On Tuesday night, the USA played a pre-tournament game in Bratislava, with Alex Lyon and Trey Augustine, both from the Detroit Red Wings organization, splitting the game in goal. Now the crease becomes a bit more crowded as Alex Nedeljkovic of the Pittsburgh Penguins has been added to the roster.
Nedeljkovic played 38 games for the Penguins this season, recording a goals-against average of 2.97, a save percentage of .902 and posted one shutout. He also played one AHL game for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, which was notable in that he scored a goal – the third of his professional career.
At 28 years of age, this is his first IIHF World Championship but he did play in a World Junior Championship, where he won a bronze medal, and a U18 World Championship, where he won a gold.
It's not clear when Nedeljkovic will arrive in Ostrava but, factoring in flight time and jet lag, it seems likely that Lyon will start the team's first game against Sweden on Friday.
That brings the USA’s roster up to 21 skaters and three goaltenders. The maximum that can be registered for an IIHF tournament is 22+3 but a team doesn’t have to register a player until he’s entered into a game lineup for the first time, so any player on the roster can be replaced until then.
Goaltenders (3): Alex Lyon (Detroit, NHL), Trey Augustine (Michigan State University, NCAA), Alex Nedeljkovic (Pittsburgh, NHL).
Defensemen (8): Zach Werenski (Columbus, NHL), Seth Jones (Chicago, NHL), Jake Sanderson (Ottawa, NHL), Alex Vlasic (Chicago, NHL), Luke Hughes (New Jersey, NHL), Jeff Petry (Detroit, NHL), Michael Kesselring (Utah, NHL), Matt Kessel (Springfield, AHL).
Forwards (13): Johnny Gaudreau (Columbus, NHL), Brock Nelson (NY Islanders, NHL), Matthew Boldy (Minnesota), Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa, NHL), Trevor Zegras (Anaheim, NHL), Cole Caufield (Montréal, NHL), Joel Farabee (Philadelphia, NHL), Kevin Hayes (St. Louis, NHL), Luke Kunin (San Jose, NHL), Michael Eyssimont (Tampa Bay, NHL), Shane Pinto (Ottawa, NHL), Will Smith (Boston College, NCAA), Ryan Leonard (Boston College, NCAA).