Blackhawks center prospect Philipp Kurashev will play for Switzerland’s men’s national team at the World Championship, the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation announced Saturday. The tournament runs from May 10-26 in Slovakia.
Das finale Kader in der Übersicht #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/IfDrPx09TV
— Swiss Ice Hockey (@SwissIceHockey) May 4, 2019
The 19-year-old Kurashev joined the national team for preliminary tournament games after he played three games for the Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate, Rockford IceHogs.
Kurashev scored a career-high 29 goals and 65 points and won 52.9 percent of his faceoffs in 59 regular-season QMJHL games with the Quebec Remparts. The 6-foot, 192-pounder added a goal with four assists and won 48.6 percent of his faceoffs in the Remparts’ seven-game first-round series loss to the Halifax Mooseheads.
Kurashev scored a tournament-high six goals and finished seventh among all skaters with seven points for Switzerland at this year’s World Junior Championship. He also was named Player of the Game twice, highlighted by scoring a hat trick in a 4-0 victory over Denmark.
The Blackhawks drafted Kurashev in the fourth round in last year’s NHL draft with one of the picks acquired in the Ryan Hartman trade with Nashville. Chicago then signed Kurashev to a three-year entry-level contract in March.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated.