WJC: Whats wrong with Canada?

[Joe Zanussi]

I think most would agree with the 2nd sentence. Do you have a theory as to why they’ve finished in 5th place in consecutive years?

Cuz WJC hockey tournaments are difficult to win? Cuz other countries have birth years where they have players who can compete (or be better) than the Canada kids born in that one year? And sometimes that happens two years in a row?

I think all the panic is misguided. The gap is closing for sure….but there still a gap

 

[Golden_Jet]

Interesting. OHL guy saying the 67s couldn't make moves today partly because a lot of players do not want to play for Dave Cameron.

Seems like OHL guy was wrong, they made a few moves, guess that’s why link is gone,

And so the day after getting a couple of draft picks from the Peterborough Peters for overage winger Brady Stonehouse, Boyd completed his deadline haul by moving Mews for defenceman Nolan Jackson, two second-round picks in 2027, third-round picks in 2025 and 2027, a fifth-round pick in 2025 and three conditional picks that include a seventh-rounder in 2028, an eighth-rounder in 2027 and a ninth-rounder in 2027.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Can he take some Hockey Canada big wigs with him?

Okay, so in Canada we like to pump our history up and while no one has better history let's look at it with some context.

Gold medals at WJC:
Canada 20
Russia 13
USA 7

Silver medals:
Russia 13
Sweden 12
Canada 10

Okay, so check this out, the last 20 years, going back to the 2006 tournament:
Gold:
Canada 9
USA 6
Finland 3
Russia 1
Sweden 1

Silver:
Russia 6
Sweden 6
Canada 4

One notable thing, Russia which always medals normally, hasn't since 2020, but has not been allowed to play in the last 4 tournaments. So basically the reason their numbers aren't higher, at least with the Silvers, is they aren't there.

So you can say, no big deal, even in the last 20 years Canada is ahead, and we win the gold medal at the same rate as we have all-time. But in the last 6 years Canada 3 gold USA 3. So basically it is the US who is going hand in hand with us right now.

This downturn shouldn’t last, but hard to paint a positive picture when they just finished with back-to-back 5th-place finishes for the first time in program history. Also, Canada won 60 percent of the 22 WJCs between 1988 and 2009 and only 31 percent of those played between 2010 and 2025.

So glass half empty, Canada’s dominance has been halved over a period of almost two decades. Clearly concerning for Hockey Canada, but then again, making a profit from the tournament is probably paramount and they seem to do a good job with that every non-COVID year.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

If they'd stop using David Desharnais as their first line center...

(Sorry, wrong thread.)