After posting a goal and an assist in five games for Team Latvia at the IIHF World Junior Under-20 Championships Klavs Veinbergs is headed to Lincoln, Nebraska to continue his professional hockey career. According to Zemgale, the Latvian team he played for last season, Veinbergs is going to spend this season in the USHL playing for the Lincoln Stars (at least that’s what Google Translate says).
It’s an interesting change of pace for the 19-year-old who has played the last few seasons in the Latvian professional league as well as the MHL (a junior league in Russia). Coming over to the United States allows him to get used to the North American style of play and the USHL is probably on par with the competition he sees in Latvia. He could have signed a contract and played for the Crush or the Solar Bears, but the Lightning are getting a little close to their highest number of contracts (CapFriendly has them at 48 out of 50) and might need a little of flexibility on them to sign people. as the season progresses rather than a recent draft pick in the final round.
As a 2022 draft pick (7th round) the Lightning have plenty of time to watch him before they need to offer him a contract or lose his rights in the summer of 2026. It will be a little easier to keep an eye on him if he plays in North America. Why would he play at Nebraska of all places? Well, because the Stars drafted him in Phase II of the 2022 USHL Draft. He was drafted in the 9th round, 134th overall back in May.
Veinbergs is likely to play for Latvia again in the 2023 World Juniors after opening the season for the Stars. If he is successful with either team, he could turn that into a professional contract with the Lightning/Crunch in 2023. He could also choose to play US College hockey, a path many USHL players have gone through in the past. Latvia is no stranger to playing in the USHL, their World Juniors team had 7 players with USHL ties in the most recent tournament.
Good luck to Klavs in Lincoln!
Lightning / NHL News
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