Canadiens prospects Roy, Kidney added to Canada’s world juniors team

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Canadiens prospects Joshua Roy and Riley Kidney have been amongst 25 gamers chosen to signify Canada on the rescheduled IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships which start Aug. 9 in Edmonton and Purple Deer.

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However defenceman Kaiden Guhle, who was the captain of Staff Canada earlier than COVID pressured organizers to halt the occasion over the Christmas holidays, won’t take part as a result of he’s recovering from a lower-body harm that stored him off the ice on the Canadiens’ growth camp final month.

Roy and Kidney weren’t on the group that started play in December, however their inventory rose with sturdy performances within the QMJHL final season. Roy, a fifth-round draft decide in 2021,  led the league in scoring with 119 factors, together with 51 objectives, with the Sherbrooke Phoenix. Kidney, a second-round decide in 2021, had 30 objectives and 100 factors with Acadie-Bathurst.

Kuhle isn’t the one participant lacking from Canada’s December roster.

Additionally lacking are forwards Xavier Bourgault, Mavrik Bourque, Dylan Guenther, Jake Neighbours, Cole Perfetti, Justin Sourdif, Shane Wright, and defenceman Owen Energy.

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Changing these gamers might be forwards Roy, Kidney, William Dufour, Tyson Foerster, Nathan Gaucher, Brennan Othmann, Zack Ostapchuk, and defencemen Daemon Hunt and Jack Thompson.

Highlighting Canada’s roster might be 17-year-old phenom Connor Bedard, Columbus Blue Jackets ahead Kent Johnson and Anaheim Geese prospect Mason McTavish. Bedard is anticipated to be the No. 1 total decide within the 2023 NHL entry draft.

The 19-year-old Johnson performed 9 video games with the Blue Jackets final season after finishing his sophomore season on the College of Michigan. He had three factors and posted a plus-2 differential. He additionally represented Canada on the Beijing Olympics this 12 months. He had eight objectives and 29 assists in 32 video games at Michigan.

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The Swiss-born McTavish began the season with Anaheim and had two objectives and an help in 9 video games earlier than being returned to junior hockey. The No. 3 total decide within the 2021 draft additionally represented Canada at Beijing.

Previous to the cancellation in December, the then 16-year-old Bedard scored 4 objectives towards Austria, changing into solely the sixth participant to attain 4 objectives in a world juniors sport. McTavish dominated the primary two video games of the match scoring three objectives and 5 factors in two video games, whereas Johnson additionally scored a objective in two video games.

Canada might be part of Group A, which additionally consists of Slovakia, Finland, Czechia, and Latvia. Group B will embody the US, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.

Russia was not invited to the match because of the ongoing conflict within the Ukraine and was changed by Latvia.

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