Flyers prospects Emil Andrae and Tyson Foerster playing leading roles at the World Juniors

Given the Flyers’ underwhelming moves in free agency, the Ivan Fedotov situation, and serious offseason injuries to Joel Farabee (disk replacement surgery) and Bobby Brink (hip surgery), there hasn’t been much to cheer about for fans of the Orange and Black this summer. But the ongoing World Junior Championship is providing genuine reasons for hope.

Three of the four Flyers prospects who began the tournament are still competing in the annual under-20 showcase, with Sweden’s Emil Andrae and Canada’s Tyson Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers set to play in Friday’s semifinal round. Ahead of the semifinals, here’s a look at how each of the three has performed these last few weeks in Edmonton.

» READ MORE: Ranking the Flyers’ top 10 prospects: Where does Emil Andrae fit?

Andrae, who is captaining Sweden at these World Juniors, has been as important to his team’s success as any player in the tournament. The 5-foot-9, 176-pound defenseman has been exceptional, leading Sweden in scoring with four goals and eight points through five games and also playing solid hockey in his own end.

He has been Sweden’s best player, and, arguably, the best defenseman in the tournament to this point. The 20-year-old leads all defensemen in goals and points and is tied for third among all players in goals and fifth in points.

Andrae has showcased dynamic skills on the rush, a physical edge in spite of his size, and an uncanny ability to get shots to the net through heavy traffic. While it has been his scoring and end-to-end darts that have caught the eye, his work defensively has also not gone unnoticed.

He also has been the unquestioned leader for the Swedes, galvanizing their late comeback attempt against the United States and then scoring the winning goal in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Latvia in the quarterfinals. Watching the Latvia game, one just got a sense that Andrae inevitably would make the difference, and he did, beating goalie Bruno Bruveris with a seeing-eye wrist shot from the point with just 10 minutes remaining.

Talking Wednesday with The Hockey News, Sweden coach Tomas Monten praised Andrae’s leadership.

“He speaks up; he always says what he feels,” Monten said. “He’s always really good to us coaches — he’s honest and tells us things we need to adjust. On the ice, he always comes to play. He competes, he makes plays, but he can shut down players, too.”

Andrae and Sweden are back in action on Friday against archrival Finland (8 p.m., NHL Network), as he tries to lead Tre Kronor to its first gold medal since 2012. Following the tournament, the Flyers’ 2020 second-round pick will return to Sweden and play for HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League. Last season, including playoffs, Andrae tallied 12 goals and 44 points in 51 games to help HV71 earn a promotion to Sweden’s top division.

After a slow start to the tournament, Foerster has gotten red hot for Canada at just the right time. The big winger scored the opening goal against Switzerland and fellow Flyers prospect Brian Zanetti on Wednesday, marking the third straight game with a goal for Foerster.

In all, Foerster has three goals and five points in five games for tournament favorite Canada, often displaying his trademark heavy shot. The Barrie Colts product also has shown underrated playmaking skills, which often get overlooked because of his reputation as a goal scorer.

It has been especially encouraging to see Foerster play so well given that his 2021-22 campaign basically amounted to a lost season because of shoulder surgery. Last month at Flyers development camp, Foerster hinted that the good thing that came from the injury was an increased opportunity to work on his skating — the one major question that scouts have about his game. Foerster has looked powerful on his skates in Edmonton and has scored all of his goals in different ways: crashing the net for a rebound against Finland, hammering home a one-timer from the slot against Czechia, and firing home a snap shot off a two-on-one against Switzerland.

The winger, who is scheduled to be at training camp in mid-September, will compete to make the Flyers’ opening-night roster. While Foerster might start the year with the Phantoms, he should see action at the NHL level at some point this season.

While Andrae and Foerster have been the unquestioned stars of the tournament among the Flyers’ prospects, Desnoyers has quietly been effective in a lesser role. The 2020 fifth-round pick has played the role of fourth-line center at the tournament for Canada and has largely been tasked with bringing energy and physicality.

» READ MORE: Flyers prospect Elliot Desnoyers’ Christmas wish comes true, as he prepares to represent Canada at the World Juniors

A solid, two-way player, Desnoyers’ defensive game has been more on display this month. Fresh off a 42-goal, 88-point season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Halifax Mooseheads, Desnoyers is not being asked to score for Team Canada. That said, he picked up his first point of the tournament with an assist on Wednesday against Switzerland and also played a personal tournament-high 12 minutes, 27 seconds after moving up to the third line following an injury to teammate Ridly Greig.

Desnoyers, who models his game after Selke winners Sean Couturier and Patrice Bergeron, is not the flashiest Flyers prospect, but as he has shown at the World Juniors, he is an unselfish player who is willing to play whatever role will best help the team win. He will make his first foray into professional hockey this season and should start the year with Ian Laperrière and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Foerster, Desnoyers, and Canada will take on Czechia in the semifinals on Friday (4 p.m., NHL Network).