Naturally, that got us at CanucksArmy thinking… which Vancouver Canucks players might be representing their countries at the tournament in two years’ time? Let’s explore.

The obvious candidate

Filip Hronek was Czechia’s most-used defenceman at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and he’s likely going to do the same job for them at the 2028 World Cup. Now, the participating nations haven’t been officially announced, but as I pointed out in yesterday’s notebook, it would be downright crazy for Prague to be a host city for a tournament that Czechia is excluded from. They’ll be there, and so will Filip Hronek. He might even be the Canucks’ captain by that point.

You’d expect them there… right?

The other somewhat obvious candidate is Elias Pettersson (the forward), with Team Sweden. While Pettersson is certainly less of a lock than Hronek is with Czechia based on both players’ roles with their national teams at the Olympics, Sweden doesn’t exactly have a ton of young centres coming that will challenge for Pettersson’s roster spot. Furthermore, Mika Zibanejad will turn 35 in 2028, and Sweden might want to rely on him less than they did at the Olympics. Will Pettersson be a Canuck by that point? That remains to be seen…

Will Kevin Lankinen be Finland’s choice for backup again in 2028, like he was in 2026? Lankinen didn’t get into a game at the 2026 Winter Olympics, but did leave with a Bronze medal. Finland has some young goalies who could move up their nation’s depth chart by 2028. Niklas Kokko, Justus Annunen, Joel Blomqvist, Leevi Meriläinen — not to mention Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who was Finland’s third stringer at this year’s Olympics — all come to mind.

Could any young Canucks defenceman make it?

There could be some opportunity on the Swedish blueline with Victor Hedman and potentially Oliver Ekman-Larsson ageing out, but will that be enough for Tom Willander to get a spot on the team? Presumably, Willander will be in his third NHL season, and even if Willander has a breakout year next season or in 27-28, national teams often want to see a larger body of work before bringing young and inexperienced players to their teams.

The other Canucks rookie defenceman worth mentioning is Zeev Buium, although he is certainly considered a long shot at the time of this writing. Even if Buium enjoys a breakout in the coming season, the USA blue line is stacked, and on the left side, Buium is in tough to make it with the likes of Quinn Hughes, Jaccob Slavin, Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin, and Jackson LaCombe all expected to be back for the US in 2028.

If their countries are there, they will be too

Team Austria likely isn’t going to be one of the eight nations represented, but it’s not a guarantee that they won’t, either. And if they are there, you can bet that Marco Rossi will be too. Rossi is one of just two active Austrian NHL players, with Detroit’s Marco Kasper being the other. Similarly, if Team Latvia is there, you can bet that Teddy Blueger will be there as well. Blueger is set to be a free agent this offseason, so it of course remains to be seen if he’s a Canuck by that point.

Let me dream

Finally, let’s have some fun.

Should the Canucks draft one of Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg with the first or second overall pick at this year’s draft, could they have another representative?

McKenna would theoretically be in tough to make Team Canada as an NHL sophomore — after all, Connor Bedard was left at home as a third-year NHLer — but Stenberg should have a real shot to crack a weaker Swedish roster. Stenberg has been putting up eye-catching point totals in the SHL against grown men, and according to NHL prospect experts, has NHL-ready two-way habits, which should help him in cracking Sweden’s roster.

But will either player be a Canuck in 2028?

I sure hope so.