Projecting Canada’s World Junior Roster

[Larry Fisher]

Projecting Canada's roster for this winter's World Junior Championship comes down to two factors — how many prospects will make the NHL and how many under-agers will make the team. This is going to be a topic of much debate between now and December, but here are my initial predictions as of August 10: https://thehockeywriters.com/canada-world-junior-roster-prediction/

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[Patrik Barkov]

How likely is Lafreniere to make the team?

 

[Larry Fisher]

How likely is Lafreniere to make the team?

I honestly think he's 60-40 in favour of making the team, but I'm bullish on some of the under-agers this year.

 

[PWJunior]

Nice read.

How big of a loss would Dobson be to the blue line? I think he'll be back in the Q so he should be available yet you just never know with the Isles in flux.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Nice read.

How big of a loss would Dobson be to the blue line? I think he'll be back in the Q so he should be available yet you just never know with the Isles in flux.

I think he is going to be Canadas best defensemen and on the shutdown pairing so would be a massive loss.

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

How likely is Lafreniere to make the team?

I think he'll play on one of the top two lines.

 

[lakai17]

How likely is Lafreniere to make the team?

A good 99.4% chance.

 

[Icebreakers]

I honestly think he's 60-40 in favour of making the team, but I'm bullish on some of the under-agers this year.

Lafreniere is a 2001 birthday. Hes a late birthday, not an underager. He only has one more year of eligibility after this year. Hes guaranteed to make it unless if he has a terrible start to the season.

 

[Rob Brown]

Vilardi and Thomas have a good shot to make the Kings and Blues respectively, so no guarantee they will be made available for the tournament.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Lafreniere is a 2001 birthday. Hes a late birthday, not an underager. He only has one more year of eligibility after this year. Hes guaranteed to make it unless if he has a terrible start to the season.

He has 3 years of eligibility left. He has 2 full seasons before he is even drafted.

 

[Icebreakers]

He has 3 years of eligibility left. He has 2 full seasons before he is even drafted.

. My bad

 

[snipes]

Barring something unexpected, Lafreniere will on the roster I think. He's a special player.

 

[snipes]

After this world Junior he has 1 more year of eligibility left.


His last year of elegibility is 2020 WJC.

So he has 2019 (Vancouver) and 2020 (Czech Republic).

No it's not. It's the 2021 WJC that's his last year of eligibility.

 

[Wackster]

I could see a young D like Barron making the team, he is so good and an awesome skater

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I could see a young D like Barron making the team, he is so good and an awesome skater

I think its gonna be tough for him with the amount of good 18 year old defenseman he will be competing against this year but with an amazing start he has an outside shot. I'd think next year will be his year to really shine though.

 

[PWJunior]

I think its gonna be tough for him with the amount of good 18 year old defenseman he will be competing against this year but with an amazing start he has an outside shot. I'd think next year will be his year to really shine though.

With no guarantee that Dobson, Bouchard, and Smith will be available for next year's team and Byram a candidate to start out in the NHL also... the riches on defense could be only for this year's team.

 

[Dominance]

I really liked it until I saw that you had Ryan f***ing McLeod on the second line over Morgan Frost and Shane Bowers.

Still a fun read though.

 

[Wackster]

I remembered that Ryan Ellis played as an underager and he was pretty good and I think Barron is a better skater but not a better overall player. It is more of a wishful thinking

 

[snipes]

I remembered that Ryan Ellis played as an underager and he was pretty good and I think Barron is a better skater but not a better overall player. It is more of a wishful thinking

Barron is one of the best skating Dmen at his age that you can get.

I think he's been the best skater at this tournament, he's such a beautiful skater to watch with the sweater flapping behind him.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

With no guarantee that Dobson, Bouchard, and Smith will be available for next year's team and Byram a candidate to start out in the NHL also... the riches on defense could be only for this year's team.

A player like Barron is a great candidate to step in to fill a hole for a graduating defensemen in 2020. I also think it is probably more likely then not that atleast one of the 4 you listed dont end up making the NHL in the year after. But there is ridiculous 18 year old depth even beyond the top end that players less heralded should emerge over that amount of time. I think the prospective 2020 Canadian team is going to be absolutely loaded with talent while this year will be leaning on a lot of 18 year olds.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Nice read.

How big of a loss would Dobson be to the blue line? I think he'll be back in the Q so he should be available yet you just never know with the Isles in flux.

Tough to say what Trotz has in mind for the Islanders, but I could see Dobson outplaying undersized guys like Devon Toews and Sebastian Aho in camp and at least getting the nine-game audition in the regular season. There is at least one spot there for the taking.

 

[tony d]

Many thanks for sharing this, always a fun event to watch every yr. Will be interesting to see the final team.

 

[Larry Fisher]

Lafreniere is a 2001 birthday. Hes a late birthday, not an underager. He only has one more year of eligibility after this year. Hes guaranteed to make it unless if he has a terrible start to the season.

I consider this a 19-year-old tournament (1999s this year) and there are usually a number of 18 year olds (2000s), but all the 17 year olds (2001s) are under-agers IMO.

 

[Larry Fisher]

I'd rather have this discussion as early as November 2018.

We will revisit this discussion in November, leading up to the December selection camp, how's that sound?

It's summer, there is junior hockey being played, and many fans like to look ahead.

 

[AveryStar4Eva]

After the season he had in the Q there is no reason he shouldn’t make the team. He’ll be 17 by the time the tournament starts and should be one of their best scoring options. I’ll hold off on making a projected roster until we see which teenagers make their team out of camp. The forward group should be very good regardless, I could see the defence slightly struggling with a lack of great LHD options.