Which Canucks Might Make the Next World Cup Rosters?

7 years ago

The World Cup of Hockey is in full swing, and people are actually watching. That’s nothing but good news for the NHL, who can line their banana stands with hundred of thousands of dollars in cash while giving cheeky looks to the IOC. Who needs who now?!

Anyways, the Canucks have sent their fair share of players to Toronto, and they’ve been performing admirably. However, the only thing that I’ve really seen come out of the WCH so far are a myriad of articles about how the sun is setting on the Sedins’ careers – particularly when it comes to international play. I can’t exactly tell them that they’re wrong, being the the twins are on the cusp of their 36th birthdays (which happen to be on the same day – what are the chances?!), and players are less likely to tax their bodies with extra curricular competition as they age.

So while this silly tournament is still topical, I thought I’d take a look at which Canucks might crack the rosters of the next World Cup of Hockey, now that Bettman and co. know that this money pinata has a few more whacks in it.

When I first conceived this idea, I found myself running through each World Cup representative and trying to think of a Canucks player that would fit the bill, so I figured I’ll lay the article out in the spirit of that idea. Assuming that the next tournament uses the same nations, and pretend nations, as the current one, here’s a list of each, along with my pick to represent our home team.

Canada

I’ve saved the hardest for first, for some reason. Cracking the Canadian roster is going to be a challenge for two major reasons: one, it’s the deepest roster in the world and contains a pile of players who are bona fide all-stars, if not future Hall of Famers; two, the Canucks aren’t exactly steeped in Canadian talent.

The Canucks have had a handful of players don the maple leaf in best-on-best tournaments in the past (as Taylor Perry recently recounted), but for the most part they’ve been defencemen (like Ed Jovanovski and Dan Hamhuis) and a goaltender by the name of Roberto Luongo. Trevor Linden did represent Canada a couple of times, but beyond that, the pickings are slim.

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the Canucks’ best shot at Canada is Bo Horvat. This would of course require some mighty development over the next couple of years, particular in production. Canada’s forwards tend to hover around a point-per-game pace, which would be a lot to expect of Horvat by the time he’s 25.

Outside of Horvat, there isn’t a lot to hope for. Perhaps Ben Hutton takes several strides in his development and works his way onto the team, or maybe Chris Tanev will finally get some love. We’ll just have to wait and see.

United States

The United States will be happen to learn that San Diego born netminder Thatcher Demko will be 24 at the time of the next World Cup and will thus be too old for Team North America to snatch him away. At this point, Demko should be four years into his professional career, and should have a couple of years experience in the NHL as well – perhaps he’ll even have snatched the starter’s mantle by that time.

As a young goaltending, Demko will have a tough case vying for the starter’s role on Team U.S.A., where he’ll have stiff competition from the likes of Cory Schneider, John Gibson and Connor Hellebuyck. However, an invite to be on the roster is within his capabilities. In the meantime, we’ll be hoping that Demko jumps ahead of schedule in his development for our own selfish reasons in Vancouver – if that happens, it’ll only help his cause internationally.

Sweden

I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the Sedins won’t be taking part in the next World Cup. It’s not that I don’t believe in them (I do!), it’s just that they’ll be 39, and playing plenty of extra games at that age seems like a terrible idea. This is all assuming that they’re even still playing and, furthermore, that they’re still productive. I mean, I’m still holding out hope that they turn into Swedish Jagr’s and play into their mid-forties, but admittedly, that’s a tough sell. Plus, this is Sweden we’re talking about, so they’re going to have plenty of quality forwards to choose from.

So instead, this will be the only returning representative: Jacob Markstrom, who is currently backing up Henrik Lundqvist (though he could totally handle the starter’s job, I’m telling you). Markstrom will be 30 at the time of the next World Cup, which is mid-to-late prime years for your average netminder. He should have a handful of years as a starter under his belt at that point, and given his progression over the past couple of season, he may well be one of the league’s better goalies.

The bigger question is whether he’ll still be playing for the Canucks. Four years from now is one full season after his current contract ends, and likely two years into the era of Demko – right around the time Demko should be ready to take the reigns. That said, Canucks management has shown plenty of reluctance to hand any reigns over, so let’s just assume they want Markstrom to stick around plenty of years after Demko is ready.

And besides, I’m not even sure it I said current Canucks, or players I project to be Canucks in four years, and I’m not able to scroll back up and check. My second choice is ~~Gustav Forsling~~ Anton Rodin, I guess.

Finland

This is an easy one. The Canucks’ most recent first round selection is less than a year removed from World Junior gold with his native Finland. The smooth skating Olli Juolevi is a lock to make the Finnish World Cup team in four years from now, at which point he’ll be 22 and should have a couple of seasons of NHL experience. He should be running to power play and feeding Patrik Laine for those sweet, sweet one-timers.

