitter.com/P4rlTjJ7Qm
— Tre Kronor (@Trekronorse) December 7, 2015
The host Finns have two AHL players of their own.
Kasperi Kapanen (Leafs) and Mikko Rantanen (Avs) will join the Finnish team in the near future.
Kasperi Kapanen (Leafs/Marlies) joins camp next week, Mikko Rantanen (Colorado/San Antonio) plays in AHL Dec 21 and fly to Finland after.
— Juha Hiitelä (@jhiitela) December 7, 2015
Rantanen played six games with the Avalanche before they assigned him to the San Antonio Rampage earlier this season.
The full roster looks like this:
@coreypronman Finnish camp roster (Rantanen+Kapanen will join the team later) pic.twitter.com/GjgpG2xW9T
— Kasperi Kunnas (@kaustoFI) December 7, 2015
Finland has a total of 13 players drafted by NHL clubs, but only Kapanen and Rantanen were selected in the first round.
Those players are: Kapanen (TOR), Rantanen (Avs), Kaapo Kahkonen (MIN), Niko Mikkola (STL), Sami Niku (WPG), Vili Saarijavi (DET), Joni Tuulola (CHI), Sebastian Aho (CAR), Roope Hintz (DAL), Juho Lammikko (FLA), Julius Nattinen (Ana), Aleksi Saarela (NYR), Jonne Tammela (TB).