Canada names 2023 U-18 World Championship roster: 2023, 2024 NHL Draft talent highlight squad

Team Canada has named its 22-man roster that will play at the upcoming U-18 World Hockey Championship in Basel and Porrentruy, Switzerland later this month.

A total of eight players from Canada’s gold medal run at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup will return, including top prospects Colby Barlow, Matthew Wood, Andrew Cristall and Cal Ritchie. Four returnees from the 2022 U-18 World Championship team will be making a second go-around, with Wood, Tanner Howe and Lukas Dragicevic getting another crack at it.

Cristall, projected to go in the top 10, is the top 2023 forward on the roster, while Barlow, Wood, Dragicevic and Ritchie are all looking to be first-rounders, among others.

But a lot of the attention will be on the 2024 NHL Draft prospects. Macklin Celebrini, the projected top pick for next year’s selection, was loaned out from the Chicago Steel of the USHL while the team is still actively playing. Berkly Catton is another high-profile prospect out of the WHL, while Howe, Porter Martone and goaltender Gabriel D’Aigle will all go quite high in the next selection process.

Canada last won the tournament in 2021, but was eliminated in the quarterfinal a year ago. They’ve won the tournament just four times, tying them with Finland for second all-time. Unlike the United States, who brings the USNTDP that has been together all year long, Canada’s roster is mostly made up of players that were made available due to their junior teams being knocked out of the playoffs. Of note, Connor Bedard, the top 2023 NHL Draft prospect, will not participate.

Canada will open the tournament against Sweden in Porrentruy on Thursday before facing off against Germany, Slovakia and Czechia. The gold medal game will take place on April 30.