By Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and Max Bultman
Team Canada has announced its 32-player selection camp for the 2025 World Junior Championship in Ottawa.
Here are reactions from The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and Max Bultman on the big exclusions, the invitees and the decisions that now lie ahead for Canada in their Dec. 10-13 camp, plus an updated roster projection for the tournament.
Four of the 2024 NHL Draft’s top nine picks not invited
Wheeler: A couple of weeks ago, after we left Carter Yakemchuk off our projected roster, I spoke with Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios about it and I thought he made a compelling case.
“In camp, he impressed us in every area of the game. He has the ability that you can’t teach. He has instinct and he’s got poise with the puck. And in junior hockey, he uses that to his advantage but the question was: ‘How well can he defend?’ or ‘How quickly can we get him up to speed to defend at the pro level?’ And I think that’s where we were the most impressed — once we put him in those situations, his instinct that he showed on the offensive side shone through defensively as well. And not only is he big and strong, and has length and the ability to defend but where I was most impressed was his instinct: off the rush being able to pick off passes, jumping into areas and closing gaps. And I think because he’s that much better than a lot of players in junior hockey, he doesn’t need to show it as much but certainly once he got into a more challenging situation, he defended at a better rate than we could have ever imagined.
“It was a very, very difficult decision and one that I think as he’s leading into this World Junior, he could very well be on our team in Ottawa and still playing games. We knew that the decision was made for his best interest to not rush him along. And if we made the decision on Carter staying here, which was warranted, I’m sure Hockey Canada would be calling and begging for us to send him back for the tournament.
“As far as roster, it’s difficult for me to say because I’m not in and evaluating these players on a day to day but to me, I don’t see how he’s not a top pairing guy and can play in all situations. That’s how I see Carter.
“And here’s the one thing that I think is most impressive about the player: his personality is very polite and a little bit quiet but it couldn’t be further from what he is on the ice … He is instinctual and aggressive, and the spotlight’s not too big for him, as evidenced by how he handled himself in his first pro camp. If I’m looking at it from a World Junior perspective, the plan is to be playing in a gold medal game and you need someone with a steady hand and Carter certainly has that.”
The part about how they’d be begging Ottawa for Yakemchuk if they’d kept him in the NHL rings particularly true.
Leaving off Beckett Sennecke and Tij Iginla didn’t surprise me. We had neither on our projected roster.
But I was surprised that they didn’t select Yakemchuk after his training camp with Ottawa, and Parekh’s the reigning CHL Defenseman of the Year who is fresh off playing 30 minutes per game for the Memorial Cup champs. I would have favoured Parekh and argued that he has more than proven he can defend against top players but I think both belonged in camp and had strong cases for the roster.
Pronman: One topic Canada’s staff was debating was whether to bring either or any of Parekh or Yakemchuk. Both are top-10 picks who have been excellent junior defensemen and have dynamic offensive traits. However, both of their first halves haven’t been as good as hoped for, and scouts still have some concerns about how trustworthy they are defensively. Did Sam Dickinson’s offensive breakout, and the potential addition of Matthew Schaefer counterbalance those concerns? I think this blue line lacks the type of skill those two would bring. I would probably take one of those players, even if in a limited role but ultimately the staff likely felt they couldn’t trust either at even strength.
Sennecke and Iginla also didn’t get camp invites in part due to a lack of a clear role. Both need to be top-nine forwards and power-play types to be on this team. Both could play those roles, but it wasn’t clear cut, and Sennecke wasn’t going to be invited as a fourth-line type. Iginla competes harder and had a more plausible case for that role but it wouldn’t be the best fit. Once Porter Martone had the first half he did, it cut out a top-nine job and there weren’t many to go around.
Bultman: It’s not as surprising to see Iginla and Sennecke left off, with Team Canada typically preferring older players at this event and the upper-lineup roles mostly spoken for. I do think Iginla has the traits to succeed in an energy role, but I can understand leaving them both off until next year. It’s leaving off both of Yakemchuk and Parekh that surprised me. It always seemed like one would end up on the outside looking in, role-wise, but it felt like that would be a battle decided at camp. Instead, neither will be at camp. That’s especially tough for Yakemchuk, who was in his final year of eligibility as a September 2005 birthdate — and who was auditioning to play for his fan base in Ottawa.
Who runs Canada’s power play(s) now?
Pronman: The decision to cut Parekh and Yakemchuk will be questioned if Canada’s power play struggles in the big games. Tanner Molendyk, Oliver Bonk, Dickinson and Schaefer are all very talented offensive players, and they are better two-way players. I would not call them true PP1 types for a typical Canada team. I probably would have brought one of Parekh or Yakemchuk and played them in a specialist role.
