The Athletic Hockey Show - Which players made Canada’s World Junior roster?

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

Team Canada made its final cuts for its roster for the 2025 World Juniors on Friday afternoon and Max, Corey, and Scott discuss the standouts, the cuts, lineup construction, and more.Hosts: Max Bultman and Corey PronmanWith: Scott WheelerExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic hockey show prospect series. Hey, everybody, Max Boltman here alongside the athletic Scott Wheeler and Corey Prondman for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. We're coming at you a little bit later in the day today. We're recording this late Friday night because we wanted to wait for the Team Canada World Junior roster to be unveiled. Scott and Corey, you guys were both at the World Junior camp for Canada there in Ottawa. Corey, I believe you are in the back of an Uber right now on your way back from it. So let's start with you here. And one of the names who ends up on this roster, we thought he might,

but Matthew Schaefer, that the 2025 NHL draft, the top defense prospect, does end up on this roster. How did he secure a place? He only played in one of the two games, played in the second game. And I thought he played really well. I don't think he generated a ton of offense, but he was still running one of the two Canadian power plays. And just overall, just how good a skater he is, how intelligent he is and competitive.

He was just, every time he was on the ice, the game was in control for Canada, just like how he was with Team CHL a week ago. And with Erie during the season, he's just such an impactful all-around offenseman. And when a kid is 17, we're going to talk about this. We're Gavin McKenna points during the tournament, too. Like, you don't want to have too high expectations. he's still a really young player. But it's hard not to watch Schaefer, you know,

playing with all of the peers he's been playing with Maya's just someone like a Tanner Mollandik, for example. And I think, you know, he's going to be a really important player for this team. I don't think they're just going to get in 12, 13 minutes tonight. I think he's going to be a top four defenseman for this team,

a guy that are really going to lean on in the important games. And he, I thought, I've seen draft eligible's come into this kind of camp and just tread, water. Like I thought even Gavin McKinn and Porter Marktown in the first game, traded water. But a shafer looked like he belonged. Scott, I know you really liked Carson Raycoff's camp.

Yeah, Raycoop had a really positive camp. We felt, when we've talked about it a little bit on the pod, that coming in, the returnees weren't necessarily locks. And then on the first day of camp, when they did their opening media availability, management and coaching staff, and they all really hit that home and maybe more than they have. And they always say that guys have to earn it. But it was clear just in the way that they said it, that. some of these returnies were not locks. Raycoff definitely had a very, very positive camp, though. He scored a hat trick in the first U-sports game and then assisted on the overtime

winner. He had a really, really positive red-white scrimmage. They did two red-white scrimmages, actually, the day prior to that, and he was excellent in those. I believe he scored in both of those. He scored in the shootout in that session. But I think more importantly with Raycoff, the big thing that stood out to me this week was they stressed and actually said publicly that they wanted to see him and Beckett in terms of their play away from the puck.

And what I liked most about Ray Koff's camp was just finishing his checks, using that length and that skating and his size to get after it, getting up and under guys for checking. Like his play away from the puck, I think was really important to show that he can hang in the top nine and be a go-to guy for them. We all know the value he has. He's got one of the better shots, frankly, and Mr. Tern. Definitely on the team. but also in the tournament. So he's a valuable power play guy

and he's going to score some goals with that shot of his in this tournament. But if he can be a reliable player away from the puck, that'll be huge for Raycoff. So I felt like he sort of really solidified himself with his play this week. Rakov definitely did help himself. And like Scott said,

I don't think his spot was assured coming into camp, but honestly coming into the camp, it kind of felt, I don't think they would have said this was definitively how I was going to go, but it's just my real situation is that five of the top nine winger spots felt pretty secure coming into camp. Presuming Eastern Cowan is healthy, he would have been one. Then Bradley Nadeau, who they practically had to guarantee a spot to to get Carolina to release him.

And then you had Cal Richie and Gavin McKenna and Porter Martone. So that really only left one real scoring wool wing spot available. Maybe it's Carson Rakeoff. maybe it's back at Seneca. Maybe it was Matthew, Walter, Andrew Kristal. But of all those guys, Rakoff, you know,

just seemed to have the best case in part because of just how much he scored, his overall track record in the OHA over the last year and a half, of course, being a returning member from last year's team as well. Scott, Corey talked there about some of the scoring winger roles here. But obviously, like, team building is about more than having the most skilled team.