Finland is already rocking a pretty young defence core, with six of the seven defencemen on the roster being 25 and under. That said, they aren’t all elite defencemen. While it will be no surprise to see Rasmus Ristolainen, Sami Vatanen, and Olli Maata on the next Finnish World Cup roster, Juolevi shouldn’t have much trouble beating out the likes of Ville Pokka, Esa Lindell and Jyrki Jokipakka for a spot in Finland’s top four.

Russia

I thought Russia was going to be tricky at first (the Canucks aren’t really stocked with Russian talent), but then I took a look at that defence they’ve cobbled together. While future Russian international teams will be able to benefit from the gloriousness that is Mikhail Sergachev, I figure they’ll still have enough space for our own Nikita Tryamkin.

On the current Russian roster, Alexey Marchenko averaged just under 17 minutes in the NHL last season, tallying 11 points. Dmitry Orlov averaged barely over 16 minutes, though he managed 29 points on a stacked Washington roster. Nikita Nesterov played less than 15 minutes a night in Tampa, and collected just 9 points. We don’t know exactly what to expect out of Tryamkin yet, but you’d hope that he could at least top numbers like those over the next four years.

My backup choice is Dmitry Zhukenov, the shifty two-way centre that I’m still hoping will be the next Pavel Datsyuk, like Sergei Chibisov told me he would be.

Czech Republic

Now things really are getting tricky. The Canucks have just one Czech player in their entire organization: Lukas Jasek. After a confusing draft-plus-one season for the former Canucks Army darling, CA’s relationship with Jasek has been switched to It’s Complicated. He didn’t end up getting selected in the CHL import draft this year, meaning he’ll be spending another year in the Czech Republic, and we’ll be spending another year trying to find which bloody league he’s playing in on a week-to-week basis.

That said, he’s pretty much our only hope to make the Czech squad (barring trades or the drafting of a Czech star), so we’ll just have to hope that he breaks out between now and then. Luckily, the Czech roster is among the weaker ones at the World Cup, and doesn’t even necessitate players being NHL calibre to join. On the current Czech roster, two players are currently employed by the KHL, while another plays in Extraliga, and another in the NLA. Two of their defencemen played their most recent pro hockey in the NHL, but are currently without contracts. If Jasek can at least make in to the NHL, his odds of representing his country will be pretty good.

North America

Thatcher Demko will have just missed the cutoff for Team North America, but luckily for them, Brock Boeser will be the perfect age. Born in February of 1997, the Minnesota-born sniper will be 23 at the time of the next tournament, and should have had enough years in the NHL to prove his worth on the uber-skilled North American squad.

While projecting NHL players four years in advance is always tricky, the North American roster may just be the trickiest. With the 2016 roster containing 19-year old players like Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, there could be 14 or 15-year old’s out there right now who are destined to make the team. Not to mention that developmental paths could go in any direction. The only real locks for the team at this point are the three 19-year old’s I just mentioned, who will obviously be 23 at the next tournament.

North America isn’t made entirely of phenoms though. As for the rest of the team, there are names like Jonathan Drouin (career high 32 points), Sean Couturier (career high 39 points), J.T. Miller (career high 43 points), Brandon Saad (career high 53 points), and Vincent Trocheck (career high 53 points). I don’t believe that it would be too unreasonable to think that Brock Boeser could meet or top some of these numbers by the end of the 2019-20 season (likely his third NHL campaign).

(Note: Word on the street is that the U23 North America team might be a one-and-done idea, and is to be replaced by an actual nation next season. If that’s the case, then Boeser should get a shot at making the American squad instead – particularly if they actually try to go with skill instead of grit and heart next time around, although Boeser has plenty of that as well.)

Europe

Team Europe has got to be the easiest one on this list, since that smorgasbord of nations includes Switzerland, and we just happen to have the best Swiss sniper around. Yes, of course I’m talking about Sven Baertschi. Frankly, I’m surprised that Baertschi didn’t make the current Europe roster as it is (Pierre-Edouard Bellemare is on the roster, for Heaven’s sake), so surely in four more years, the speedy winger will be a lock.

Baertschi should be able to add his name to a list of younger players who are already dressing for Team Europe, like Leon Draisaitl, Tomas Tatar, Nino Niederreiter, and Tobias Rieder. It’s likely that he’ll be teamed up with other international misfits like Danes Nikolai Ehlers and Oliver Bjorkstrand, Austrians Andre Burakovsky and Marko Dano, and Latvian Zemgus Girgensons.

The international future of the Canucks looks to be in decent hands, and while there may not be any MVP’s in the crowd, it certainly seems that we’ll at least have someone to watch at the next World Cup of Hockey. Canada and the Czech Republic look to be the hardest teams to crack so far, while Finland and Europe look to be the easiest. If I were to set the over/under at 5.5, which are you taking?