WJC: 2025 Team Canada Roster Talk

[Pavel Buchnevich]

For the Quebecois, would you rather feel your people are represented or have the best team selected?

I seriously don’t get why this should matter. Shouldn’t any fan of the team won’t the best players selected because that’ll give the team the best chance to succeed?

Seems like it’s catering to people that don’t even care most about the team’s results.

 

[Mathieukferland]

For the Quebecois, would you rather feel your people are represented or have the best team selected?

@SOLR is the other one in here I think but for me it’s not Hockey Canada’s fault that Hockey Québec can’t get its affairs in order with relation to player development and coaching.

Pick the best players regardless of where they’re from.


That being said, it’s always a big point of media contention when Québec players are not taken or appear to be discriminated against. There have been a few minor controversies over the years where Zachary Bolduc said that if you’re québécois you start out with two strikes against you (https://www.journaldequebec.com/202...mp-dequipe-canada-junior-croit-zachary-bolduc), and Nicolas Roy said that they banned the 2017 team from speaking French (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/01/10/pas-un-probleme-avant), an issue which came up in provincial parliament after that. But there is a long standing sense that hockey Canada is a western Canadian boys club that doesn’t value Québécois players. Not my view, but those of some (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2010/01/07/team-canada-en-anglais-seulement-1)

 

[JackSlater]

For the Quebecois, would you rather feel your people are represented or have the best team selected?

I seriously don’t get why this should matter. Shouldn’t any fan of the team won’t the best players selected because that’ll give the team the best chance to succeed?

Seems like it’s catering to people that don’t even care most about the team’s results.

I'm not from Quebec but most in Canada recognize the realities we are dealing with. There will be plenty of fans in Quebec who just want the best team, which may or may not include QMJHL players. There are a lot of loud voices who love to play victim or beat the conspiracy drum however and those voices do have political currency in Canada. Odds are that it wouldn't be worth the hassle to go with a team with no players from the QMJHL. I'll add that there are slight differences between having no players from Quebec and no players from the QMJHL.

 

[jj cale]

..

 

[SOLR]

@SOLR is the other one in here I think but for me it’s not Hockey Canada’s fault that Hockey Québec can’t get its affairs in order with relation to player development and coaching.

Pick the best players regardless of where they’re from.


That being said, it’s always a big point of media contention when Québec players are not taken or appear to be discriminated against. There have been a few minor controversies over the years where Zachary Bolduc said that if you’re québécois you start out with two strikes against you (https://www.journaldequebec.com/202...mp-dequipe-canada-junior-croit-zachary-bolduc), and Nicolas Roy said that they banned the 2017 team from speaking French (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/01/10/pas-un-probleme-avant), an issue which came up in provincial parliament after that. But there is a long standing sense that hockey Canada is a western Canadian boys club that doesn’t value Québécois players. Not my view, but those of some (https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2010/01/07/team-canada-en-anglais-seulement-1)

Yeah, we just need to get better at training players, but more importantly we need to compete for the best athletes again, we can't lose them all to soccer.

Listen, I live in Ontario as a Quebecois, I know tribalism could be a factor, but I hate to blame that as a factor. The Rocket's attitude should be all our attitude, none of the victim shit. Just get better and you''ll get a spot, hard to fight competence.

 

[JackSlater]

The Athletic has an article after the summer camp projecting the team.

Team Canada Projection

It's Wheeler, Pronman, and Bultman. The three of them watched camps/scrimmages. Not as reliable as Bob McKenzie but it's something I guess.

They basically think that the returnees plus Ritchie, McKenna, Barkey, Catton, and Nadeau are forward locks and that Molendyk, Bonk, and Parekh are locks.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

The Athletic has an article after the summer camp projecting the team.

Team Canada Projection

It's Wheeler, Pronman, and Bultman. The three of them watched camps/scrimmages. Not as reliable as Bob McKenzie but it's something I guess.

They basically think that the returnees plus Ritchie, McKenna, Barkey, Catton, and Nadeau are forward locks and that Molendyk, Bonk, and Parekh are locks.

Not bad. I'd probably go Gibson as the RD on the 3rd pair

 

[ORRFForever]

The Athletic has an article after the summer camp projecting the team.

Team Canada Projection

It's Wheeler, Pronman, and Bultman. The three of them watched camps/scrimmages. Not as reliable as Bob McKenzie but it's something I guess.

They basically think that the returnees plus Ritchie, McKenna, Barkey, Catton, and Nadeau are forward locks and that Molendyk, Bonk, and Parekh are locks.

Pretty good size up front. Outside of the net, everyone is a 1st round pick minus 3(?).

 

[FLAMESFAN]

For the Quebecois, would you rather feel your people are represented or have the best team selected?

I seriously don’t get why this should matter. Shouldn’t any fan of the team won’t the best players selected because that’ll give the team the best chance to succeed?