And certainly that's a philosophy. Team Canada has, as a spouse. And I think this roster, when you see the final thing, there's a clear attempt here to have those good energy guys beyond those top three lines. One of the things in talking with some folks from Hockey Canada over the course of this week that really stood out to me was that they almost went out of their way to throw last year's team under the bus. And you could get the sense that they really felt that last year's team was not competitive enough, that they didn't get to the inside, that they couldn't score dirty goals in big games. that was probably the thing that they were most disappointed with last year. Last year, Alan Latang, the head coach of that team, came out after every game and said,

we're not getting into the inside enough. I don't know how we fix it, but we're not getting to the inside enough. We're not getting to the net enough. We're not getting to rebounds. So this year's team, it really felt like that was going to be a major point of emphasis. And you look at how the bottom sticks of this team could look and even the 13th and 14th forwards of this team could look. And there's Hannah Howl. and there's Matthew Catoffor, and there's Ethan Gautier, and there's Colbo Dway, and there's Luca Pinelli.

Those five guys in particular, I thought they all had positive camps. They really set the tone in camp. They're all workers. They can all penalty kill. In Bauduane's case, he's obviously the heaviest of the bunch, so they really liked his physicality. I thought he set the tone physically in the camp. Those five guys are, they're all sort of playing for the same role, and then they all ended up on the team. Like, I thought maybe one or two or three of those.

guys were going to be cut and that they would just bring a fourth line of those guys rather than five of those guys. Really the only player with that identity that didn't make the team was Denver Barkey, who was one of the final cuts in consecutive camps here now. But I do wonder if they don't score enough whether we'll circle back to them maybe overdoing that role a little bit. But on merit and the way that they played in camp, I thought Ethan Goce had a really nice camp. I thought Matthew Catoffor who missed the first three days of camp with a knee injury and only played today had a really nice camp. And you go down the list, Colbo Duane obviously set the tone physically. Those are important players. Hockey Canada loves Tanner Howe. He made a nice play off the wall

today on Canada's first goal. There's a lot to like about the identity of that group. They're definitely going to have sort of the traditional Canadian checking energy line in this tournament. You don't usually talk about standouts when a guy gets cut, but I actually thought one of the standouts in this camp was Beckett Seneca, who did not make it to the end of the process with Canada. I thought his first game, he was excellent. I'd argue he was actually the best forward for Canada in that first game. Second game, not as good.

I don't think he was terrible in the second game. He got the occasional chance or two. I don't think he was as impactful. But going to Scott's point, they really focused on five, you know, really high-compete, pace, energy types that they decided to bring. And I do wonder if they don't score, as Scott said, if we look at decision to not bring Seneca in, and if, you know, one of those scoring wingers don't play well. Like, what if Bradley Nadeau doesn't play well? What if Gavin McKinnon and a poor Martone show that they're too young for this tournament right now, you know, should they have brought up a plan B in terms? their scoring assembly.

And I thought Seneca, through his play, you know, this season in the camp, for me, I would have brought him. They didn't. But I've actually thought he was one of their better players in the camp. And I would have brought Andrew Crystal for the same reason. Like, I think those are the two guys you'll look back on and think maybe they needed a little bit of that. I actually liked Crystal's camp as well. He didn't stand out in terms of point production, but he made a ton of plays, his passing

creativity, liked him on the power play. Cal Richie missed a backdoor tap-in that Crystal put on a platter for him today in the game that would have given him a second or third assist in the between the two games. I thought he got up and under guys and inside body positioning on guys. Crystal was finishing some checks. So there were some positives for both for both Beckett and Crystal, but they just ultimately, this is a deep, I think a deeper team on the wing than they are down the middle, and it made those top nine jobs hard to come by. I thought Crystal was better in the second game, but I thought he was awful in the first game, quite frankly. I wasn't really surprised they cut him.

Well, it's an interesting topic, because he was the guy that we debated when we were doing our projections a few weeks back. Scott and I argued that we thought Crystal should be not just on the team, but in a pretty prominent role. Corey, I think you had him kind of as a bubble guy. Sounds like even a difference of opinion of how he looked throughout the weekend here. more surprised by Crystal Corey or more surprised by Wood being left off this team? Because those were both guys we had fairly high in the lineup in our projection.

I wouldn't say I'm surprised by either kind of when I got to the camp and I kind of saw the lay of the land there and I knew both of them needed to play well this week to actually make it. And Wood, yeah, he was on the team last year but that wasn't a great candidate. That was the team that got balanced in the quarters.

He didn't really play much until at the very very end when they were desperate for goals. I don't think they've all, they've really liked his game at times when they've been on various team candidates between his foot speed and his average compete at times but he's a super skilled big man um so i guess that was the one i thought again it's the same argument like i actually thought whether it was crystal whether it was wood whether it was seneca i thought they were they would bring one dude who they would just kind of stick in the stands or as a 13th four and he'd be

they'd be the emergency reserve option um in case the scoring was and go the way they want and they end up choosing none of the above. But between wood and crystal, I probably would have brought wood. I thought wood looked really slow in camp. And I think that was ultimately what was backbreaking for him. Like, you could see it on his face coming out of the second game when he scrummed with us. He was emotional. He hadn't even heard about the cuts yet. And he was clearly getting a little bit emotional. I think he saw the writing on the wall. But he looked really slow this week. And I think that this team Canada just wants to play a little bit differently. One of the ones that I think is interesting is,

we kind of had a feeling that Zane Perak would have a tough path to this roster. I was surprised to see Bo Akey as the choice on defense there, Scott. Did that surprise you at all? Not a huge surprise on Akey for me. I know they really liked him last year. He was going to be invited to selection camp last year before he got injured. He actually had like three different injuries in the fall and early winter of last season. As an 18-year-old, he had an excellent camp for them.

