WJC: 2025 Team Canada Roster Talk

[Juxtaposer]

People aren't advocating replacing the best skilled players on the team with similarly skilled players. The most skilled players on the team should have been surrounded by similarly skilled players who were left off entirely.

You're completely missing the point, somehow. My point is that none of the skill players on the team are playing to their potential because the coaching and deployment is horrible. Expecting similarly skilled players to escape that is crazy.

Dickinson is on the Knights (an overwhelming favorite to repeat as champion) while Parekh is on the rebuilding Spirit. Of Course hes being out produced lol. Look at the stats when both of them are on a contender and Parekh has much better numbers.

Besides, why is it one or the other? Imagine having Dickinson on one PP and Parekh on the other. Wouldn't that be much better than what Canada has now? same could be said for forwards. Having a fourth line of Sennecke, Cristall and some other PPG player is much more dangerous than having grinders who are there to "play the game the right way"

Again, the point is going over your head.

All these guys who look absolutely neutered on the ice out there so far are extremely skilled CHL superstars. There is no reason to assume that Parekh/Sennecke/whoever would be immune to that.

I'm not disagreeing that the roster selection was bad or that all the guys in my post shouldn't be on the team. I'm saying criticizing the roster selection without thoroughly scrutinizing the coaching is ridiculous.

 

[EXTRAS]

My favorite part of these retroactive rosters is the assumption that, despite the talent that is on the roster and isn't scoring, the similar-level talent that isn't on the roster definitely would be scoring.

Carson Rehkopf isn't getting prime minutes or scoring, but Beckett Sennecke, who had the same PPG in the OHL as Rehkopf, definitely would be.

Carter Yakemchuk, who is barely putting up a PPG in the WHL as a 19 year old offensive defenseman, would definitely be outplaying Caden Price, who has a better WHL PPG than him while also being much better defensively.

Zayne Parekh, who is being handily out-produced by Sam Dickinson, would definitely be given prime PP minutes and not be throttled and reigned in the way Dickinson has been.

Michael Misa, who has an identical PPG as Porter Martone, definitely wouldn't be the 13th forward, jerked around and playing 7 minutes a game.

And of course, Andrew Cristall, who has a similar PPG in the WHL as Gavin McKenna, would definitely be lighting up the score sheet.

That isn't to excuse the poor roster decisions that people are complaining about or to absolve the players from their sub-par tournament thus far, but rather to emphasize that the number 1 issue by far with this team is coaching. You can bring all the high-scoring CHL talent you want, but it wouldn't matter be because the talent that is here is being suppressed, played out of position, told to completely change their style of play. I doubt the results would be any different than we've seen so far.

At the time of team selection cristall and mckenna didn't have a similar pt/gm. Cristall was scoring half a point more per game, which is a significant amount. At time of selection he had 2.5pt/gm. Only guy to do that in the last 20 years is mcdavid. Weird move not even taking cristall as a 13th forward.

 

[Juxtaposer]

At the time of team selection cristall and mckenna didn't have a similar pt/gm. Cristall was scoring half a point more per game, which is a significant amount. At time of selection he had 2.5pt/gm. Only guy to do that in the last 20 years is mcdavid. Weird move not even taking cristall as a 13th forward.

If Gavin McKenna, who was scoring almost as much as Andrew Cristall was at the time of the roster selection, cannot score or look dangerous on this Team Canada roster, what makes you think Cristall would be faring any better?

I swear, I think you people are just here to go to bat for your team's prospect and aren't actually reading my post.

 

[EXTRAS]

If Gavin McKenna, who was scoring almost as much as Andrew Cristall was at the time of the roster selection, cannot score or look dangerous on this Team Canada roster, what makes you think Cristall would be faring any better?

I swear, I think you people are just here to go to bat for your team's prospect and aren't actually reading my post.

"Almost as much"

Half a point less per game is significantly less, actually. And no, I'm not a Washington or kelowna fan. I just think leaving a guy who is having one of the best offensive seasons in the last 20 years in the chl off the team is ridiculous.

 

[Static]

You're completely missing the point, somehow. My point is that none of the skill players on the team are playing to their potential because the coaching and deployment is horrible. Expecting similarly skilled players to escape that is crazy.