Seems like it’s catering to people that don’t even care most about the team’s results.

Welcome to Canadian politics.

 

[jfc64]

Favorites!

 

[Wintersun]

For the Quebecois, would you rather feel your people are represented or have the best team selected?

I seriously don’t get why this should matter. Shouldn’t any fan of the team won’t the best players selected because that’ll give the team the best chance to succeed?

Seems like it’s catering to people that don’t even care most about the team’s results.

To be honest as a Quebecois, I don't really care about Quebec players. When there are good ones, they should make the team (Desnoyers and Guite, for example, Xavier Villeneuve should eventually be one too). If we're not gonna produce elite players, they shouldn't be on Team Canada. I don't see much favoritism towards other provinces when picking for the WJC, the people that complain often complain about players that yes, COULD have been picked, but you could also justify the players from other leagues just as much, it's a matter of preference often.

I tend to find that the QMJHL as a league is underrated quite a lot because we don't produce ELITE talent anymore, but the league is still strong to me when comparing to the other two. I also hate the reputation of a small offensive minded league when I find it's the most structured league in Canada, sometimes I watch OHL games and I find that Midget AAA has more structure in Quebec. (That may actually be a very bad thing, I feel like it may be a reason for why we don't develop elite players anymore, we put them all in the same box and they become robots).

 

[BigRangy]

Dave Reid figures Celebrini has at least some possibility of being released for the WJC, that would be fun

 

[FLAMESFAN]

Dave Reid figures Celebrini has at least some possibility of being released for the WJC, that would be fun

Not if he's having success....we'll see....

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Dave Reid figures Celebrini has at least some possibility of being released for the WJC, that would be fun

You wonder if the Sharks will be willing to loan both Celebrini and Smith. Both nations will ask. This could cause some real hostility if one is loaned and not the other, especially if there's not a great disparity in how they are playing.

 

[Juxtaposer]

You wonder if the Sharks will be willing to loan both Celebrini and Smith. Both nations will ask. This could cause some real hostility if one is loaned and not the other, especially if there's not a great disparity in how they are playing.

If they are both struggling, sure, but I really don't see any world in which Celebrini is playing so poorly he is released to juniors. Smith, it's definitely possible, but Celebrini is clearly NHL-ready.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

If they are both struggling, sure, but I really don't see any world in which Celebrini is playing so poorly he is released to juniors. Smith, it's definitely possible, but Celebrini is clearly NHL-ready.

It is definitely a possibility Celebrini struggles on the Sharks. The divide between he and Smith isn't so great.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

If they are both struggling, sure, but I really don't see any world in which Celebrini is playing so poorly he is released to juniors. Smith, it's definitely possible, but Celebrini is clearly NHL-ready.

My thinking was that it won’t necessarily only be about if they are playing poorly, although I think that’s always possible for a rookie and a factor, but also how bad the Sharks are and also how good the relationships they’ve cultivated with the two hockey federations are. I think both of those things can impact whether they would be willing to loan these two to their countries for the World Juniors.

 

[JackSlater]

My thinking was that it won’t necessarily only be about if they are playing poorly, although I think that’s always possible for a rookie and a factor, but also how bad the Sharks are and also how good the relationships they’ve cultivated with the two hockey federations are. I think both of those things can impact whether they would be willing to loan these two to their countries for the World Juniors.

I don't know what there is to go on regarding San Jose and any federation. At the junior level in recent history San Jose has barely had anyone who was eligible to play in the WJC but was in San Jose instead, mainly Eklund skipping out on the 2022 summer tournament (along with an out of the ordinary number of players) but he was available for the initial winter edition. There's nothing of note at the senior level I'm aware of other than Logan Couture's complete disinterest in the iihf world championship.

I'd say that either of Celebrini or Smith would have to be playing pretty badly to have either sent to the tournament. I don't think that NHL teams care that much about which national team/federation they are helping or not, its a professional league with teams worth fortunes. You'd rather see all the players there, or as many a reasonably possible, but I wouldn't expect either of these guys.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I don't know what there is to go on regarding San Jose and any federation. At the junior level in recent history San Jose has barely had anyone who was eligible to play in the WJC but was in San Jose instead, mainly Eklund skipping out on the 2022 summer tournament (along with an out of the ordinary number of players) but he was available for the initial winter edition. There's nothing of note at the senior level I'm aware of other than Logan Couture's complete disinterest in the iihf world championship.

I'd say that either of Celebrini or Smith would have to be playing pretty badly to have either sent to the tournament. I don't think that NHL teams care that much about which national team/federation they are helping or not, its a professional league with teams worth fortunes. You'd rather see all the players there, or as many a reasonably possible, but I wouldn't expect either of these guys.

