August appears to be the target date for rescheduling the cancelled 2022 World Juniors, TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports.

Dreger said Tuesday on Insider Trading that, if confirmed, the new date could cause some prospects to miss the tournament as they focus on the upcoming NHL season.

"There’s a lot of work being done. A lot of discussion and a lot of planning going on for the World Junior Hockey Championship, a summer version, if you will," Dreger said. "Some are suggesting that much of the discussion has been around the month of August and finding a way to host the event in Red Deer and Alberta as the target sites in August. 

"There has been some discussion of hosting it in June as well, but August seems more likely. This could create problems for some of the top NHL prospects that we saw over the holiday season. We’re talking about Cole Perfetti, Mason McTavish, or Owen Power because as we know, the training and the focus for these young players is on their upcoming NHL season. 

"Hockey Canada, the IIHF, and everyone associated is hopeful that those names could be involved but there is still a lot of work to get done."

The IIHF made the decision to cancel the tournament last month after a total of three games had been forfeited due to teams entering quarantine after positive COVID-19 tests. A total of four players on Team USA, Czechia and Russia had tested positive at that time and an additional five players tested positive the day after the tournament was called off on Dec. 30.