Hockey Canada announced the 29 players that are expected to compete for spots on the national junior team for the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship. Canada will look to defend its title after taking gold in a dramatic final during the 2022 World Juniors which were rescheduled to last summer.

The Canadians will have home ice advantage, playing primarily in Halifax during the World Junior Championship which runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in both Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick. The roster will have to be cut down to 23 players before the tournament begins.

One additional wrinkle to Canada’s announcement is that Hockey Canada remains in contact with NHL teams about the possibility of adding players to their camp roster. Among those age-eligible to play in the World Juniors are Shane Wright of the Seattle Kraken, Brandt Clarke of the Los Angeles Kings, Arizona Coyotes forward Dylan Guenther, Dallas Stars forward Wyatt Johnston and Anaheim Ducks forward Mason McTavish. The latter two are not expected to be released by their NHL teams, but the others could be. This has actually been a fairly common practice for Canadian teams recently.

For now, Canada’s roster looks like this.

Goaltenders

Tyler Brennan (Prince George/NJD); Ben Gaudreau (Sarnia/SJS); Thomas Milic (Seattle/Undrafted); William Rosseau (Quebec/Undrafted)

Defensemen

Make that FOUR 🚨

Olen Zellweger shelfs one to give Canada a 4-0 lead late in the 1st.#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/6UCPdZ6QMz

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 11, 2022

Nolan Allan (Seattle/CHI); Ethan Del Mastro (Mississauga/CHI); Tyson Hinds (Sherbrooke/ANA); Kevin Korchinski (Seattle/CHI); Carson Lambos (Winnipeg/MIN); Jack Matier (Ottawa/NSH); Evan Nause (Quebec/FLA); Ethan Samson (Prince George/PHI); Olen Zellweger (Everett/ANA)

Forwards

Caedan Bankier (Kamloops/MIN); Owen Beck (Mississauga/MTL); Connor Bedard (Regina/2023 NHL Draft elgible); Zachary Bolduc (Quebec/STL); Colton Dach (Kelowna/CHI); Zach Dean (Gatineau/VGK); Jordan Dumais (Halifax/CBJ); Adam Fantilli (Michigan/2023 NHL Draft eligible); Nathan Gaucher (Quebec/ANA); Ryan Greene (Boston University/CHI); Riley Kidney (Acadie-Bathurst/MTL); Zack Ostapchuk (Vancouver/OTT); Brennan Othmann (Peterborough/NYR); Joshua Roy (Serbrooke/MTL); Reid Schaefer (Seattle/EDM); Logan Stankoven (Kamloops/DAL).

Congrats Adam Fantilli on being named to Canada's National Junior Team Selection Camp!#GoBlue〽️ pic.twitter.com/KRnbDBWqZn

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) December 5, 2022

Team Canada will be led by Dennis Williams, head coach of the Everett Silvertips. He was an assistant on Canada’s gold-medal team last summer. He is in his sixth year at Everett, but had spent his previous seven seasons as a head coach in U.S. junior leagues, most recently with the now defunct Bloomington Thunder and the NAHL’s Amarillo Bulls.

Canada will hold its selection camp from Dec. 9-12 in Moncton with plans to name a final roster on Dec. 12. Canada will play a pair of games against USports teams before playing in three pre-tournament games against World Junior entries from Slovakia, Switzerland and Finland.

Instant Reaction

Canada will enter the tournament as heavy favorites with or without the NHL players not currently named to the team. Undoubtedly, players like Shane Wright or Dylan Guenther would go a long way to making them an even stronger group up front, while Brandt Clarke could add something to the back end even if Canada’s got good depth there, too. Not having them won't change the projection, though.

Amazingly, Canada will return 10 players from last year’s WJC champion. Logan Stankoven and Olen Zellweger in particular played impact roles on the team last year with many others contributing in a significant manner as well. The 10 returnees are Stankoven, Zellweger, Bedard, Del Mastro, Gaucher, Kidney, Lambos, Ostapchuk, Othmann and Roy.

Connor Bedard scores goals like THIS.@WHLPats | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/vrNoxUOXc0

— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 1, 2022

All eyes will be on Connor Bedard and fellow 2023 NHL Draft eligible Adam Fantilli throughout camp. Both should be on the final roster, but Fantilli has more of an uphill climb than Bedard, who was a member of the championship team last year. Both bring a lot of strong qualities to the roster. Beyond them, however, there are some dynamic forwards throughout the lineup.

Canada is going to have a big blue line in this tournament as well. Zellweger is the only blueliner below the 6-foot mark and six of the invitees are 6-foot-3 or taller. Zellweger may lack height, but he’ll likely be the minutes leader for this group as he was in the summer. This blue line has size, mobility and they can move pucks, so Canada has good balance. What they don’t have a lot of is right-shot defensemen as Ethan Samson and Jack Matier are the only two who fit into that category. They’ll have to cut two defensemen to get their roster down, or three if Brandt Clarke is part of the mix after all.

Where Canada is lacking is the same place a lot of teams are lacking. Their goaltending is not particularly strong, but they do have some players with some upside that can play the position adequately. Ben Gaudreau was the team’s starter at the U18 Worlds in 2021 and helped Canada win gold. Thomas Milic and William Rousseau, the two undrafted goalies invited, have the best numbers of the four netminders brought in. Canada can only keep three.

Surprising Omissions

Beyond the NHL players that were not yet included in the roster, there were a few eyebrow-raising omissions from the roster. One of the most notable was 2022 ninth overall pick Matthew Savoie who has been among the top producers in Canadian junior hockey over the last two seasons. Also omitted from the roster was 2022 11th overall pick and Savoie’s Winnipeg ICE teammate Conor Geekie. The duo has been part of one of the top junior hockey teams in the CHL, playing central roles in their success, but were not included. Both will be eligible for next year’s tournament, if available.

Beyond that, there weren’t too many major surprises for this Canadian roster. They don’t have a ton of depth at goal, and it was clear they wanted to have a blue line that was both big and mobile.

Stay tuned for more World Junior camp previews an analysis throughout the week on FloHockey.