For instance, Mike Grier was part of the management for USA at the World Championships in 2022. He has also played for Team USA himself during his playing days. He learned under Chris Drury, who is big on picking American players and spent a lot of time as part of management for USAH and played for USA during his playing career. Also worth noting the new Sharks coach was an assistant for USA at the Worlds a few years back.

You would hope that Grier will be impartial, but if it's borderline which of the two to send and they're only going to send one, it's not outside of the realm of possibilities that Grier might favor the federation he has more ties to.

And in the past, teams have sometimes been reluctant to send a player in the future once they've had a bad experience with a player getting injured or some miscommunication about how a player would be handled.

 

[frontsfan67]

You wonder if the Sharks will be willing to loan both Celebrini and Smith. Both nations will ask. This could cause some real hostility if one is loaned and not the other, especially if there's not a great disparity in how they are playing.

I predict neither gets loaned. Smith would have a better chance of coming but they’re not just going to help out the 1 country

 

[JackSlater]

For instance, Mike Grier was part of the management for USA at the World Championships in 2022. He has also played for Team USA himself during his playing days. He learned under Chris Drury, who is big on picking American players and spent a lot of time as part of management for USAH and played for USA during his playing career. Also worth noting the new Sharks coach was an assistant for USA at the Worlds a few years back.

You would hope that Grier will be impartial, but if it's borderline which of the two to send and they're only going to send one, it's not outside of the realm of possibilities that Grier might favor the federation he has more ties to.

And in the past, teams have sometimes been reluctant to send a player in the future once they've had a bad experience with a player getting injured or some miscommunication about how a player would be handled.

I agree that some teams get a bad taste in their mouth based on a bad past experience, but I can't think of any relevant example with San Jose. San Jose hasn't picked that high outside of very recent years and hasn't hit a bunch of home runs, so situations like this haven't come up much.

With regard to Grier and whoever else makes decisions in San Jose, I lean toward expecting that they are professionals who will do what is best for their franchise, not root for certain outcomes at international tournaments. I understand that people are humans and some can be swayed that way but nothing I've seen from Grier so far indicates he is anything but a professional. We've heard this many times over the years as for a long time the vast majority of GMs and coaches were Canadian but no one stands out as having helped one team and not others with similar situations.

Someone who actually follows San Jose would know better than I do about this, but I do think it would be easier to send Smith as he is the less hyped player of the two, even if he's close. Teams do not want to send their recent number 1 overall pick away for a while.

We'll see I guess but it isn't worth thinking about much unless one or both of them struggle early.

 

[Juxtaposer]

My thinking was that it won’t necessarily only be about if they are playing poorly, although I think that’s always possible for a rookie and a factor, but also how bad the Sharks are and also how good the relationships they’ve cultivated with the two hockey federations are. I think both of those things can impact whether they would be willing to loan these two to their countries for the World Juniors.

When was the last time a 1st overall pick who was playing decently in the NHL got loaned to the WJC? Genuine question, but I have a fun feeling there won't be many, if any.

 

[JackSlater]

When was the last time a 1st overall pick who was playing decently in the NHL got loaned to the WJC? Genuine question, but I have a fun feeling there won't be many, if any.

This caught my interest. I had never considered it but there are more number one overalls who have played in the WJC (after being drafted) than I expected off the top of my head.

Modano
Sundin
Lindros
Daigle
Jovanovski
Phillps
Fleury
Ovechkin
Malkin
Johnson
Nugent-Hopkins
Yakupov

Some were only available due to a holdout or lockout, but it does happen. Regardless, Fleury is the only one who was an active NHLer and sent to the WJC. In terms of playing well, to be lazy and use flawed goaltending stats Fleury was 74th in save percentage that year and 86th in GAA. Pittsburgh was an awful team at the time but Fleury wasn't exactly setting the world on fire.

So anyway, first overalls are never sent when they are playing decently. Sometimes they can be pretty poor (Thornton, Hughes, several others over the years) and still stick with the main team.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

This caught my interest. I had never considered it but there are more number one overalls who have played in the WJC (after being drafted) than I expected off the top of my head.

Modano
Sundin
Lindros
Daigle
Jovanovski
Phillps
Fleury
Ovechkin
Malkin
Johnson
Nugent-Hopkins
Yakupov

Some were only available due to a holdout or lockout, but it does happen. Regardless, Fleury is the only one who was an active NHLer and sent to the WJC. In terms of playing well, to be lazy and use flawed goaltending stats Fleury was 74th in save percentage that year and 86th in GAA. Pittsburgh was an awful team at the time but Fleury wasn't exactly setting the world on fire.

So anyway, first overalls are never sent when they are playing decently. Sometimes they can be pretty poor (Thornton, Hughes, several others over the years) and still stick with the main team.

Power also played in the cancelled WJC.

 

[JackSlater]

Power also played in the cancelled WJC.

Yes I forgot to add him, I was going to put him there but note that he didn't play in the completed version of the tournament. He did play two games though.