After back-to-back 5th-place finishes at the World Juniors it’s now fair to say that Canada’s standing within international junior hockey is both dire and precarious.
Seen from a 1,000-foot view that statement might sound harsh and unfair. After all, Canada’s ability to develop elite young hockey talent hasn’t suddenly dried up in recent years. And the argument could easily be made that, on paper, the Canadian roster for this year’s event looks more talented, more balanced, and deeper than anything being put forward by the other competing nations.
However, that same argument was made last year, and the year before that, yet Canada still underperformed and underachieved both times, falling well short in dramatic and stunning fashion. That spoke to underlying issues that go far beyond the individual talents of the names being penciled into the game lineups.
Discovering those issues, and then analyzing the solutions to fix them, was the mission that Hockey Canada began to undertake before last year’s medals were even handed out. A new general manager has since been put in place, along with other key staffers, in the hopes of bringing about more structure and stability. The expectations now are both lofty and immediate: anything less than winning it all this time around would be considered unacceptable.
Will it work? That obviously remains to be seen, but there is a clear history of dramatic national turnarounds happening.
Canada failed to medal from 1979 to 1981, and finished seventh out of eight teams in that 1981 tournament. That led to the “Program of Excellence” and multiple World Junior championships throughout the 1980s. There was also the seven-year stretch from 1998 to 2004 where the nation failed to win gold, which led to another reckoning within Hockey Canada. The response that time was the stuff of legend: rattling off five gold medals in a row, tying the country’s own tournament record from the mid-1990s.
Could another such streak be waiting just around the corner for Canada, beginning with the 2026 tournament?
Key Players to Watch
Harrison Brunicke, Defense (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Brunicke brings a unique kind of advantage to this Canadian roster, as he's the prospect with the most accumulated professional experience up to this point. After a 2024-25 season of enormous growth with the WHL's Kamloops Blazers, logging big minutes in all situations as their most trusted defenseman, he joined the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the tail end of their regular season campaign and played so well that he remained in their lineup into the playoffs. And he hasn’t been back to Kamloops, or anywhere else in the WHL, ever since, splitting his time so far this year between the NHL and AHL versions of the Penguins. He’s the type of blueliner who can do a little bit of everything, which will be very useful for the Canadian coaching staff if they feel the need to make adjustments throughout the tournament. If Brunicke isn’t well-known among hockey fans yet, he very well could be after the World Juniors.
Tij Iginla, Center (Utah Mammoth)
There probably won’t be another player on this Canadian roster quite as amped up for the opening puck drop as Iginla will be. He already exudes more exuberance on any given night than most of his peers, which is something that was definitely passed down from his dad, Jarome. Adding on top of that, though, is the fact that he wasn’t invited to Canada’s selection camp roster last winter, and then mere days later suffered a season-ending injury in the WHL. In other words, it’s been more than a full calendar year since he was last able to play any truly high-stakes hockey games, and that must drive a player like him absolutely crazy. Iginla was a two-way, multifaceted force when he helped lead Canada to a championship at the 2024 IIHF U18s, showing off both his power elements and his skill elements, and it won’t be surprising if he’s similarly impactful here.
Porter Martone, Wing (Philadelphia Flyers)
If there's one player on the Canadian roster who shouldn't be hindered by nerves in this tournament, it's Martone. He's represented Canada internationally multiple times in recent years, even playing alongside NHLers at the World Championships this past spring, and has a couple of gold medals on his mantle for his efforts. And after proving himself as one of the best players in the OHL in 2024-25 he seamlessly made the transition to the NCAA this fall, where he is now thriving with Michigan State and leading the team in scoring as a freshman. Nobody on this team will be quite as familiar with the top talent on opposing nations as he will, and his sublime puck-protection abilities down low will be more effective in Minnesota, on the standard North American ice size, than they would have been if the tournament were being held in Europe. Expect Martone to play a significant role on this roster as one of Canada's leaders and go-to offensive contributors.
