WJC: 2025 Team Canada Roster Talk

[PanniniClaus]

This is a great to look at.

For me, I would pick my 12 forwards and play them. 13th would play if there was an injury or someone wildly ineffective.

If Martone comes in, there are so many options to remove from the lineup and that is scary isn't it?

Rehkopf would be my first choice.. You can argue that Howe, Beaudoin, Cateford, Gauthier and Pinelli are just fillers.

So that leaves what? Ritchie, Mckenna, Catton, Cowan, Yager, Nadeau and Luchanko as guys I would play in my top 9.. How did we get here with so many players that you can't even play in the top 9?

Cateford (needed a left winger and wanted to leave pairs of forwards together)/Ritchie/Cowan
Nadeau/Yager/Luchanko
Mckenna/Catton/Martone

4th line - Beaudoin/Pinelli/Gauthier - sprinkle them in lightly. Use Gauthier on the PK if you really feel he's one of our best.

Rehkopf and Howe out of the mix. Hard to believe with all the talent available, we are trying to make 3 decent lines.

 

[flin flon bombers]

What happened to hitting in hockey canada,that was a disgrace,it seems weak penalty causing hits is all we have.the big guys on canada would of been called weak and passive some 25 years ago,heck Andrew ference was 5:10 and there is no one on this team that has his tenacity. Scotty upshall and tootoo would be considered men amongst boys.that was really sad too watch on new years,it was the softest bunch that I have ever sawnto put the jersey on,mind you I skipped the last few years for this reason.

 

[JackSlater]

I think even if they win they won’t be allowed to get away with it. Based on the age groups, Canada should win this easily, none of USA Sweden or Finland has impressive rosters on paper and there’s a lot of Canadian talent amongst the relevant years. They’ve already lost a couple games so even if they go 3/3 and get gold it’s still only just a pretty good performance.

If they did manage to pull it off most would forget. Shouldn't, but would.

I don't think Cameron is doing good at all but how is it his fault that Cowan runs a guy from behind with 7 mins left and Pinelli punches a guy in the head going for a check. I still don't understand who decided Cowan is Canada's go to guy.... I thought this tweet summed it up nicely........ I’m unsure why the burden of Team Canada lies on a 28th overall draft pick from 2 years ago that no one knew about until the Leafs selected him and most analysts had him as a 3rd round pick.

Team discipline is always to a sizable degree on the coach. It is not a case where one player behaved stupidly and sunk the team. In this case Canada already had this problem, to a lesser degree, in the Latvia game. Obviously players deserve blame for their own actions as well. To add to it in this specific case, Pinelli in particular is Cameron's player in the OHL and we all know that he doesn't make that team without Cameron as the coach. Cameron's quotes rightly bring him more heat for team discipline. But there are other issues besides penalties for which Cameron deserves criticism, like Canada's painfully indirect offensive strategy and the mind boggling decision to put Bonk where he did on the power play, just as he at least deserves credit for having Canada buy into an effective defensive system.

I certainly agree that Canada should not have had the strategy to rely heavily on Cowan. He's gotten a bit more heat than he should, but at least it isn't his fault that Canada left or chose not to rely on a few more talented players.

 

[davewheeler]

“if you do something stupid again, I’ll send you home early” would be a message that should be sent to people who are taking stupid penalties. Instead we get “I got nothing” from Dave Cameron lol

I don't disagree... he may have said this behind closed doors... he may not have. But like it's wild that a coach would even need to tell his players that in a tournament like this. But again, I do agree with you.

 

[davewheeler]

If they did manage to pull it off most would forget. Shouldn't, but would.



Team discipline is always to a sizable degree on the coach. It is not a case where one player behaved stupidly and sunk the team. In this case Canada already had this problem, to a lesser degree, in the Latvia game. Obviously players deserve blame for their own actions as well. To add to it in this specific case, Pinelli in particular is Cameron's player in the OHL and we all know that he doesn't make that team without Cameron as the coach. Cameron's quotes rightly bring him more heat for team discipline. But there are other issues besides penalties for which Cameron deserves criticism, like Canada's painfully indirect offensive strategy and the mind boggling decision to put Bonk where he did on the power play, just as he at least deserves credit for having Canada buy into an effective defensive system.

I certainly agree that Canada should not have had the strategy to rely heavily on Cowan. He's gotten a bit more heat than he should, but at least it isn't his fault that Canada left or chose not to rely on a few more talented players.

