Is Canada leaving too much skill at home?
Canada has a great talent pool across the Canadian Hockey League and college hockey. They can leave prolific scorers at home and still compete for the WJC gold every year. But Canada has one gold medal in the last seven years. That’s a far cry from their five straight gold medals from 2005-2009.
Last year, undrafted free-agent Maxime Fortier was left of Canada’s roster while tearing up the Quebec league. Same with Jordan Kyrou, Adam Mascherin, and Cliff Pu of the Ontario Hockey League. Canada has often elected for lesser scoring, role players like Blake Speers, Anthony Cirelli, and Mitchell Stephens to fill their roster depth. Those are still strong junior hockey players, just not the same as the scorers left behind. Canada ended up losing against the United States in the final.
Joshua Ho-Sang didn’t make it in either 2015 or 2016, though Canada still won gold in 2015.
Max Domi and Darnell Nurse, both first round picks the year prior, were left of Canada’s roster in 2014. A year where Canada didn’t even medal.
Tyler Toffoli didn’t even receive an invite in 2010 and 2011 while he was on pace for two-straight 50-goal seasons.
This year is similar. Florida’s tenth overall pick Owen Tippett wasn’t selected after a brief campaign with the Panthers. Tippett had 44 goals last season and has 16 points in 14 games this year with the Missauaga Steelheads. Philadelphia Flyers first-round pick Morgan Frost is third in OHL scoring, but isn’t at the December camp either.
Mascherin and Pu are notable omissions once again. Both are having strong campaigns in the OHL. Each player had 35 goals last season, while Mascherin hit the 100-point plateau as well. They were left off in favour of players like Jonathan Ang, Max Comtois, and Alex Formenton.
Matthew Phillips is small at 5’6”, but is scoring amongst the best in the Western Hockey League. He wasn’t invited to the December selection camp.
Hockey Canada has done this at higher levels too. Kris Draper made the 2006 Olympic team and Chris Kunitz rode shotgun with Sidney Crosby in Sochi due to chemistry. Canada won in 2014 so the Kunitz decision doesn’t look as out of place as Draper in 2006.
Canada still has some big talent. They have Arizona Coyotes draft pick, Tyler Steenbergen, one of the CHL’s top scorers. Anaheim Ducks prospect Sam Steel led the WHL in scoring last season. He’s a lock for team Canada. Kyrou and Calgary Flames pick Dillon Dube are having excellent seasons and should make the team.
In the case of Mascherin and Phllips, they won’t kill penalties so Canada might opt for less offensively gifted players. Canada has such a wealth of players they can usually afford to do that, but other countries are catching up in talent. The United States has three of the last eight gold medals. Finland’s won two of the last four championships, and Sweden and Russia have one each since Canada’s dominant late-2000s run. Canada’s roster decisions are crucial if they want to return to that previous World Junior glory.
