There is a 3rd & main reason C) your amateur scouting is not finding talent beyond the 1st round of the draft and your drafting strategies.
Hunter has been drafting overagers (players passed over in previous drafts and already 19-20 at draft time making them ineligible for WJC and U-19 tournaments.
Case in point Yegor Korshkov taken with a 2nd round pick #31 overall in 2016 but already too old to play in the tournament and playing the KHL.
Players drafted after Korshkov like
#35 Jordan Kyrou (ST Louis), #49
Carter Hart (Philly) and #51
Kale Clegue (LA) are 3 examples on Team Canada alone who are likely going to be Canada's #1 forward, #1 goalie and potentially best Dman in this tournament.
Then you have
winning NOW strategies by Leafs where they trade 1st #30 OA (
Sam Steel) WHL player of the year and scoring sensation and 2nd rounder #50 (
Maxime Comtois) to Anaheim for Freddy Andersen.
Sam Steel (66 games 50-81-131 points) will be a big part of team Canada and both the picks surrendered are on team Canada this WJC.
So Leafs drafting and dealing away of high picks is at the root of lack of representation by Leafs in this tournament.
Keep an eye on these players above that Leafs passed on or picks traded away that will be stars for Team Canada this tournament.