I don't disagree this comment is completely accurate.. Im not defending Cameron one bit. If im being honest I don't hate Canada's 5-5 game. When the game was 1-1 it could have swung in either direction. In a 1-1 game or 2-1 game you cant run a guy from behind and be like well its Camerons fault. Long story short we need more McKenna and far less Cowan and I think we will see that from here on in.

 

[SillyRabbit]

So can we get some clarity around who built this team?

Dave Cameron is getting a lot of heat, and deservedly so. He should never be involved in building or coaching Team Canada again.

But who else was involved? It's not like he had complete autonomy here. There were others who were on board with building a team of grinders and leaving the skilled players at home.

The fact that many of these skilled players weren't even invited to the tryouts is very telling.

There's an entire group of people that need to be thanked for their service and promptly let go from the Team Canada management group.

Do we have their names?

 

[Heldig]

You sit Cowan right? he was very undisciplined last game and needs a wake up call.

Can't sit him. Team needs every bit of O it can muster.

But he needs to be off the 1st line and needs a short leash.

 

[JackSlater]

I don't disagree this comment is completely accurate.. Im not defending Cameron one bit. If im being honest I don't hate Canada's 5-5 game. When the game was 1-1 it could have swung in either direction. In a 1-1 game or 2-1 game you cant run a guy from behind and be like well its Camerons fault. Long story short we need more McKenna and far less Cowan and I think we will see that from here on in.

Canada has not been bad five on five. But the team has been far from great there. The team should be able to generate better quality chances without giving up any of the positives, but there is little indication that that is going to happen.

So can we get some clarity around who built this team?

Dave Cameron is getting a lot of heat, and deservedly so. He should never be involved in building or coaching Team Canada again.

But who else was involved? It's not like he had complete autonomy here. There were others who were on board with building a team of grinders and leaving the skilled players at home.

The fact that many of these skilled players weren't even invited to the tryouts is very telling.

There's an entire group of people that need to be thanked for their service and promptly let go from the Team Canada management group.

Do we have their names?

Peter Anholt is the general manager of the team, the head of management. He held the same position last year. Scott Salmond is the senior vice president of hockey operations for Hockey Canada and always gets involved with the WJC team. Al Murray is the head scout. There is a general layout here:

https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/poe-management-unveiled-2024-25-poe

 

[Volica]

No idea what this roster construction looked like behind closed doors.

They left so much talent at home, and instead of letting talent fall into place for roles; they pegged guys into random spots.

This is easily the worst WJC team I can recall.

 

[lawrence]

No idea what this roster construction looked like behind closed doors.

They left so much talent at home, and instead of letting talent fall into place for roles; they pegged guys into random spots.

This is easily the worst WJC team I can recall.

darryl sutter , good old Canadian style crash and bang roster. We built a roster capable of trying to go through 4 rounds of best of 7 hockey, rather than, highly skilled, and try to win it all best of 1 styles. Out right disgraceful. these games are best of 1's. Bring in more skill have some grit. I refuse to believe Easton Clownan is the best canadian player we got under the age of 20! I don't believe this!

this will be like the Vancouver Canucks giving Keifer Sherwood more ice time than any other forward, when we are chasing a 1 goal lead almost the entire game!

Parekh is a puck possession monster, meanwhile. Yakemchuk is also an offensive dman, that plays physical. These guys would have made the US roster, good riddance team Canada!

 

[SillyRabbit]

Peter Anholt is the general manager of the team, the head of management. He held the same position last year. Scott Salmond is the senior vice president of hockey operations for Hockey Canada and always gets involved with the WJC team. Al Murray is the head scout. There is a general layout here:

https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/poe-management-unveiled-2024-25-poe

Thanks for the link.

Four goaltenders, 10 defencemen and 18 forwards were selected by U20 head scout Al Murray (Regina, SK) and the management group, which includes Peter Anholt (Naicam, SK/Lethbridge, WHL) and Brent Seabrook (Tsawwassen, BC), with support from Scott Salmond (Creston, BC), senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations, Benoit Roy (Sudbury, ON), director of hockey operations, and player development coach Scott Walker (Cambridge, ON/Guelph, OHL). Head coach Dave Cameron (Kinkora, PE/Ottawa, OHL), U17 head scout Byron Bonora (Brooks, AB).

So it looks like:

Peter Anholt - General Manager U20
Scott Salmond - SVP of Hockey Operations
Brent Seabrook - U20 Management Team
Benoit Roy - Director of Hockey Operations
Al Murray - Main Head Scout U20
Dave Cameron - Head Coach

All need to be let go.

