Canada announces squad for the 2024 World Championship
Canada's 22-man roster includes no fewer than eleven players with previous World Championship experience. The preliminary roster, which comprises three goaltenders, seven defencemen and 12 forwards, was selected by General Manager Rick Nash (Brampton, ON/Columbus, NHL), Associate General Manager Kyle Dubas (Sault Ste. Marie, ON/Pittsburgh, NHL) and Assistant General Manager Scott Salmond (Creston, BC). A selection committee of three NHL managers – Jim McKenzie (Gull Lake, SK/Vegas, NHL), Jamie Pushor (Lethbridge, AB/Tampa Bay, NHL) and Tim Taylor (Stratford, ON/St. Louis, NHL) – as well as the coaching staff, were also involved in selecting the players.
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Of the 22 players, 11 have previously represented Canada at the IIHF World Championship (Bunting, Cozens, Fantilli, Hofer, Mangiapane, McBain, McCann, Mercer, Parayko, Power, Severson), while 14 have already competed at an U20 World Championship (Bedard, Binnington, Byram, Celebrini, Cozens, Daws, Fantilli, Greig, Guenther, Guhle, Hofer, Mercer, Oleksiak, Zellweger).
“We are delighted to introduce the first 22 players who will wear the Maple Leaf at the 2024 IIHF World Championship. This group includes several players who have enjoyed success on the international stage, and we know fans will be excited to see us take on the best ice hockey nations,” said Rick Nash. “We know our players will represent Canada with pride in Prague and Ostrava, and we are confident that this group gives us a great opportunity to defend our gold medal.”
Further players will be announced in the coming weeks.
Canada will open the tournament against Great Britain on 11 May at 6:20 ET/3:20 PT. In the preliminary round, Canada will also face Denmark, Austria, Norway, Finland, Switzerland and the Czech Republic before the tournament concludes with the medal games on 26 May. Before the tournament begins, the Canadian men’s national team will play a warm-up game against Austria at the Steffl-Arena in Vienna on 5 May, followed by another against Hungary at the MVM Dome in Budapest on 7 May.
