Everyone knows Canada has a deep connection to hockey, but the World Junior Championship holds a special place in Canadians’ hearts. For a few weeks every year, these 23 teenagers are the biggest stars in the country, and those who can defy the odds become national heroes. It was at this time last year Connor Bedard went from a top prospect to a household name even non-hockey fans knew. He was far from the first: Alexis Lafreniere was a favourite memory of many of the current players, while fans of my age remember Jordan Eberle and Carey Price leading Canada to gold.
So, who will be the hero this year? Team Canada doesn’t have as strong of a roster as they have had in the past as many of their best young players are already in the NHL and finding success there. Kevin Korchinski, Zach Benson, Adam Fantilli, Shane Wright, and Bedard are still eligible to play but haven’t been made available by their NHL clubs.
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But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of skill on this team. Canada’s medal hopes will be supported by the projected first-overall pick and a late-comer to the team, as well as a deep blue line filled with top two-way talents. While any player could break out in Gothenburg, Sweden, here are a few names you should keep an eye on ahead of the 2024 World Juniors.
Matthew Poitras
When their final roster was announced, Team Canada named only 22 players instead of the maximum 23 in case any eligible players were loaned from their clubs at a later date. That premonition became a reality on Dec. 18 when the Boston Bruins allowed 19-year-old forward Matthew Poitras to play in his first World Junior tournament. A star with the Guelph Storm in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) from 2020-23, he’s been with the Bruins for the entirety of the 2023-24 season, where he’s played 27 games and scored five goals and added eight assists for 13 points.
Had the Bruins opted to keep Poitras — which looked more likely after Pavel Zacha went down with a long-term injury — Team Canada would simply have added one of the forwards they initially cut, most likely centers Paul Ludwinski or Denver Barkey. With Poitras, though, Team Canada gets a much-needed boost on offence as in his last season in the OHL, he put up 16 goals and 95 points. He’s an excellent playmaker with top-tier vision, which should work well alongside any of the top-six forwards.
Macklin Celebrini
There’s no one else who will be under as much scrutiny as the top-ranked prospect heading into the 2024 NHL Draft, especially after Bedard’s success last year. But don’t expect Macklin Celebrini to break any records this year like his predecessor. Despite leading the entire United States Hockey League (USHL) last season with 46 goals and 86 points, and leading the Boston University Terriers this season as a freshman with 10 goals and 25 points in 15 games, he doesn’t project to be an elite scorer at the highest levels. That doesn’t bother him, though, as in an interview with the IIHF, he said, “I take pride in my defensive game, taking care of the defensive zone because I feel like that’s important if you want to play in the offensive zone. I’m a 200-foot player.”
Related: 2024 Guide to the World Junior Championship
That doesn’t mean Celebrini doesn’t have the potential to be one of Canada’s best players at the World Juniors. One player that scouts have repeatedly compared him to is Jonathan Toews, who led Team Canada with seven points in 2007, although Toews was 19 years old and in his second tournament. Still, Celebrini is expected to play in the top six and in Canada’s first pre-tournament game, he’ll center the second line alongside Fraser Minten and Jordan Dumais, two players who could complement his two-way skillset nicely.
Denton Mateychuk
While Canada’s offence has some question marks, albeit fewer after the addition of Poitras, there are no concerns on defence. All six defencemen are strong skaters and can play a competent 200-foot game, none more so than Denton Mateychuk. Before leaving for Canada’s World Junior training camp, he was one of the highest-scoring defencemen in the entire Canadian Hockey League (CHL) with 35 points in 24 games. Even now, only Hunter Brzustewicz, who plays for the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL, has a higher point-per-game pace.
It looks like Mateychuk’s scoring prowess will follow him to Sweden, too. In Canada’s first pre-tournament game, which Team Canada won 8-0 over Denmark’s U25s, he was the only defenceman to score a goal and just one of two players to score twice, joining Fraser Minten 13 minutes into the third period. His mobility and ability to serve as quarterback drew comparisons to Quinn Hughes back in 2022 and, now that he’s added a bit of muscle, the comparisons look even stronger. Expect him to be a big part of Canada’s offence.
Owen Beck
Experience plays a huge factor at the World Juniors. Traditionally, weaker teams who have lots of returning players can often play above expectations, while stronger teams with little experience can stumble out of the gate. Canada, unfortunately, falls into the latter category this year with just one returning player from the 2023 roster. That means they will be relying heavily on Owen Beck to prepare the team for what to expect at the tournament.
Although Beck is not one of the most skilled players on Team Canada, he could be one of the most important. He’s one of four players with NHL experience — having played one game for the Montreal Canadiens last season — which gives him a leg up on much of the competition he will be facing and makes him a top candidate to be named team captain. But he’s also very strong defensively and in the faceoff dot, making him the perfect player to run the bottom six and chip in wherever needed.
The Geekie-Savoie Combo
Players are given the near-impossible task of developing line chemistry in the few weeks leading up to one of the most challenging junior tournaments in the world. So, when a nation has the opportunity to select players who already have that, it can be a massive boost. That’s the case with Canada’s Conor Geekie and Matthew Savoie. The pair were two of the Western Hockey League’s Winnipeg Ice’s best players last season, combining for 71 goals and 175 points, plus another 17 goals and 46 points in the playoffs.
The duo was separated at the start of the 2023-24 season, with Savoie off to the Buffalo Sabres and Geekie staying put with the newly relocated Wenatchee Wild, but were reunited in November for 11 games before both were invited to Canada’s training camp. In that brief span, the pair set each other up on 13 goals and both assisted on four more, meaning that over 30% of the Wild’s goals came at the hands of either Savoie or Geekie.
Savoie often gets most of the accolades, which stands to reason – he made the Sabres out of training camp and put up five points in six American Hockey League (AHL) games before he was re-assigned and finished last season with 95 points compared to Geekie’s 77. But Geekie was not simply riding on his teammates’ coattails. In that 11-game stretch, he scored seven goals without Savoie recording a point, while Savoie scored just three without him. By the time the two left for training camp, Geekie was leading the Wild with 20 goals and 49 points in just 26 games. Now on the international stage, it will be fascinating to watch them play alongside some of Canada’s best prospects.
Honourable Mentions
Several other players could have made this list. Easton Cowan started on the first line, Fraser Minten put up three points against Denmark, and Jordan Dumais is leading the CHL with 2.24 points per game. On defence, Tanner Molendyk has some of the best mobility of any NHL prospect, Maveric Lamoureux blends offensive abilities with the physicality only a 6-foot-7 behemoth can, and Oliver Bonk can play shutdown defence and lead a team with assists. Undrafted goalie Mathis Rousseau has dominated the Quebec Junior Hockey Leauge (QMJHL) this season and could be a surprise starter for Canada, while Scott Ratzlaff backstopped Canada to gold at the Hlinka Gretzky last year with a .976 save percentage.
Yes, this isn’t Canada’s strongest roster, and fans are certainly bound to hear that several more times before the tournament starts. But there are still so many talented prospects on this team that it’s hard to see any glaring areas of weakness. This team is still a medal contender, filled with potential breakout stars just waiting to capture the nation’s attention.