I'm not missing your point, I don't agree with your point. Canada's pool of talent is deep enough to counteract even the worst coaching decisions, such as deployment, when each player hitting the ice is as good as the one coming off.

The fatal flaw of this system is allowing said coach the ability to leave those kids at home entirely.

 

[Czechboy]

Saw this on Facebook.. wow.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

View attachment 953650

Saw this on Facebook.. wow.

He could very much be the x factor in any big game for Canada.

Very strong game.

 

[Czechboy]

He could very much be the x factor in any big game for Canada.

Very strong game.

I'd say so... he may be triple gold soon.

 

[yessir29292]

You're completely missing the point, somehow. My point is that none of the skill players on the team are playing to their potential because the coaching and deployment is horrible. Expecting similarly skilled players to escape that is crazy.


Again, the point is going over your head.

All these guys who look absolutely neutered on the ice out there so far are extremely skilled CHL superstars. There is no reason to assume that Parekh/Sennecke/whoever would be immune to that.

I'm not disagreeing that the roster selection was bad or that all the guys in my post shouldn't be on the team. I'm saying criticizing the roster selection without thoroughly scrutinizing the coaching is ridiculous.

Agree so much.

Why in the hell are people blaming the roster decisions when they lose to Latvia….

Every single player on Canada is way way better than every single player on Latvia… Agaisnt Latvia, roster decisions do not matter. They had 100s of guys to chose from who should’ve destroyed Latvia. The problems were deployment, gameplan, getting outcoached, perfect execution by Latvia and some bad luck.

If I was picking the team, I would’ve picked it differently. Parekh, Misa and Sennecke would be on my team. That is because my team would mainly be picked off stat watching, draft position and highlights… because I don’t watch every CHL team every night.

Dave Cameron and co might not be the best choices for the job, but they’re not idiots. He’s built a good program in Ottawa, they understand junior hockey, they know what parts of junior hockey translate to the OHL level.

The best comparables to the guys everyone is mad didn’t make aren’t lighting the lamp. As a Gens fan I’d take Sennecke over Ritchie a lot of nights, but there’s a reason Ritchie made the Avs to start the year… Some things translate some don’t.

This team has more skill, talent and scoring ability than any other team… especially Latvia. A team full of your least favourite player from Canada should crush Latvia… roster decisions are not the issue.

 

[lionsDen]

How has cal Ritchie looked, haven’t kept up this year.

 

[Heldig]

And the schedule has been easy. Huge mistake not selecting Yakemchuk. Offence is enhanced by defence. And he definitely is the best junior D man Canada has to create offence.

Are you sure about that? Yes, one of the best but "definitely", no?

 

[wetcoast]

Nope. Imo Yakemchuk is the superior driver of offence from D.

Yet he is only 6th in PPG among all Dmen in the WHL with 1.11 PPG so your opinion isn't really backed up here.

Huge mistake by Canada leaving him off the club, and it’s proving so as the tournament progresses. Yak is Makar like, just in a larger frame. Canada could definitely use that kind of offensive push from the D.

Sure Yakemchuk is Makar lite as in light years away as a prospect at this point.

If they wanted a more pure offensive threat they could have taken Parekh who is easily thought of as more offensive right now and as mentioned a guy with even more production Dickinson isn't lighting the world on fire here either.

Cameron coaches a certain way and this team is less than the sum of its parts and it wouldn't matter with different parts.

 

[1440]

How can Mynio be better offensively than Zayne Parekh.

He's a year older and he’s barely over a PPG.

For this year.

Parekh is a year younger and is on pace to have his second straight 30 goal 90 point season.

Because he’s spectacular.

Because, as I explained before, Mynio is on the 52nd highest scoring team in the CHL (out of 60), and Parekh is on the third. A more reliable measure of offensive prowess is relative to usage, quality of teammates, and quality of competition. Parekh's team has scored 52 more goals than Mynio's (~1.5x as many). When you factor that in Mynio is well ahead.

As for the age thing, Mynio is 10 months older, so if we look at his season last year compared to Parekh's this year: Seattle scored 191, Saginaw is on pace for 293, so 102 more goals and 1.54x Seattle's output. Mynio's 53 points in 63 games last year would be worth 39 in 40 games on Saginaw, which is probably better than Parekh's 40 points (in 30 games) given that he was 2 months younger last year than Parekh is now.