Every single one of them is responsible for putting this team together.

Not a single dissenting voice in the room asking "Hey... maybe we should at least invite these skilled players to training camp to see how they look?"

Time to clean house and go with a management team with much smaller egos, who don't think they're so much smarter than everyone else.

 

[davewheeler]

No idea what this roster construction looked like behind closed doors.

They left so much talent at home, and instead of letting talent fall into place for roles; they pegged guys into random spots.

This is easily the worst WJC team I can recall.

All I heard before was that Parekh was a cancer in the room, bad attitude and blah blah ... I wonder how true that actually is and I also wonder if the real bad attitude guys are on team Canada right now..... in a power play driven tournament its awfully dumb to leave him off the team...

 

[davewheeler]

Thanks for the link.


So it looks like:

Peter Anholt - General Manager U20
Scott Salmond - SVP of Hockey Operations
Brent Seabrook - U20 Management Team
Benoit Roy - Director of Hockey Operations
Scott Walker - Play Development Coach
Al Murray - Main Head Scout U20
Dave Cameron - Coach

All need to be let go.

Every single one of them is responsible for putting this team together.

Not a single dissenting voice in the room asking "Hey... maybe we should at least invite these skilled players to training camp to see how they look?"

Time to clean house and go with a management team with much smaller egos, who don't think they're so much smarter than everyone else.

Team Canada needs to get back to a try-out style training camp... bring in the 25-30 best guys and let that sort it out..There is no doubt Misa ,Sennecke and Parekh would have looked better than 3/4th of the current team. I always sense a certain amount of smugness and arrogance from the players recently if im being completely honest... they get these spots handed to them almost. I feel like thats why Cowan is getting a ton of heat...

 

[oooooooooohCanada]

It's definitely a management/coaching issue. Why was Minten force fed the #1C spot last season? And then was never moved off of it when it was clear it wasn't working. That decision was a lot worse than the Cowan bitching. Both just happen to be Leafs guys which is funny.

 

[JackSlater]

Thanks for the link.


So it looks like:

Peter Anholt - General Manager U20
Scott Salmond - SVP of Hockey Operations
Brent Seabrook - U20 Management Team
Benoit Roy - Director of Hockey Operations
Al Murray - Main Head Scout U20
Dave Cameron - Head Coach

All need to be let go.

Every single one of them is responsible for putting this team together.

Not a single dissenting voice in the room asking "Hey... maybe we should at least invite these skilled players to training camp to see how they look?"

Time to clean house and go with a management team with much smaller egos, who don't think they're so much smarter than everyone else.

Murray can stay, he's pretty proven from his NHL time. Anholt has won nothing in junior hockey as a GM and yet he gets to be GM of Canada multiple times. Salmond is probably the biggest problem overall.

Team Canada needs to get back to a try-out style training camp... bring in the 25-30 best guys and let that sort it out..There is no doubt Misa ,Sennecke and Parekh would have looked better than 3/4th of the current team. I always sense a certain amount of smugness and arrogance from the players recently if im being completely honest... they get these spots handed to them almost. I feel like thats why Cowan is getting a ton of heat...

I 100% agree. Have a legitimate camp. McKenzie already told us who the locks were prior to the camp and it included guys like Howe and Cataford who have contributed basically nothing. Sennecke outplayed most, maybe all of the forwards in the USports games but he can't make it over Pinelli. They think that they know what the team should be without a camp and they are wrong. Bring enough players to have red and white games again and let's see who sticks out. It won't change things drastically but it would help.

It's definitely a management/coaching issue. Why was Minten force fed the #1C spot last season? And then was never moved off of it when it was clear it wasn't working. That decision was a lot worse than the Cowan bitching. Both just happen to be Leafs guys which is funny.

Cameron can somewhat hold his own against Letang in the stupid decisions competition. Letang insisted that Minten was a power play guy at this level, while Cameron insisted that Bonk could be power play qb when even Bonk didn't think so. Letang broke with standard practices to put all his eggs in the Rousseau basket because Rousseau asked for it... even though Rousseau stunk, while Cameron has told us that he can't discipline the team. It's been quite a ride.

 

[Rude Dog]

I don't think Cameron is doing good at all but how is it his fault that Cowan runs a guy from behind with 7 mins left and Pinelli punches a guy in the head going for a check. I still don't understand who decided Cowan is Canada's go to guy.... I thought this tweet summed it up nicely........ I’m unsure why the burden of Team Canada lies on a 28th overall draft pick from 2 years ago that no one knew about until the Leafs selected him and most analysts had him as a 3rd round pick.

