Breaking down Canada’s 2025 World Junior Championship selection camp roster

Steven Ellis
Steven Ellis
Breaking down Canada’s 2025 World Junior Championship selection camp roster
Credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff

Hockey Canada announced its 32-player roster for the team’s selection camp, set to take place in Ottawa from Dec. 10-13.

Canada is always expected to do well, especially on home ice. But many peg Canada as a serious contender to bounce back from a terrible showing in Sweden last year and challenge the likes of the United States and Sweden for gold. The Canadians fell in the quarterfinal to Czechia last year, ending a two-year gold-medal streak.

The good news? Canada typically thrives on home ice. They lost in 2019 and 2021, but they have made the final in five of their last six tournaments they’ve hosted, winning three of them.

There’s still so much to be decided over the next two weeks. A great start to the season won’t matter if you fall asleep in front of Hockey Canada’s brass. They’ll play two exhibition games on Dec. 12/13 against the U SPORTS all-stars at TD Place before getting set for a three-game pre-tournament slate. There’s little room for error, especially for the 2005-born players in their final season of eligibility.

Here’s a breakdown of Canada’s camp roster, with some of the storylines you need to know:

The Returnees

Canada had the potential to bring back six skaters from the ill-fated 2025 team, although there was never a real chance that Macklin Celebrini was going to be loaned out by the San Jose Sharks. The most notable returnee might be Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan – the reigning OHL MVP. He might not be producing at the same rate this year, but after playing a depth role in 2024, Cowan should have a top-six presence as a two-way offensive threat. His London Knights teammate, Oliver Bonk (Philadelphia Flyers), will be a minute-muncher on the back end, and he’ll look to bounce back after the puck went off him and in to eliminate Canada in the quarterfinal.

Canada brought Carson Rehkopf (Seattle Kraken) and Matthew Wood (Nashville Predators) on last year as depth-scoring pieces, and I thought they both looked fine. Are they locks this year, though? Definitely not, although I’d like to see Rehkopf keep his connection going with Brampton Steelheads teammate Porter Martone.

The only other returning skater is Winnipeg Jets prospect Brayden Yager, who should be in Canada’s middle six. Yager was one of Canada’s best players last year, finding some chemistry with Celebrini. I do like how he’s playing on the Moose Jaw Warriors this year, making his presence known as one of a few bright spots on the rebuilding squad.

Competition on the Blueline

The competition on the point will be quite interesting. Bonk, Sam Dickinson (San Jose Sharks) and Tanner Molendyk (Nashville Predators) are locks, and Caden Price (Seattle Kraken) is having himself quite the year. With the way 2025 NHL Draft star Matthew Schaefer is playing, it seems hard to think he won’t make it this time around. Andrew Gibson (Nashville Predators) had a nice showing at the World Junior Summer Showcase, and Edmonton Oilers‘ Beau Akey boasts a ton of skill, too.

The re-emergence of Cameron Allen has been fascinating to watch. A terrible U-18 World Championship in 2023 all but cemented himself as a bottom-half draft pick after once being viewed as a top-10 prospect that season. The Washington Capitals prospect is having an excellent season with Guelph after missing a large chunk of 2023-24 due to injury, so we’ll see if Hockey Canada likes him enough to give the former U-18 captain a chance.

If I had to guess, though, Sawyer Mynio (Vancouver Canucks) and Harrison Brunicke (Pittsburgh Penguins) will get a serious look. Brunicke is having a great year in the WHL, and Mynio was excellent in Seattle before his injury in November. With the group they brought, I think they’ll both make it.

Going back to Schaefer – will he lead the team’s second power-play unit? I expect him to play some sizeable minutes at this tournament. For now, I like him as the seventh defender, giving the team a bit more flexibility to use him however they please. Either way, Schaefer should make this team.

Who’ll Emerge in Net?

Hockey Canada has shown Flyers draft pick Carson Bjarnason quite a bit of love during his career. He was the starter at the U-18 World Championship and was Canada’s best goalie at the World Junior Summer Showcase. Mix in a solid start on a mid-pack Brandon Wheat Kings team this year and you have to think he’s got a legitimate shot at taking the starting gig.

But then, there’s Carter George. The Los Angeles Kings prospect has some ugly numbers, but he’s a workhorse on a terrible Owen Sound Attack team that gives him little support on a nightly basis. Heck, he scored a goal a few weeks back.

Buffalo Sabres pick Scott Ratzlaff is a returnee in net, although he didn’t play last year. He’s another guy who has looked good in a Team Canada jersey – he was 4-0-0 with a .976 save percentage at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. Again, not-so-great numbers in the WHL this year, but he’s doing a lot on a bad team once again.

The real interesting one here is Jack Ivankovic. He was Canada’s starter at the Hlinka this past summer and was downright dominant. He’s on a bit of a cold streak as of late, but Ivankovic still projects to be a real threat to go in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft. That, and he should challenge Joshua Ravensbergen (who wasn’t invited despite attending the WJSS) for the top spot on the 2026 team in Minnesota.

Canada has flip-flopped on the number of goalies they have taken in recent years. If it’s two, because they’re at home, they give themselves the flexibility of calling up whoever they want. If I had to take a wild guess on the Game 1 starter, I’m going with Bjarnason. The good news? Goaltending isn’t really a weakness for Canada this year, even if there’s no clear star option this year.

Notable Omissions

Despite putting on a show as a college freshman, it always felt like Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael Hage was going to be left off this group. With so many high-end producers to choose from, Hage seemed like a bit of an outsider given his status as a college player. Hage has never represented Canada in international play – he was injured during the 2022 U-17 World Challenge and was left off the U-18 team entirely despite being one of the USHL’s most lethal players last year. We’ll see if Hockey Canada changes its tune next year with Hage because he’s clearly good enough to earn a roster spot.

One name that floated around as someone who wouldn’t get an invite early on was Carter Yakemchuk. The Ottawa Senators prospect is so good with the puck, but with his penchant for defensive mistakes and an influx of defenders who can handle the power play, it always felt like Yakemchuk was an odd-man out. As a 2005-born defender, though, he won’t get another chance. Also, it sounded like Anaheim Ducks prospect Beckkett Sennecke wasn’t getting a call early on, either.

Plenty of young players are looking to make it this year, but 2025 NHL Draft star Michael Misa won’t be one of them. It’s intriguing, given he’s scoring at a rate of a goal-per-game and could be one of just a handful of draft-eligible OHLers to crack 70 goals in the 21st Century. But with so many high-end scoring talents to choose from, it felt inevitable that they’d go for older options, and I get it.

I fully expected Los Angeles’ Liam Greentree to get an invite, given his 114-point pace with Windsor, but he’ll be there in 2026. Other notables left off include Zayne Parekh (Calgary Flames), Nick Lardis (Chicago Blackhawks) and Tij Iginla (Utah Hockey Club) – although many scouts had all three off the roster to begin with.

Pre-Camp Projected Roster

Easton Cowan – Cal Ritchie – Bradly Nadeau
Gavin McKenna – Carson Rehkopf – Porter Martone
Riley Heidt – Berkly Catton – Brayden Yager
Denver Barkey – Jett Luchanko – Mathieu Cataford
Andrew Cristall

Sam Dickinson – Oliver Bonk
Tanner Molendyk – Andrew Gibson
Sawyer Mynio – Harrison Brunicke
Matthew Schaefer

Carson Bjarnason
Carter George
Scott Ratzlaff

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