Team Canada captain Kirby Dach is out for the remainder of the world juniors after suffering an injury during an exhibition game against Russia on Wednesday, according to TSN's Bob McKenzie.

Doctors are still assessing Dach's injury, but the Chicago Blackhawks forward apparently won't be ready for the start of the NHL season Jan. 13.

The 19-year-old did not represent Canada at the event in 2019 after cracking the Blackhawks' roster last October. He was available this year because of the delayed start to the NHL campaign.

Dach tallied eight goals and 23 points over 64 games during his rookie season for Chicago in 2019-20. He added a goal and six points through nine playoff contests.

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In the lead-up to the 2021 World Junior Championship, we're taking a look back at each of the 18 Canadian teams to capture the gold medal, culminating Dec. 25 with the start of the latest edition of the tournament.

After losing to the United States in the gold-medal game at the 2017 world juniors, Canada was looking to avenge its predecessors on American soil in Buffalo, New York, at the 2018 tournament.

The roster

*Denotes returning player
All ages are as of the start of the tournament

The tournament

The Canadians opened with a 4-1 victory over a strong Finnish team that had won gold in 2014, 2016, and would win again in 2019. They then toppled Slovakia 6-0 before an outdoor game at New Era Field (now Bills Stadium) in Orchard Park, New York, against the United States.

In front of 44,592 fans - smashing the previous record of 20,380 for a world junior game - Canada squandered leads of 2-0 and 3-1. Wearing Buffalo Bills-themed jerseys, USA scored two third-period goals to force overtime. The Americans ultimately prevailed in the shootout to claim victory.

However, thanks to USA's loss to Slovakia and Canada's 8-0 win over Denmark, the Canadians finished the tournament atop group A. This would prove to be massive. Instead of playing Russia in the quarters and Sweden in the semis, Canada got to beat Switzerland 8-2 in the quarters and Czech Republic 7-2 in the semis. That set up a gold-medal game against the Swedes, which Canada won 3-1 for its 17th gold in tournament history.

The stars

Carter Hart was phenomenal in his second World Junior Championship. Starting six of Canada's seven games, he led the tournament with a 1.81 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage. However, Sweden's Filip Gustavsson was named the tournament's top netminder.

Cale Makar was also a force for Canada, tallying eight points in seven games while being named to the media All-Star team.

Jordan Kyrou and Sam Steel were offensive catalysts, recording 10 and nine points, respectively.

The key moment

The biggest moment of the tournament came from one of Canada's most unheralded players.

Tied 1-1 in the third period with just 1:40 remaining, Tyler Steenbergen re-directed a Conor Timmins point shot to give Canada a late lead. Alex Formenton added an empty-netter 26 seconds later to put the icing on the cake. Watch Steenbergen's winner here.

The tally was Steenbergen's first goal and just his second point of the tournament. He was Canada's only forward without a goal up until that point.

The fallout

The most immediate fallout featured heartbroken Swedish captain Lias Andersson, who threw his silver medal into the crowd.

Canada failed to defend its gold-medal title in 2019, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Finland in overtime. But the nation reached the top of the podium once again in 2020.

While all of the players from this team are still just 21 and 22 years old, a handful of them have already become stars in the NHL. Makar is the reigning Calder Trophy winner, and Hart has already established himself as one of the best young goalies in the league.

Most of the players from this squad are not yet in the NHL, but some will likely make their mark in due time.

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The Anaheim Ducks signed goaltender Ryan Miller to a one-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.

Miller's deal is worth $1 million, Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times reports.

The 40-year-old spent the last three campaigns backing up John Gibson in Anaheim. He's fared extremely well during his time with the Ducks, appearing in 71 games and recording a 29-19-12 record with a .916 save percentage and 2.72 goals-against average. Over those three seasons, he led all goaltenders (minimum 3,000 minutes) in even-strength save percentage (.931).

The former Vezina Trophy winner indicated earlier in May that while he still had a desire to play hockey, there was a chance that the COVID-19 pandemic would force him into an earlier retirement.

With Miller now off the market, Craig Anderson and Jimmy Howard are the two most notable netminders available in free agency.

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The Buffalo Sabres re-signed forward Casey Mittelstadt to a one-year, $874,000 contract, the team announced Wednesday.

Mittelstadt split time last season between the Sabres and the AHL's Rochester Americans. The 22-year-old recorded four goals and five assists in 31 games with Buffalo.

The Sabres drafted Mittelstadt eighth overall in 2017. He's appeared in 114 career NHL games thus far, tallying 17 goals and 22 assists.

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The NHL released each team's 56-game schedule for the 2020-21 season on Wednesday.

Here are the openers for each club:

As previously announced, the season will begin on Jan. 13. The NHL will usher in the campaign with a five-game slate, including a matchup between the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Lightning will raise their championship banner to the Amalie Arena rafters before the game.

Opening night will also see the Pittsburgh Penguins battle the Philadelphia Flyers; the Montreal Canadiens take on the Toronto Maple Leafs; the Edmonton Oilers clash with the Vancouver Canucks; and the Colorado Avalanche meet the St. Louis Blues.

Here are some additional games that deserve to be circled on any NHL fan's calendar:

The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings will play five consecutive games against each other between April 20 and May 1.

The regular season runs until May 8, with 15 games on tap for the final night of action before the playoffs. There is at least one game scheduled every day, which means that there will be 116 consecutive days of games played.

Despite Wednesday's schedule release, lawmakers and health officials in several Canadian provinces have yet to sign off on the NHL's North Division.

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The annual World Junior Championship treats fans to the best young talent across the hockey world. Throughout the years, countries have assembled teams filled with future NHL stars or, sometimes, players who shone at the tournament before fizzling out.

Let's take a look at five of the most exciting teams to hit the ice at the world juniors.