Michael Misa, Center (San Jose Sharks)
In a way, Misa might be something of an ace up Canada’s sleeve in this tournament. You wouldn’t go so far as to say that he’s a secret weapon, since he’s a former Memorial Cup champion and CHL top scorer and well known for other reasons, but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly where his game is at right now because he hasn’t played much this season —only seven low-minute games in the NHL, then two more in the AHL to shake off some injury rust. Luckily for Canada, those two minor-league matches just happened earlier this month, and the hope is that he’ll be fully healthy by the time the tournament kicks off. If he is feeling one hundred percent and is back up to his usual level of play then he will likely be centering Canada’s top line, playing on their top powerplay unit, and contending to be the team’s leading point-getter.
Zayne Parekh, Defense (Calgary Flames)
Parekh is going to have quite a chip on his shoulder this tournament. He was controversially left off of Canada's roster last year, and when the team began to fall apart he took to social media to express his resulting grudge in not-so-subtle ways. He will also probably be extra motivated to shine because he hasn't played a meaningful hockey game since November 7 due to injury, and he'll want to make sure that he's at the top of his form once the World Juniors ends and he heads back to Calgary to resume playing against NHL competition. He'll be Canada's quarterback on their top powerplay unit, where he'll also be reunited with former Saginaw Spirit teammate Michael Misa, which should provide a valuable familiarity boost. This will be Parekh’s first international tournament since the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in August of 2023.
Draft Eligible Players to Watch
Carson Carels, Defense (2026)
Carels making this roster is something that nobody would have expected or predicted as recently as a few months ago, but anyone who is already familiar with his game completely understands why the Canadian brass wanted to bring him to Minnesota. Mature and poised well beyond his 17 years of age, he is incredibly consistent and reliable across all 200 feet of ice. It seems like he never makes the wrong decision, which is especially remarkable because he plays in all situations and gobbles up a ton of minutes game over game. He was arguably the best defenseman at the recent CHL-USA Prospects Challenge, which wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. While Carels might not take a lot of shifts in this tournament, due to the overall talent and depth of this defensive group, his coaches will know that he's not going to be a weak link any time that he does go over the boards.
Gavin McKenna, Wing (2026)
Despite being one of the youngest players on this entire roster it’s likely that McKenna will be facing the most scrutiny and feeling more pressure placed upon him than anyone else. After coming into the season as the consensus, slam-dunk top prospect available for the 2026 NHL Entry Draft his stock has since taken a large hit, enough to even knock him out of that number one slot in the eyes of some scouts. He’s also one of the few returning players on the team, adding another layer to the already-high expectations. All that being said, don’t be surprised if McKenna silences his critics by playing some exceptional hockey in this tournament, because he’s proven multiple times in the past that he can be a dominant, superstar-level player in the games that matter the most. His coaches will give him every opportunity to be the unstoppable offensive catalyst that everyone knows he can be when his game is really humming along.
Keaton Verhoeff, Defense (2026)
A few different prospects have emerged as legitimate contenders to dethrone Gavin McKenna from the highest perch of the 2026 NHL draft class, and Verhoeff is arguably the most dangerous of the potential usurpers. He is one of only three 2008-born players in the entire NCAA right now, and he hasn’t looked out of place at all as a go-to defender for the University of North Dakota. He’s huge, mobile, athletic and versatile, which is a combination of traits that is obviously very appealing to the Canadian coaching staff, giving them options about how they could deploy him and what roles they could try him in if they feel the need to shake things up. A lot of scouts, however, will be hoping that Verhoeff spends more time on the ice than he does sitting on the bench, so that they will get another chance to see him in best-on-best competition after a slightly disappointing showing at this past summer’s Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Ethan MacKenzie, Defense (2026, third year of eligibility)
MacKenzie is, hands-down, the best feel-good story on this roster. After all, it’s pretty uncommon for Hockey Canada to award a roster spot to a skater who has gone undrafted in back-to-back years of eligibility (goalies are a slightly different story). However, anyone who follows the WHL closely every year knows that the Edmonton Oil Kings blueliner fully deserves to be here based on merit. His on-ice impact has improved by leaps and bounds over the past couple of seasons, to the point now where he is a fast, feisty difference-maker in all three zones that opposing teams have trouble matching up against. This is the first time that MacKenzie has ever represented Canada in an international tournament — will that be a disadvantage for him, or will it be extra motivation, especially since a strong showing here would help boost his chance of finally getting drafted?