Parekh's draft year season (96 in 65) more than triples Mynio's (31 in 68) in terms of point production, and Seattle was very strong that year scoring 300 goals (Saginaw scored 303 last year). However, Mynio was behind Korchinsky and Hanzel on the offensive depth chart and got given defensive matchups and limited powerplay time wereas Parekh was used in a purely offensive role.

Again, Parekh is likely the better prospect (there is a reason he was a top 10 pick and Mynio a late third rounder), but he has not progressed in terms of point production from last year whereas Mynio has in leaps and bounds now that he is Seattle's #1 and PP quarterback. The question is not who is the better prospect (or we would be arguing for Schaefer or Dupont over both of these players), but who is better now and that is Mynio.

 

[1440]

Dickinson is on the Knights (an overwhelming favorite to repeat as champion) while Parekh is on the rebuilding Spirit. Of Course hes being out produced lol. Look at the stats when both of them are on a contender and Parekh has much better numbers.

Besides, why is it one or the other? Imagine having Dickinson on one PP and Parekh on the other. Wouldn't that be much better than what Canada has now? same could be said for forwards. Having a fourth line of Sennecke, Cristall and some other PPG player is much more dangerous than having grinders who are there to "play the game the right way"

And yet the Spirit have scored 3 more goals (151 vs 148) than the Knights (in one fewer game), so Dickison's production is not being propped up by team scoring relative to Parekh's. Parekh and Saginaw's problem is not putting the puck in the back of the opponents net, it is keeping it out of theirs, which is why they are a middle of the pack team and the Knights are in first. The Knights have conceded 46 fewer goals (90 vs 136) than Saginaw (in 34 vs 35 games) which is better by more than a goal against per game.

Dickinson is both outscoring Parekh, and producing much better defensive results. It is a no-brainer to have him on the team over Parekh. Perhaps Parekh should have been selected as a PP specialist 7th D, but he doesn't merit being in the top 6 on the strength of his play as a whole this year.

 

[Leafs87]

Very interesting final roster Canada came in with this year. I guess all questions can be answered in the next week, but if they don’t cut it, I’d imagine most will talk about what could have been

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

You're completely missing the point, somehow. My point is that none of the skill players on the team are playing to their potential because the coaching and deployment is horrible. Expecting similarly skilled players to escape that is crazy.


Again, the point is going over your head.

All these guys who look absolutely neutered on the ice out there so far are extremely skilled CHL superstars. There is no reason to assume that Parekh/Sennecke/whoever would be immune to that.

I'm not disagreeing that the roster selection was bad or that all the guys in my post shouldn't be on the team. I'm saying criticizing the roster selection without thoroughly scrutinizing the coaching is ridiculous.

A good roster can sometimes overcome a bad coach. Cameron was the coach in 2022 but the team still had a bunch of guys who could put the puck in the net (and even then they still needed a miracle because yes somehow Cameron once again blew a lead in the third period). Now this team has the bad coach AND a roster that can't put up the big numbers.

And yet the Spirit have scored 3 more goals (151 vs 148) than the Knights (in one fewer game), so Dickison's production is not being propped up by team scoring relative to Parekh's. Parekh and Saginaw's problem is not putting the puck in the back of the opponents net, it is keeping it out of theirs, which is why they are a middle of the pack team and the Knights are in first. The Knights have conceded 46 fewer goals (90 vs 136) than Saginaw (in 34 vs 35 games) which is better by more than a goal against per game.

Dickinson is both outscoring Parekh, and producing much better defensive results. It is a no-brainer to have him on the team over Parekh. Perhaps Parekh should have been selected as a PP specialist 7th D, but he doesn't merit being in the top 6 on the strength of his play as a whole this year.

Yes the Spirit have more goals, but the Knights are in a much better position for a d-man to get points. They have the leagues second best PP while the Spirit are closer to the bottom. He is outscoring Parekh this year but last year it wasn't even close. If you want to say Dickinson is the better player this year, thats fine but why ignore every other year when choosing a team?

I'd be fine with Parekh as a PP special 7th D and if they did take him could you imagine how better off the PP would be?

