And that two in a row is coming up , I don't think we are ready at present time,
Chickens are coming home to roost very soon.
Quite possibly. For most of best on best history a very valid question was Canada vs the field, that's not the case now... not even close. Canada may win because the team is easily good enough to win, but there are people who will bury their head in the sand until Canada loses, and a lot of those people will be the most reactionary voices in the other direction the next day. Develop the best players and coaches possible and the results will generally come.
Canada's best WJC eligible players already playing in the NHL, the goaltending situation, and the players not spending enough time together as a team as compared to the USNTDP program is going to spell trouble for us in the WJC for a while. I'm high on Ravensbergen as a goaltending prospect but he's very young, eligible for the draft in 2025.
WJC results aren't that big of a factor in predicting the best on best level. USA and Czech Republic won best on best tournaments before winning the WJC, and Sweden won a best on best over 20 years after winnings its only (at the time) WJC, and that was before Canada sent an actual national team. Canada won 8 of the 10 tournaments from 1988-1997, and that period of development was so poor and Canada's best on best results in 1996 and 1998 were so bad that they had a development summit to fix things.
WJC results do flatter USA relative to Canada for the reason alluded to but that doesn't matter at the senior level. Teams need to produce the right talent to compete, and looking at the potential teams for the 2026 Olympics USA is right there. Sweden is very dangerous, as is Finland. Czechs have signs of life. Is Canada's theoretical U23 team better than the American one? I don't know, but there are plenty of times in the past where a Canadian U23 team would be much better than the American team of right now or the Canadian team of right now. That should be the goal.
I don't really want to distract much more from the point of the thread, so I'll say that where Canada is at with regard to young players is disappointing. If I forgot a great U23 player or four someone can point that out and I'll be happy about it.