After intense anticipation, Team Canada’s World Junior roster has been selected.
Canada finalized its roster last Friday night, and the final bunch consists of two goaltenders, seven defencemen, and 13 forwards.
The team already took part in an exhibition mathcup against the Czech Republic and handled their opponent with a convincing 9-0 win. Erie Otters forward Taylor Raddysh led the way with two goals.
The tournament is set to begin on Boxing Day, as Canada will take on Finland at 4 PM Eastern Time. Ahead of the action, we wanted to provide avid fans with an in-depth look at the makeup of the roster with a particular focus on the round the players were drafted in. Of its 22 members, players were only selected from four different rounds; seven from the first, 11 from the second, two from the fourth and two from the fifth.
FIRST ROUND
- Dante Fabbro, 17th, 2016
- Jake Bean, 13th, 2016
- Cale Makar, 4th, 2017
- Cal Foote, 14th, 2017
- Sam Steel, 30th, 2016
- Robert Thomas, 20th, 2017
- Michael McLeod, 12th, 2016
SECOND ROUND
- Carter Hart, 48th, 2016
- Kale Clague, 51st, 2016
- Conor Timmins, 32nd, 2017
- Jodan Kyrou, 35th, 2016
- Alex Formenton, 47th, 2017
- Jonah Gadjovich, 55th, 2017
- Maxime Comtois, 50th, 2017
- Boris Katchouk, 44th, 2016
- Taylor Raddysh, 58th, 2016
- Dillon Dube, 56th, 2016
- Brett Howden, 27th, 2016
FOURTH ROUND
- Victor Mete- 100th, 2016
- Drake Batherson, 121st, 2017
FIFTH ROUND
- Colton Point- 128th, 2016
- Tyler Steenbergen, 128th, 2017
The second round leads the ways with 11 totals players.
The players’ rights belong to 15 teams throughout the league. If they weren’t good enough already, the Tampa Bay Lightning lead all teams with four players on team Canada. They include forwards Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk and Brett Howden, and defenceman Cal Foote.
With only one top-10 pick in Cale Makar, it will be interesting to see how Canada’s roster compares to past years'. Based on their first performance, it looks as though the team could make a deep run in the tournament.