 

[yessir29292]

I still cannot believe Darnell Nurse made the 2015 team at under a PPG in the OHL we should have had the offensive wizard Mitchell Vande Sompel 1st pair and PPQB.

Since all that matters when picking team Canada dman is CHL point production

 

[newmanager]

At the time of team selection cristall and mckenna didn't have a similar pt/gm. Cristall was scoring half a point more per game, which is a significant amount. At time of selection he had 2.5pt/gm. Only guy to do that in the last 20 years is mcdavid. Weird move not even taking cristall as a 13th forward.

Not just McDavid, 2 years ago Bedard put up 2.51 ppg while being 2 years younger than Cristall is now.

 

[Knave]

I still cannot believe Darnell Nurse made the 2015 team at under a PPG in the OHL we should have had the offensive wizard Mitchell Vande Sompel 1st pair and PPQB.

Since all that matters when picking team Canada dman is CHL point production

Nobody is saying you can't take a single defensive minded player. Many of us have no problem having some of them on the team.

But this is a single elimination tournament. All that matters is outscoring a single opponent on a given night to get points to get out of your group. And then once you are out of your group you need to do the same in single elimination games.

What is the main knock on this team? Why did it lose to Latvia for the first time in the history of Hockey Canada this year? The team can't score.

The roster was developed like they were about to enter the Stanley Cup playoffs or play an 82 game season. It's coached by Dave Cameron who seems to want to show he can coach a team to play like that. But that's not reality. This team isn't starting an 82 game schedule. It's not the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's a single elimination tournament and after tomorrow they have to win every game they play or they're out of the tournament. And this team struggles to score and that is a big worry and criticism to have of the team. Maybe they overcome it and win the tournament. But the Latvia game, all the games they've played so far don't really inspire much confidence.

 

[HarrySPlinkett]

I still cannot believe Darnell Nurse made the 2015 team at under a PPG in the OHL we should have had the offensive wizard Mitchell Vande Sompel 1st pair and PPQB.

Since all that matters when picking team Canada dman is CHL point production

I looked up this Vande Sompel kid - he has one season over PPG.

63 in 58.

Parekh scored 96 points as a 17 year old, after he set the OHL record for goals from a 16 year old D (21).

He’s going to have back-to-back 30 goal seasons in the O, as a defenseman.

These players are not comparable.

The jokers running this team had a choice, and they left him AND Yakemchuk off because they thought there’s better options on the blue line when you absolutely need to have a goal.

Except there aren’t.

 

[biturbo19]

My favorite part of these retroactive rosters is the assumption that, despite the talent that is on the roster and isn't scoring, the similar-level talent that isn't on the roster definitely would be scoring.

Carson Rehkopf isn't getting prime minutes or scoring, but Beckett Sennecke, who had the same PPG in the OHL as Rehkopf, definitely would be.

Carter Yakemchuk, who is barely putting up a PPG in the WHL as a 19 year old offensive defenseman, would definitely be outplaying Caden Price, who has a better WHL PPG than him while also being much better defensively.

Zayne Parekh, who is being handily out-produced by Sam Dickinson, would definitely be given prime PP minutes and not be throttled and reigned in the way Dickinson has been.

Michael Misa, who has an identical PPG as Porter Martone, definitely wouldn't be the 13th forward, jerked around and playing 7 minutes a game.

And of course, Andrew Cristall, who has a similar PPG in the WHL as Gavin McKenna, would definitely be lighting up the score sheet.

That isn't to excuse the poor roster decisions that people are complaining about or to absolve the players from their sub-par tournament thus far, but rather to emphasize that the number 1 issue by far with this team is coaching. You can bring all the high-scoring CHL talent you want, but it wouldn't matter be because the talent that is here is being suppressed, played out of position, told to completely change their style of play. I doubt the results would be any different than we've seen so far.

Amen.

Moreover to this general point...a lot of the griping seems to be centered around which defencemen they did or did not take. And yeah, that's gonna happen because there are a couple of "top prospect" defencemen from Canadian teams who were left at home. Every team's fans want to see "their guys" playing for "Team Canada". But the reality is...i don't think the defence has even been the crux of the problem. If anything, the fact half our top scorers so far are defencemen, is the problem.

