While the last few renditions of the World Junior Championships (WJC) have ended in heartbreak for Canada, their 2026 roster has the potential to be one of the most stacked in recent memory.
On Dec. 26, the 2026 World Junior Championship (WJC) will kick off for some of the best under-20 (U20) hockey players around the globe. The Canadian squad will aim for the nation’s 21st gold medal at the event.
Related: Projecting Finland’s Roster for the 2026 World Junior Championship
Below is a prediction of Canada’s 2026 WJC roster, including 13 forwards, seven defencemen, and three goaltenders. 13 different NHL teams are represented — that’s 40.6% of the league. A whopping 18 of the 23 players are former or future first-round picks.
Canada’s Forwards
Funny enough, the main obstacle potentially holding Canada back is their players being too good. Talent like Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer will not participate because they’re too important to their NHL squads. Given what we know, here’s what the offense could look like:
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
| Gavin McKenna | Michael Misa | Porter Martone |
| Tij Iginla | Jett Luchanko | Michael Hage |
| Cole Reschny | Cole Beaudoin | Liam Greentree |
| Caleb Desnoyers | Brady Martin | Justin Carbonneau |
| Jake O’Brien |
At the 2025 WJC, some of the names left off the roster included: Andrew Cristall, Michael Misa, Beckett Sennecke and Zayne Parekh — all dominant forces in their respective junior leagues, and in many cases, with better numbers than other players who did make the roster.
The result was an embarrassing preliminary round loss to Latvia and a dreadful collapse against the Czechs in the quarterfinals. Ironically, this time around, Sennecke likely won’t be available because he’s succeeding in the NHL. Same goes for Matthew Wood and Ben Kindel.
Including Celebrini, those four tournament-eligible players have combined for 34 goals and 80 points this NHL season. Not bad for a bunch of teenagers, huh!? But certainly bad for Team Canada’s offense.
Canada’s hope will be that they can get at least one of the NHL forwards on the roster. Among all of them, the most likely is probably Misa from the San Jose Sharks. But even he is certainly not a guarantee.
Nonetheless, they’re loaded regardless. All eyes will be on Gavin McKenna as the consensus 2026 #1 overall pick will play a massive role. If Misa is centering his line, Porter Martone, who has 19 points in 14 games for Michigan State (NCAA), would be a nice addition. That’s a mature line with three kids who are playing in leagues way tougher than the average WJC competition.
Center Jett Luchanko has eight games of NHL experience under his belt, plus 16 at the American Hockey League (AHL) level where he was near a point-per-game (6P in 7GP) during the Calder Cup Playoffs. If Canada had the luxury of adding all of their current NHL players, Luchanko would likely be their 4C rather than 2C. That speaks to the level of talent coming out of the country.
Analyzing the other forwards in the lineup would be extremely repetitive. With the exception of McKenna, who will go #1, the remainder of the forward group is entirely comprised of first-round picks from the 2024 and 2025 Drafts. Sheesh.
Canada’s Defencemen
Selfishly, it really hurts Canada that Matthew Schaefer is playing so well he might find himself on the literal Olympic team at 18 years old. As a result of said stellar play, New York Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche said he “will not be loaned to Team Canada for the upcoming World Juniors,” per TSN.
If there’s any part of their team most likely to contribute to their demise, it’s the defence.
| Left Defence | Right Defense |
| Kashawn Aitcheson | Zayne Parekh |
| Sam Dickinson | Harrison Brunicke |
| Cameron Reid | Ben Danford |
| Keaton Verhoeff |
This defence is heavily reliant on three players that have spent a chunk of time in the NHL this season: Parekh, Sam Dickinson and Harrison Brunicke. Unlike many of the forwards, however, none have stood out to the point where their team desperately needs them to stay.
If one or two of those three are injured, or held back by their organization, Canada’s defence is in an immensely worse spot. Keaton Verhoeff — a consenus top three pick in the upcoming Draft — would slot into a much larger role. That would be a tough responsibility for a kid who isn’t even 17-and-a-half yet, though he’s excelled for the University of North Dakota (NCAA) with 10 points in 14 games.
The remainder of the defencemen — including a few first-round picks, are great but nobody really stands out in the way some in the forward group do. Of course, that would not be the case if it was true best-on-best and Schaefer committed. But his sights are set on the Calder Trophy, Olympics and potentially the Stanley Cup Playoffs instead.
Regardless, they’ll still arguably have the best D corps in the 2026 WJC, but they’ll hope everyone meshes quickly unlike the past two tournaments.
Canada’s Goaltenders
The top two goaltenders are pretty much set. The only question is who the third will be.
| Goaltenders |
| Carter George |
| Jack Ivankovic |
| Lucas Beckman |
Carter George will return as Team Canada’s starter; he was phenomenal in last year’s tournament: a 1.76 goals against average (GAA) with a .936 save percentage (SV%). The Los Angeles Kings prospect has the potential to be a real gamebreaker.
Jack Ivankovic — still 18 years old — has been one of the best netminders in the NCAA with a 2.00 GAA and .922 SV% for the University of Michigan. If George needs to exit the crease at any point, Ivankovic is an equally magnificent option.
Lastly, with a few great options for the third spot: Joshua Ravensbergen, Ryerson Leenders and Evan Gardner specifically…Lucas Beckman deserves the edge for his stellar play behind a dreadful Baie-Comeau team in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) that’s 4-19-2-2. Beckman has all four of their wins and has played to a .905 SV%. He’d be great depth.
Starting Dec. 26, Canada begins their journey to earn their first gold medal since 2023. Despite losing some players to the NHL, they still have a very good chance to finish at the top of the podium. Their official preliminary roster will release on Dec. 8th.