Finland, 2016

There are few things more exciting than watching a host nation captivate its home crowd. The 2016 Finland squad did just that in Helsinki by claiming the country's fourth-ever gold medal at the tournament.

Led by the dynamic trio of Sebastian Aho, Patrik Laine, and Jesse Puljujarvi, the Finns didn't exactly cruise to an easy championship. They faced some incredibly stiff competition along the way, which included a tight 6-5 victory over Canada in the quarterfinals, a 2-1 win over Sweden in the semis, and a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory against Russia in the finals.

Puljujarvi led the tournament in scoring with 17 points in seven games, while Aho and Laine finished second and third with 14 and 13 points, respectively. The team was rounded out with defenseman Olli Juolevi, forwards Mikko Rantanen, Kasperi Kapanen, and Roope Hintz, and goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen who played all games in the playoff round. Puljujarvi was named tournament MVP, while he, Juolevi, and Laine were handed All-Star nods.

Soviet Union, 1989

The Soviet Union absolutely dominated the competition in 1989, led by a trio of future superstars - Alexander Mogilny, Pavel Bure, and Sergei Fedorov. Both Mogilny and Fedorov had already established some solid chemistry during the '88 tournament, but the 17-year-old Bure put the Soviets over the top.

At the time, the world juniors didn't feature a playoff round - it was simply a round-robin tournament. The Soviets went 6-1-0, with their sole loss coming against Czechoslovakia. They held the highest goal differential in the tournament by far, scoring 51 goals while conceding just 14 in seven games. Sweden, who finished in second place with an identical record, scored 39 and allowed 14.

Americans Jeremy Roenick and Mike Modano finished the tournament first and second in scoring, respectively, but the United States was forced to settle for fifth place. Bure ended his tournament in third, while Mogilny and Fedorov finished fifth and sixth.

The 1989 world juniors ultimately marked the final gold medal for the perennially contending Soviet Union.

Sweden, 1993

Sweden just missed out on the gold medal in 1993 but was still the tournament's best squad. Its top two players - Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund - put on what many consider to be the most dazzling world junior performances of all time.

Due to the round-robin format, Canada won gold with an identical 6-1-0 record, ultimately edging out Sweden due to a narrow 5-4 victory in the nations' second game of the tourney.

Canada finished with a respectable 37 goals scored and 17 against, but those numbers paled in comparison to Sweden's monstrous differential of 53 goals scored and 15 against. Forsberg set a tournament record by scoring 31 points in seven games, while Naslund also set a record with 13 goals. The team didn't feature a ton of depth beyond Forsberg and Naslund, but the two were so dominant on their own and skated circles around the competition.

Canada, 2005

Canada has certainly put together some of the greatest teams in world junior history. Over the past few decades, all eyes always seem to be on the Canadians entering the tournament, and they're often touted as favorites. While the team has iced some fantastic rosters through the years, the one that won gold in 2005 was on another level.

The team included future NHL stars Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Getzlaf, Shea Weber, Jeff Carter, and Corey Perry. Beyond them, there was still plenty of talent that rounded out the roster, including Dion Phaneuf, Mike Richards, Brent Seabrook, and Andrew Ladd.

In 2005, the stacked Canadian team ran roughshod over its competition. The Canadians went 4-0-0 in the preliminary round, scoring 32 goals and allowing just five. They beat the Czech Republic 3-1 in the semifinals before breezing past Russia with a 6-1 drudging in the gold-medal game. Canada wasn't in danger for seemingly a single second on its way to a first gold medal since 1997.

Bergeron was named MVP after leading the tournament in scoring with 13 points through six games, while Getzlaf trailed just behind with 12. Crosby and Carter, both 17 years old, also finished inside the top 10 in scoring.

United States, 2013

The Americans have iced numerous incredible teams over the years, but 2013 may have been their most well-rounded and dominant one to date. John Gibson may have put on one of the best goaltending performances in the tournament's history, but that doesn't mean the team in front of him wasn't stacked, either.

The blue line featured players such as Seth Jones, Jacob Trouba, and Shayne Gostisbehere. The forward group consisted of names like Johnny Gaudreau, J.T. Miller, Alex Galchenyuk, and Vincent Trocheck. The scoring was spread out, with Gaudreau, Trouba, and Miller leading with nine points apiece, while Galchenyuk and Jones finished with eight.

The Americans didn't fare too well in the round robin, winning twice and losing twice. But they turned on the jets once the playoff round began. They inflicted a 7-0 beatdown of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals before humiliating a solid Canadian squad 5-1 in the semis. The U.S then took care of Sweden in the finals, winning 3-1.

Gibson allowed just nine goals all tournament, with only two of them coming during the playoff round. He finished with a .955 save percentage and unsurprisingly took home MVP honors.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning appear to be addressing their biggest remaining offseason priority.

There have been "active" discussions between the club and forward Anthony Cirelli's representatives, reports The Athletic's Joe Smith.

Cirelli has become one of the league's best young two-way centers. The 23-year-old helped Tampa Bay win the Stanley Cup last season, collecting 16 goals and 28 assists in 68 regular-season games before adding three markers and six helpers in 25 playoff contests.

He finished fourth in Selke Trophy voting in 2019-20.

The restricted free agent is the team's final unsigned player on its NHL roster. Tampa Bay is more than $6 million over the salary cap following the signings of forwards Mathieu Joseph and Alex Volkov on Wednesday, as well as those of defensemen Erik Cernak and Jan Rutta earlier this week.

Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov is dealing with a hip issue, reports TSN's Darren Dreger. One way to clear cap space would be to place the winger on long-term injured reserve, though there's been no indication the ailment is that significant.

Last season was Cirelli's second full NHL campaign. Tampa Bay selected him 72nd overall in 2015.

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