The IIHF World Junior Championships are just around the corner, and lots of eyes will be on the top prospects outside of the NHL this winter.
As is the case each year, not all the best under-20 players will be available; notably, Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini for Canada, who would undoubtedly dominate the proceedings. Both Canada and United States will bring some significant talent to the tournament, with the expectation of bringing home the golden hardware.
Projecting the rosters for these two teams is a harder task than it should be. Both teams are consistently guilty of leaving talent off the roster for players who can "play a role." Instead of trying to run their opponents out of the rink and force other teams to match their depth of skill, both teams overthink it, and, in some cases, play politics.
In projecting both rosters, we'll look at who is likely to make the team, contrasted to who would make the team if it were a straight "take the best players" situation. For example, if you're taking the best players, neither of Beckett Sennecke or Zayne Parekh would have been left off the invite list (only to be added for injury reasons later on). On the U.S. side, Joey Willis would likely be a shoo-n over some of the USA Hockey "favorites" as a few scouts termed them.