Let’s not pretend that he wasn’t the OHL player of the year and memorial cup mvp last year. But i agree he should be surrounded by more talented guys who can score. But the hate for this teenage kid playing for his flag is embarrassing.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I always want Canada to win, but I think Cameron not inviting Misa or ZP, and cutting Senneke this is evident that Canada doesn't deserve to win the WJC this year.

I mean it'd be nice for Switzerland or Latvia to win it if not us.

I have a theory Cameron snubbed ZP to get back at Calgary.

 

[Namejs]

You guys have been devouring yourselves.

I've seen that a lot in sports, but never at the junior level before. I'm sure the Canadian players are reading comments online and are affected by that to some degree, at least some of them are. They're kids.

You're basically creating a negative feedback loop and building a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.

This Canadian team is the 2nd most talented group at the WJC and they will likely make the gold medal game.

Some of the posts are hysterical and you guys should get a grip on reality. As a Latvian, I love how we took some of your smugness away, but almost every single one of you is overreacting here.

 

[yessir29292]

I have been advocating for a national team approach but politics and money would end up being a major hurdle.
I am not giving Up on this team yet .
The pressure and hype surrounding these guys is enormous.j
Does anyone think the effort is not there.
Special teams win or lose tournaments.
Chemistry is more than a word. Coaching cannot be handed out like candy. Hire a national coach Staff and start working on player selections and scouting

Is the national program really what’s best for players though? It helps big time in these tournaments 100%… Its guys that have played together as a team for the most part for a lot of teams but Canada it’s just the best team they can form in 2 weeks.

But didn’t guys like Cutter, Smith and Leonard, Perreault play their entire 16-19 career on a line together dominating together… Is that what was really best for each of their individual development? What about guys who get stuck in the bottom 6 there? who would have had an opportunity to work their way up a JR lineup…. idk if it’s best

 

[rve24]

Play McKenna with Cowan.

 

[Bobby Holik agent]

3 London Knights players with the most icetime!
LOL No wonder they hate Parekh & Misa.

 

[jj cale]

You guys have been devouring yourselves.

I've seen that a lot in sports, but never at the junior level before. I'm sure the Canadian players are reading comments online and are affected by that to some degree, at least some of them are. They're kids.

You're basically creating a negative feedback loop and building a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.

This Canadian team is the 2nd most talented group at the WJC and they will likely make the gold medal game.

Some of the posts are hysterical and you guys should get a grip on reality. As a Latvian, I love how we took some of your smugness away, but almost every single one of you is overreacting here.

You talk about loving taking our smugness away but most Canadian fans here were bellowing about the roster selections and how this team could very well underperform before the tournament even started.

That really doesn't sound very smug to me.

Coming into our teams thread and getting your rocks off making a comment like that does not suggest much humility from a fan of a team that has and is going to lose these games 99 out of a hundred times.

Something to think about.

 

[Namejs]

You talk about loving taking our smugness away but most Canadian fans here were bellowing about the roster selections and how this team could very well underperform before the tournament even started.

That really doesn't sound very smug to me.

Coming into our teams thread and getting your rocks off making a comment like that does not suggest much humility from a fan of a team that has and is going to lose these games 99 out of a hundred times.

Something to think about.

As I said, only some of the smugness.

 

[jj cale]

As I said, only some of the smugness.

I think the name of the game is winning something IMO..not just beating Canada.

Whether you are a random fan on the internet or Cole Hutson it might be best to remember that you haven't actually won anything yet fellas.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Well today is the day, I had tickets for the knockout round but I decided to come back to England after how disgusted I was with the performance NYE (joking of course). I’m not hopeful given that I think the Czechs are the team that gave Canada the biggest stylistic issues of all the teams they played, and I would say the team best built to win this tournament, but here we go. I think the keys tonight are:


-Score first; with a lot of the same players, we saw how structured and compact Czechia once they took a 2-0 last year and were only undone by a bad line change

-bodies in front of Hrabal. Hard to see who will be able to do it since there are so many small perimeter forwards on the team, but perhaps today can be the day for players like Beaudoin and Howe to show they can cause chaos

-Dickinson and Molendyk need to get involved bringing the puck back to front. Schaefer caused the Czechs a lot of issues when activating, this needs to be taken advantage of


-Last one is obvious I guess, discipline



I’m not hopeful but I’ll wish for the best