Team Canada World Junior selection camp: Breaking down the cuts, standouts and roster

OTTAWA — Team Canada made its final cuts for its roster for the 2025 World Juniors on Friday afternoon, narrowing the 32 players invited to selection camp down to the 25 who will represent Canada at this year’s tournament.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler and Corey Pronman were in Ottawa for selection camp. Here are their standouts, thoughts on the cuts and an updated lineup projection.

Up next for Canada: Three pre-tournament games (Dec. 19 vs. Switzerland, Dec. 21 vs. Sweden and Dec. 23 vs. Czechia) ahead of their Boxing Day opener against Finland.

Camp standouts

Wheeler: Carson Rehkopf wasn’t a lock to make Team Canada as a returnee coming into camp but he was one of the standouts in the red-white scrimmages (he scored a goal in both and in the shootout) and then scored a hat trick and added a primary assist in overtime of the first USports game. He flashed his speed speed, skill and release but I was particularly impressed by the way he supported play, forechecked, and finished all of his checks, which were more important elements for him to show Hockey Canada.

I thought Ethan Gauthier really cemented his role with his competitiveness and his work ethic this week as well. Hockey Canada brass have talked a lot about how they were disappointed in last year’s team’s jam, competitiveness and ability to get to the inside. Gauthier leads by example with his play and looks now like he’ll be an important bottom-six guy for this year’s team after not being invited to the World Junior Summer Showcase in August. Denver Barkey, Mathieu Cataford, Tanner Howe and Luca Pinelli also showed similar elements and all played well, though it wasn’t enough for Barkey, who was one of the final cuts for a second year in a row.

Pronman: Cole Beaudoin gave his absolute all to trying to make Team Canada. He was a relentless player throughout the camp, leading Canada in physical play by a significant margin. He didn’t generate a ton of offense, but he clearly demonstrated he could play a bottom-six energy role due to his size and compete. As one scout in attendance put it, “he was the only one on the ice trying to win the role he was playing for.”

For a 17-year-old, Matthew Schaefer absolutely looked like he belonged on Team Canada. It would not be unreasonable to suggest he could be their best defenseman at the tournament by the end of it. He didn’t create a ton of offense, but he was so smooth and effective due to his skating and hockey sense. He broke up plays, got the puck up ice and never seemed to be at issue on the ice. He looked like a player strongly in the mix to be the No. 1 selection in June.

I like the energy Gauthier brought to his shifts. He played hard, with good tempo, and was involved in just enough offense. He won a job in the bottom six and will likely be killing penalties.

Canada was searching for some grit on the blue line, and Andrew Gibson showed he could provide that. He will be a stopper/PK type for them using his size and mobility.

Canada will get accused of playing favorite with Pinelli who their coach Dave Cameron works with in Ottawa. That said I thought Pinelli earned his spot. He was involved in a lot of scoring chances, played fast and competed well. I may have gone in another direction, but it was a reasonable invite. In the first camp game, the line with him, Beckett Sennecke and Rehkopf was buzzing and was arguably the best overall line in the camp.

Thoughts on the picks and the cuts

Wheeler: The only pick that surprised me a little was Pinelli’s. I thought he had a really positive camp. He plays with great energy and he’s got some skill. But if it came down to him and Barkey (two similar players in makeup and style vying for the same type of bottom-six role), I think Barkey excels in that role more than Pinelli. Barkey’s also one of the top penalty killers in the CHL and was excellent at last year’s selection camp.

I thought Zayne Parekh struggled in his own zone and got pushed around a little throughout camp this week and just wasn’t at his best, so that cut after the late invite comes as no surprise. Sennecke played well though and felt like he was a goal away in the second USports game from maybe forcing their hand.

And then there’s Andrew Cristall and Matthew Wood. Wood’s lack of pace was evident throughout camp and I think they just want the identity of this team to look a little different. Cristall’s the one forward who would have been on my team, though. His skating has come a long way, he was excellent at the summer showcase in August, he nearly made the Capitals out of camp, and he’s the top offensive forward in the CHL this year. I thought his vision was noticeable throughout camp, he played hard, and he would have been an asset to their top-six or a useful extra to have if the top-six wasn’t clicking, plus an asset to the power play. I’m not sure you needed to bring all of Howe, Beaudoin, Gauthier, Cataford and Pinelli for bottom-six roles, even if they all made strong cases and played well.

Pronman: After being an initial cut from the camp roster, Sennecke made a strong case to make the final team. He was the best forward in the first game, showing his high-end skill and offensive IQ making a lot happen around the puck. He wasn’t as good in the second game and is mediocre off the puck, but I thought the high-end talent, the body of work and the recent play by him should have given him the nod.

Canada will get criticized for leaving off Parekh but I was fine with the decision. He hasn’t been amazing this season in Saginaw like he was in his draft year, and his defensive issues at even strength showed at times in this camp. He will be a prominent part of this team next year.

Cristall and Riley Heidt have torn up the WHL, but I was never fully convinced they were going to make this team. They lacked size, pace and compete to drive play at even strength. They are skill and scoring-based players who needed to generate a lot of offense to tilt the needle their way, and their camps were rather average in that department.

Wood being a cut was also not a huge surprise to me. He was a returning member of last year’s Canada team, but that wasn’t a great Canada team and he played limited minutes for them. He’s a super-skilled big man, but his feet are very heavy, and he was struggling to create chances at evens due to his lack of pace.

Overall outlook

Wheeler: This is a stronger team than last year’s and has a good mix of player types and balance across the lineup. They are weaker on the right side than the left and only three of the eight D who made the team are righties, so I do wonder if we see a lefty play their off-side at some point.

They’ve clearly prioritized mobility on the back end (Tanner Molendyk, Sam Dickinson, Schaefer, Beau Akey and Sawyer Mynio are all high-end skaters and Gibson’s a strong skater as well). Up front, they’re going to rely on Berkly Catton, Bradly Nadeau, Gavin McKenna and Calum Ritchie to be their skill guys, Rehkopf’s going to have to put the puck in the net, and Easton Cowan, Brayden Yager and Jett Luchanko are all going to play important roles to round out the top nine. It’s a very good group.

Pronman: Canada enters the tournament as the favorite. It’s a young team, with several draft eligibles and one draft-minus-one player in notable roles. It’s also a small center group. But they have great talent up and down the lineup. They have two reliable goalies as well. I don’t think this forward group is full of game-breakers, but it’s a highly competitive and fast group that can score a lot. The defense group will be more interesting. Canada wanted excellent two-way defenders, and they brought a lot of those types. By cutting Parekh (and Carter Yakemchuk prior to camp) they went without a traditional power play QB type on their blue line. If their power play doesn’t score, that decision will be micro-analyzed. That said they do have plenty of skill on defense. Dickinson has scored more than Parekh this season. Schaefer has a ton of offense in him, and both Molendyk and Oliver Bonk can help a power play.

New lineup projection

(Photo: Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press via AP)