Bultman: You can make a case that Parekh and Yakemchuk are the best pure offensive D in Canada’s player pool, so leaving them off has to be seen as a major vote of confidence in players like Schaefer, Molendyk and Dickinson (who, to his credit, is outscoring Parekh by a wide margin so far this year). With Dickinson’s two-way profile, though, it felt like this team could take him in a prominent role and still have room for a prototypical power-play QB somewhere else in the lineup.
Certainly, there are multiple players in this group that can run a power play, though — and maybe that ends up being Schaefer, who has been great to start the season in Erie.
Wheeler: Molendyk, Dickinson and Schaefer are the natural candidates to run Canada’s power plays now, no question, but I think there’s also a scenario where Bonk plays his bumper role from London (they used him a little there even last year) and they have two D on one of the units (likely the second).
Canada bringing four underagers to camp
Pronman: Gavin McKenna has been arguably the best forward in the WHL and Martone the best player in the OHL. Schaefer has wowed scouts this year between his play at the Hlinka Gretzky, CHL/U.S. NTDP series and in the OHL. These are not small or slow players who you’re worried about how well their skill will translate versus better players. At some point, if you don’t bring them, you’re likely overthinking it to an extent. Martone and Schaefer have legit claims to be the No. 1 pick this summer and McKenna the following summer.
Bultman: McKenna is the one I’m really curious about among the young players. Even for as great a season as he’s had, you just don’t see many players this young (he’ll turn 17 just before the tournament begins) in big roles for Canada. He’s earned the opportunity, for sure, but it’s going to be a real test to see if he can translate his junior production to this tournament more like Connor Bedard than Alexis Lafrenière.
Wheeler: Sometimes you have to work with what you have and it was pretty evident at U18 worlds that McKenna, Martone and Schaefer were the class of this cycle. I think all three belong on the team and will end up on the team barring disappointing camps.
It was nice to see Jack Ivankovic get the fourth goalie invite, too. That last invite likely came down to him, fellow draft-eligible Joshua Ravensbergen (who was at the World Junior Summer Showcase but didn’t play his best), and Blue Jackets prospect Evan Gardner.
When asked if he’d heard at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge last week, Ravensbergen told The Athletic that he hadn’t but that new Hockey Canada goaltending coach Dan De Palma had just given him a call.
“I don’t know if it was a good thing or if it was bad. He was like ‘Good work on your career so far and I’m just calling to get to know you, you deserved a call.’ But then I was like, ‘So maybe that means I’m not going to get a call.’”
Ivankovic was at the Hlinka during the World Junior Summer Showcase and has been phenomenal for Hockey Canada at the U18 and U17 levels.
Whether or not he makes it, he, Carter George and Ravensbergen are the guys for 2026 in Minneapolis.
Returnee ≠ lock
Wheeler: I think there are two returnees whose jobs aren’t automatic heading into camp. Rehkopf might not be a lock, and I don’t think goaltender Scott Razlaff is necessarily a front-runner to make the team based on performance (though it’s worth noting that the Thunderbirds are a poor team this year in front of him). Canada usually only takes two goalies when the tournament is held in North America as a service to their junior teams and I’d guess that George and Carson Bjarnason are the picks.
Pronman: I think there are at least some reservations about a couple of returnees and whether they are true locks for this team. I’ve heard scouts raise enough concerns in particular about Rehkopf and Matthew Wood to think they may need to make a good impression at camp to stick. Cutting either would surprise me somewhat, especially given that Canada didn’t play either versus the USA in the summer, which seemed to indicate their spot was safe.
Surprise inclusions?
Wheeler: He’s not necessarily a surprise because he’s a multi-time captain for Hockey Canada, but if you’d asked me coming out of last season whether I thought Cam Allen would have earned an invite to selection camp over Parekh or Yakemchuk, I would have put the odds at very, very slim. He has struggled with his identity and decision-making mightily over the years but has really gotten back on track with Guelph this season. His invite is a nice nod to that.
I was happy to see Beau Akey get an invite as well. He had a great camp with the Oilers last season and I think he would have been in consideration for the 2024 selection camp but his post-draft year was marred by injuries.
New roster projection
Parekh is the only player from our projected 23-man roster from a couple of weeks ago who wasn’t invited to camp, so our updated lineup still features 22 of the same players, with Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Harrison Brunicke — who we debated for the initial projection — filling the last spot on the right side.
We’ve also tweaked our forward lines a little, with Wheeler and Bultman voting to move Andrew Cristall from the 13th forward spot to the top six, sliding Mathieu Cataford into the 13th forward role.
(Photo of Carter Yakemchuk: Jonathan Kozub / Getty Images)