for Edmonton as an 18-year-old coming right out of the draft. And I think people were excited about him and his skating. And then it was clear with this roster construction that the priority on defense was mobility. Like you look at the players that they're bringing maybe other than Oliver Bonk, who's not the greatest skater, Sawyer Minio, excellent skater,

Matthew Schaefer, excellent skater, Tanner Mollendike, elite skater. and Schaefer's frankly an elite skater. So even Andrew Gibson can really move. That was the priority. And the strength of Akey's game has always been his footwork, his mobility, his ability to close guys off and play tight gaps and break up a lot of plays, kill plays early, all of that.

So I think they just- Skim Sam Dickinson too. Yeah, Sam Dickinson, yeah, of course. So they view Akey as I think kind of the third right D on this team. I'm not sure he's going to play huge minutes. And even the way that they talked about him a little bit this week, they said they were still getting to know him. And I don't think they view him the way that they do,

Andrew Gibson and Oliver Bonk on the right side. But this group was weaker on the right side, especially after losing Harrison Brunachy, another phenomenal skater, losing Harrison Brunichy to the broken wrist, that he's just not quite ready to come back from. I think that opened up an opportunity for Akey to make this team. I never got the vibes all season.

that Canada wanted to bring a defenseman who's going to play on the power play who they couldn't trust it even strength. I think if either Zane Parrick or Karin Yakinchuk, the two highly skilled defensemen who ended up not making the team, Yackenchuk are invited to this selection camp. We're going to be on this team.

They needed to trust him at even strength. And Zane is super talented offensively. He's going to run the power play for this team next year. But when you saw him at camp, you know, on the power play, he looked good. at even strength he wasn't good. He was a negative defensively. And I just think they,

whatever they would have thought of him coming in, he reinforced it at the camp. And I think, I don't really think, had a great second game, quite honestly. I thought he was just fine, did his job, but he wasn't a negative. And Zane had some issues defensively when he was out there in the camp.

And I think that just did him. I think the fact that U-Sports was the opponent kind of highlighted some of, per X deficiencies as well. Like he was playing against a lot of 200 pound 23, 24 year old kids. There were a couple of moments, especially in the first game, I thought, where just on boxouts and battles in the corners, he was just getting pushed around. I think Canada saw that and coupled with some of the concerns about his discipline this

season in the OHL and some of the bad penalties and suspensions and that kind of a thing, I think the combination of those things just made it, made it impossible for him. He needed to have an unbelievable camp. And I thought Beckett at least put himself in the conversation with his play after not getting the initial invite. And Perak just didn't do that. If I was in Beckett's case, I would have been like, well, like, what more did I need to do here exactly?

Like, it's, you know, I'm not saying he was unbelievable, particularly in the second game, but I think you look at the forwards and how they played, and he was just better than some of the guys who made the team. I think Beckett needed to have a game today in the second. game. Like, I think he needed, both those kids needed to go in and have two or three goals a game and really just make it a no doubt decision. One more guy who did end up making the team, I wanted to just expand a little more on.

And I think we touched on him a little bit earlier. But Corey, Colbo Dwan was a guy who, when you and Scott did your write-up on this camp, it seemed like a guy who really left an impression on you with kind of just what we've come to know Colbo Dwan for, the compete level. Yeah, I was talking to some people at the camp and they would make a point that a lot of kids come in and they all think they're going to be on the power play. They all think they're going to be top nine guys and they're going to, and they're going to get some six.

They're going to be, maybe they'll be the first power play, but they think they're going to get a secondary score. They think they're going to, you know, get a couple of points and, and play that kind of role. And Colbo, Dwayne came into this camp and he's got some skill. He can score. He can make plays. He didn't try to do any of that in this camp.

He was just literally hitting anything that moved. He was just running up and down the ice, four check, back check. Oh, you know, he'd be the first guy back and the first guy up, first guy up the throwing his weight around and he made a very clear case. And if you just need somebody, he's been playing 10 minutes a night, kill penalties, you know, go rock James Higgins at some point on New Year's Eve. That's going to be me. And that's what got in the spot.

Kinatic Jade 2. So it's going to be great. I love those stories. We're all journalists here. But I love that there's a local kid who's going to be playing in front of his family and all that. It's a nice story for Cole, especially as an 18-year-old. All right. That's going to do it for us.

Great stuff this week in Ottawa, both of you, and we will talk to you soon.