Breaking down Canada’s World Junior Championship roster: cuts, standouts, line projections and more

Steven Ellis
Steven Ellis
Breaking down Canada’s World Junior Championship roster: cuts, standouts, line projections and more
Credit: Steven Ellis/Daily Faceoff

OAKVILLE, Ontario – Canada has announced its 22-man roster for the 2024 World Junior Championship in hopes of winning gold for the third consecutive time.

Canada completed its four-day selection camp at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex, with the team scheduled to fly out to Sweden on Thursday.

Of note, Canada only announced 12 forwards, with the chance for either Zach Benson or Matthew Poitras to still be named to this squad. There’s still time for that to happen, and if neither comes through, they’ll be able to add an extra forward instead.

Canada is a definite favorite to win a medal. Gold? Probably not. Bronze feels right, but that could change based on any additional players they add to this group. This feels like a team built around opportunities for players deeper in the lineup to step up, and, you know, it’s Canada. It’s hard to ever count them out with the depth they have.

The Cuts

Domenic DiVincentiis, G (Winnipeg Jets): It wasn’t that long ago that the OHL’s top goaltender last year was projected to be the starter. Instead, a bad showing in the second game didn’t help his case, while the other three looked great.

Michael Buchinger, D (St. Louis Blues): Truthfully, it felt like the only times I noticed him was when he was making questionable plays in the D-zone. He’s a guy that has come a long way over the past few years, and I felt like he had a good chance to make it based on his season to date. But Buchinger kept turning the puck over and getting beat consistently, so it didn’t surprise me.

Jorian Donovan, D (Ottawa Senators): Donovan had some good blocks and roughed some guys up. But his decision-making under pressure got exposed against the older competition, and I don’t think he moved well enough compared to others on this team.

Ty Nelson, D (Seattle Kraken): I really wanted Nelson there, but the abundance of power-play quarterbacks made Nelson’s inclusion more difficult. He’s great with the puck, but others are better in their own zone. It’s too bad, because I thought Nelson looked good.

Denver Barkey, F (Philadelphia Flyers): I loved Barkey’s energy, and he needed to show that get a spot as a fringe player. He was arguably Canada’s best forward in the first game and I think he kept the momentum alive on Wednesday, too. I’m genuinely surprised he didn’t make it.

Jagger Firkus, F (Seattle Kraken): Firkus entered as one of the top scorers in CHL, but he leaves having had too quiet of a showing. And it’s too bad because we know what he’s capable of. But with Dumais already holding the mantle as the “small winger” archetype for this team, it didn’t make sense to keep Firkus around based on his performance.

Markus Vidicek, F (Undrafted): Good on Vidicek for getting invited to camp. He was the ultimate underdog who brought energy every shift. In the end, he needed to bring more than that, and that wasn’t happening.

Paul Ludwinski, F (Chicago Blackhawks): Ludwinski needed a big showing but didn’t get it. The team had enough bottom-six depth to work with.

Standouts

Macklin Celebrini, F (2024 NHL Draft): Can you really be surprised? Celebrini brought incredible energy to every shift and looked physically stronger than the last time he repped the Canadian colors at the U-18 World Championship. He did a good job of catching defenders off guard and never stopped moving. Expect him to be Canada’s No. 1 center.

Noah Warren, D (Anaheim Ducks): Warren was the most consistent defender in both games. He hit, blocked shots, got in the way and just played strong defense. That’s what he does best – pair him up with a puck-moving defenseman and Warren will make you proud.

Samuel St-Hilaire, G (Undrafted): Full marks to St-Hilaire, who looked like the odd-man out for Canada heading in. But he played well in both games and beat out DiVicentiis, which wasn’t an easy task. I think he’ll be the third goalie, but that’s a good story for a longshot option.

Note: Conor Geekie, Fraser Minten, Matthew Savoie, Maveric Lamoureux, Tristan Luneau and Denton Mateychuk did not participate in any of the games as roster locks.

Line Projections

This is built without knowing if the team will snag either one of Benson or Poitras. Both will factor into the team’s top six, but since we don’t know who’ll they’ll get, we’ll work with what we know.

Forwards

Conor Geekie – Macklin Celebrini – Matthew Savoie
Brayden Yager – Fraser Minten – Jordan Dumais
Carson Rehkopf – Owen Beck – Matthew Wood
Owen Allard – Nate Danielson – Easton Cowan

Defensemen

Denton Mateychuk – Tristan Luneau
Tanner Molendyk – Maveric Lamoureux
Oliver Bonk – Noah Warren
Jake Furlong

Goalies

Mathis Rousseau
Scott Ratzlaff
Samuel St-Hilaire

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