The Ottawa Senators won’t have a contingent of players at the 2024 World Junior Championship. Oskar Pettersson is a lock for Sweden’s team following a four-point performance at last year’s tournament and a strong start to the 2023-24 season, but the rest of the Senators’ top prospects are a long shot.
Tomas Hamara earned a silver medal with Czechia at the 2023 World Juniors but, apart from his last few games, he hasn’t looked great in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Kevin Reidler and Filip Nordberg suited up for Sweden’s international team this season, but compared to their teammates, they haven’t stood out and are unlikely to be on the final roster in December.
However, there’s one more name that Senators fans should keep an eye on. Jorian Donovan, a 2022 fifth-round pick, has quickly become one of the team’s best prospects and has put together a fantastic season so far with the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs. He was always defensively responsible, but seeing his offensive side bloom has put him in a position to secure a spot on Team Canada’s roster. With several questions surrounding the team’s blue line heading into the tournament, Dorion answers at least a couple of them, which should solidify his bid to make his World Junior debut.
Dominance With the Bulldogs
Despite being one of the youngest members of an experienced blue line, Donovan emerged as the Bulldogs’ best defender last season. In 55 games, he scored 12 goals and 45 points, both of which led the team’s defensemen. His performance prompted the Senators to call him up late in the season to play a couple of games with the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Belleville Senators before returning him to junior. So, heading into 2023-24, with all but two of the team’s leaders leaving, it was expected that he would take over as Brampton’s go-to guy.
Now, 23 games into the season, Donovan has not disappointed. After a slow start, he kicked it into high gear at the end of October, going on a 5-game point streak. He sits fourth on the team with 20 points and a comfortable 13 points ahead of the next highest-scoring defender. But he’s also been one of the better defenders in the OHL. Among defencemen under 20 years old, he ranks 10th in points and eighth in goals, and among Canadians, he slides up to sixth and fifth, respectively.
Donovan’s breakout has been aided by his incredible skating and enviable two-way acumen. Ahead of the 2022 NHL Draft, The Hockey Writers’ Matthew Zator compared the youngster to Adam Fox, writing, “Donovan is probably already on a lot of NHL teams’ draft boards just for his explosive skating, offensive awareness and ability to move the puck quickly out of his own zone.” But he also brings an aggressiveness to the ice, forcing turnovers, and creating chances thanks to his high on-ice intelligence. He still needs some time before he’s NHL-ready, but his skills are developing very nicely in Brampton.
Donovan’s Biggest Competition
Donovan has emerged as one of the better young defenders in the OHL, and Senators fans aren’t the only ones to recognize it. He was invited to Hockey Canada’s summer development camp, which often serves as a preview of Canada’s World Junior roster. Looking at who joined him there, we can see that he brings a skillset that the rest of the Canadian defenders can’t offer.
Denton Mateychuk is probably the only guarantee on Canada’s defence heading into the tournament. Selected in the first round of the 2022 Draft, the Columbus Blue Jackets prospect leads the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) U20 defenders with 1.47 points per game and sits fourth among all defencemen in the league. Fellow WHLer Owen Pickering is another good bet; although he’s had a slower year offensively, the 6-foot-5 Pittsburgh Penguin selection is a great offensive player when he’s on.
Speaking of size, the 6-foot-7 Maveric Lamoureux is also expected to make the team, according to Daily FaceOff’s Steven Ellis, as is 6-foot-2 Tristan Luneau, who has spent this season mainly with the Anaheim Ducks affiliate in San Diego. That leaves just two roster positions to fill without any representatives from the OHL. While it’s not a rule that every position needs players from each of the three Canadian Hockey Leagues (CHL), it usually ends up working out like that, and there aren’t many better options than Donovan.
Right now, three other OHLers are vying for a spot. Michael Buchinger was at the summer development camp with Donovan and has scored at a point-per-game pace with the Guelph Storm, but he’s more of a pure offensive defenceman and may not thrive on the third pairing, despite his physicality. The same goes for Ty Nelson, who leads Canadian 19-year-old defencemen in the OHL with 25 points, and Spencer Sova, who has nine goals this season. Both are incredibly talented, but Nelson is under 6-feet, which doesn’t seem to be Canada’s preference when picking defenders, and Sova is undrafted, which shouldn’t affect his chances, but given the nation’s talent, it’s a rarity to see an undrafted player make the final Canadian roster.
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Outside of the OHL, Tanner Molendyk could turn a few heads with his brilliant skating and ability to shut down opponent’s top threats. Last season, he was the Saskatoon Blades’ first choice to match up against Connor Bedard whenever the Regina Pats came to town and was able to prevent the 2023 first-overall pick from scoring a goal on several occasions. However, at 5-foot-11, he might also be considered too small. The QMJHL’s Noah Warren certainly fits the size qualifications at 6-foot-5 while also bringing smooth skating and defensive acumen, but he hasn’t had the best start to the 2023-24 season with just three points in 14 games with the Victoriaville Tigres.
Canada Needs Proven Winners
Canada enters the World Juniors as gold-medal favourites every year; anything less is seen as disappointing, and leaving the tournament without a medal is an abject failure. There’s no question that Canada has some of the best young talent in the world, but simply adding all the best scorers and highest picks doesn’t make a good team. Certain players will be asked to play limited minutes at the bottom of the lineup, and that can be difficult for established stars.
That’s why adding Donovan is a no-brainer. First of all, he’s a proven winner, after helping the Bulldogs capture the OHL title in 2022, and secondly, he did so while playing a limited role behind Nathan Staios, Gavin White, Arber Xhekaj, and Artem Grushnikov. Finally, there’s his intelligence, which puts him a step ahead of most of his competition. He is rarely the most skilled player on the ice, but his ability to see plays develop and adapt to the situation has been on display at every level, from the OHL to the Senators’ rookie tournament. If Canada wants to win a third consecutive gold medal, they would be wise to add Donovan to their third pairing.
