With the IIHF World Championships less than a week away, nations have started releasing their rosters.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen some Vancouver Canucks get named to their countries’ preliminary rosters: Filip Hronek (CZE), Linus Karlsson (SWE), Liam Öhgren (SWE), Nils Höglander (SWE), and Max Sasson (USA).

Sweden and Czechia participated in the same pre-tournament event, where Hronek and Höglander were injured on the same day. Initial reporting sounded like Hronek’s injury was more serious than Höglander’s. However, Höglander withdrew from the tournament shortly after his injury, while Hronek was just named to Czechia’s tournament roster.

Hronek, 28, is coming off a career year with the Canucks, where he scored eight goals and 41 assists for 49 points in 82 games. Once Hughes left, Hronek took his game to the next level and walked away from the season as the team MVP. Internationally, Hronek logged heavy minutes for Czechia at the Olympics, where he tallied five assists in five games played.

This will be Hronek’s sixth World Championship. At last year’s tournament, Hronek was an alternate captain and registered six assists in eight games en route to a quarter-final loss to Sweden. Through his previous five World Championships, Hronek has scored five goals and 21 assists for 26 points in 43 games.

While Hronek had already been announced, one name we hadn’t heard yet was centreman Aatu Räty.

Räty, 23, was acquired by the Canucks in the Bo Horvat trade with the New York Islanders. It took Räty a few years in North America before he broke through, but he put forth his first full NHL campaign in 2025-26, scoring four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in 66 games. This will be Räty’s first time representing Team Finland at the IIHF World Championships.

Finland’s bitter rivals, Sweden, released their roster on Monday morning. Despite having three Canucks participate for Sweden in the pre-tournaments, it appears only Karlsson will be representing the Tre Kronor. Liam Öhgren did not make the roster.

Top-10 projected 2026 draft eligible-forwards, Ivar Stenberg and Viggo Björck, made Sweden’s roster. Isac Hedqvist is another draft-eligible forward to make the team over Öhgren, along with SHLers Jakob Silfverberg, André Petersson, Rasmus Asplund, and Jacob de la Rose.

The tournament kicks off on Friday, May 15. Räty’s Finland and Sasson’s USA are paired in Group A, while Hronek’s Czechia and Karlsson’s and Öhgren’s Sweden are both in Group B. Teams play their entire Group before the quarter-final stage, where the top four nations advance. Oddly enough, the Canucks players will face off against each other on the same day (May 18), when Finland takes on USA, and Czechia battles Sweden later that day.