Équipe: 2021-22 Équipe personnalisée

Date de création initiale: 2 déc. 2021

Publié: 1 août 2022

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

Forwards:
OUT (NHL camps): Wright, Perfetti, Bourque, Bourgault, Sourdif, Guenther, Neighbours.
In: Gaucher, Ostapchuk, Kidney, Othmann, Foerster, Dufour, Roy

Defense:
Out: Power, Guhle
In: Hunt, Thompson

Goalies are the same, and should improve with Cossa being more "on form" and Brochu coming out as one of the best goalies in the CHL.

Gaucher, Othmann and Roy were surprises to not make the team in December and should be great adds to replace the likes of Neighbours, Sourdif, and Bourgualt. Replacing Wright will rely on Bedard breaking out, and the rest of the forward changes are pretty significant downgrades.

Hunt was expected to be on the DEC lineup but was hurt in camp, so he is an excellent addition (likely taking minutes from one of Seeley/Sebrango). Thompson was the other final cut on D and adds a much needed Right-handed shot. The D core lost some up front talent but is mostly intact, especially compared to some of the other teams.

In regards to who didn't make it, Brandt Clarke is the most obvious and puzzling. It seems that management decided to stick with the guys they know, and seeing as Hunt and Thompson were so close to the team last time, that makes some sense. Clarke is easily a top 4D on this team and I expect him to be on the 2022/23 team in December, seeing as so many of the D-core will age out.

Other surprise cuts are Hendrix Lapierre and Wyatt Johnston, but I expect that they were NHL-camp decisions with both coming off injuries and expected to compete for an NHL job out of camp. Zach Dean and Luke Evangelista are names that I haven't heard anything about, so I assume they fall into the same category. Ryan Tverberg and Jack Finley were among the final cuts in December, but both have turned 20 since which may affect their eligibility. Jack Beck and Zachary Bolduc are others that could have been on the cusp.

I would have liked to see some more of the younger faces (Fantilli, Korchinski, Mateychuk, etc) but I expect to see more of the 2022 draftees and 2023 class to be present at the December 2022 tournament, assuming Canada is allowed to attend. This tournament favors the prospects who are getting their last chance to play, seeing as it is a "makeup" tournament.

Before I publish this, I want to acknowledge that while I am a huge fan of the WJC and watching Team Canada, I - and the hockey community - cannot ignore the serious issue that is the sexual assault scandals involving Hockey Canada. I have seen firsthand the culture that HC has - directly and indirectly - helped to build and am ashamed of how far it got before the truth emerged. If Canada is disqualified from any of the upcoming WJC events, I will be sad not to be able to watch my favorite prospects, but happy to see HC get punished. Perhaps a solution similar to the ROC Olympics team, where the players are allowed to play but not under Hockey Canada's name or logo, is the answer; I do not know. These scandals are much bigger than any hockey tournament, and I don't want my work on the WJC to ignore this horrible situation.