It's the fact that the Forwards look so disjointed and aren't finishing or even generating all that many really high quality looks.

This roster has more than enough talent to easily win Gold and score a ton more goals than they have thus far. There may have been some questionable roster decisions made...but at the end of the day, the guys they took instead of "your teams prospect" isn't just some scrub. These are all top CHL players. The Forwards in particular though, just look totally out of sorts, out of sync with each other, and few if any have really played up to the level they're clearly capable of. That's a systems and chemistry problem.


The other thing is...you can only take so many guys who rack up their points on the PP. There's really only 1 or 2 Defencemen who are going to be a "PP QB" for the team. It may not be the ultimate maxed out choice of pure powerplay talent...but Dickinson and Bonk are eminently capable of holding down the points on an absolute dynamo of a powerplay (especially with that rare, ready-made chemistry and familiarity).

You have to realize this is Team Canada and there are going to be times where they get into some penalty trouble. You need guys who can hold it down there as well. That's more useful than taking 5 Powerplay Quarterbacks when you only need 1 or 2. Especially when you have the potential firepower up front that Canada can bring. There should be more than enough skill to let the defencemen just move the puck and let 'em work.


But...that's not happening. The Forwards aren't really doing a good job of anything right now. They're not supporting play and creating speed off decent outlets through the neutral zone consistently. They're not getting in effectively enough on the forecheck. They're not dominating and possessing the puck in the opponents zone consistently enough. They're just playing ugly, segmented hockey that really undersells the caliber of players they've brought. They have more than enough talent up front and on the back end to play that way...but they're not.

That's a coaching issue imo. A few players underperforming, that happens. Nearly the entire forward group underperforming? That's a systematic issue.

 

[Macman]

The offence is so disjointed. I'm growing tired of watching players try and go 1 on 3 or 1 on 4 over and over, only to fire a bad shot into a shin pad. They desperately need somebody to start making plays. I'd separate Cowan and Ritchie. Neither have been bad per se, but I don't think they work well off each other. Ritchie's made some bad passes trying to force pucks to Cowan and Cowan doesn't seem to want to do anything but take bad shots.

I do think the offense will be better against the Americans. Latvia, Germany and to a lesser extent Finland were all more than happy to just clog the middle and let Canada fire of 20+ low quality shots into the crowd. The US will push more for offense of their own.

At least Cowan is hitting the net. Can’t say the same about most of them.

 

[TheDoldrums]

I highly doubt that. Two game samples are not a good indicator of what’ll happen in the next game when you have years and years of data outside of that.

Being “in form” is a thing in sports. In the US thread some are speculating a goalie change if Augustine struggles again. The last time we saw him the puck was bouncing off his glove into the net. There’s no chance of a change or doubt with Canada because George has basically never lost internationally and hasn’t allowed a goal in this tournament yet. I don’t know how someone could have as much confidence in Augustine as George right now without major cope.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

I’d be inclined to try these lines (it’ll never happen of course) in order to get better playmaking in the middle and shooting ability on the wings. Should help with line chemistry:

Rehkopf - Ritchie - Cowan
Beaudoin - McKenna - Yager
Pinelli - Catton - Nadeau
Howe - Luchanko - Gauthier

I think that gives Canada a more balanced look with better-defined offensive roles and our best play drivers (so far at least) in the middle. The Luchanko line can kill penalties and take d-zone draws but otherwise I’d want to see a shortened bench with the top 3 lines getting the bulk of the ice time.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I’d be inclined to try these lines (it’ll never happen of course) in order to get better playmaking in the middle and shooting ability on the wings. Should help with line chemistry:

Rehkopf - Ritchie - Cowan
Beaudoin - McKenna - Yager
Pinelli - Catton - Nadeau
Howe - Luchanko - Gauthier

I think that gives Canada a more balanced look with better-defined offensive roles and our best play drivers (so far at least) in the middle. The Luchanko line can kill penalties and take d-zone draws but otherwise I’d want to see a shortened bench with the top 3 lines getting the bulk of the ice time.

I like the lines I’d probably swap out McKenna and Yager as I doubt McKenna as a centre is going to happen at this level right now. Other then that I’m a fan.