Jets’ Gabriel Vilardi to play for Canada at 2026 World Championship

Canada’s roster is slowly coming together.

Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel confirmed that forward Gabriel Vilardi will join Mark Scheifele and Dylan DeMelo at the upcoming IIHF World Championship in Switzerland next month.

Vilardi is set to take part in his second World Championship with Canada, having helped the team win gold back in 2021. He had just one assist that year, but should have a bigger role this time around after breaking out for a career-best 30 goals and 69 points in 2025-26.

The 26-year-old has established himself as a big part of Winnipeg’s core over the past few seasons. He spent the first few years of his pro career bouncing between the NHL and AHL within the Los Angeles Kings organization before getting sent to Winnipeg in 2023. He had a 36-point campaign in 2023-24, but nearly doubled that with 61 points in 71 games last year.

But everything turned around in 2025-26. Vilardi primarily played alongside Scheifele and Kyle Connor on Winnipeg’s top line in 2025-26, with the trio being the driving force behind the Jets’ season. The club ultimately finished near the bottom of the standings, but Vilardi’s continued upward trajectory was a highlight, regardless.

Vilardi also won gold at the 2015 U-17 World Challenge, registering seven points in six games for Canada White. That roster also. included Owen Tippett, Evan Bouchard, Nick Suzuki and Robert Thomas, among others.

Other players set to join Canada’s World Championship team include DeMelo, Thomas, John Tavares and Ryan O’Reilly.

Canada will kick off the tournament on May 15 against Sweden, then take on Italy, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Czechia in round-robin action. The team owns the record for both gold (28) and total medals (53), but has failed to medal in the past two tournaments. Canada won gold in 2021 and 2023, and silver in 2019 and 2022.