Owen Beck lone invitee to Canada's world junior camp from 2023 championship squad
Bedard, Fantilli, Wright among high-end talent not available for this year's tourney
Macklin Celebrini is among 30 invitees for Canada's selection camp ahead of the world junior hockey championship announced Tuesday.
Expected to be among the top picks at the 2024 NHL draft, the 17-year-old Vancouver product sits second in the NCAA with 10 goals and 25 points in 15 games this season for Boston University.
He will be joined at Canada's camp set to begin Sunday in Oakville, Ont., by 10 first-round picks, including fellow forwards Matt Savoie, Conor Geekie, Nate Danielson, Brayden Yager, Matthew Wood and Easton Cowan.
Fraser Minten, who played four games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in October before being returned to junior, is also in the mix.
Invitees on defence include first-rounders Denton Mateychuk, Oliver Bonk -- the son of former NHLer Radek Bonk -- Tanner Molendyk and the six-foot-seven Maveric Lamoureux.
The four goalies hoping for a spot at the tournament set for Gothenburg, Sweden, are Domenic DiVincentiis, Scott Ratzlaff, Mathis Rousseau and Samuel St-Hilaire.
"Canada has an incredible talent pool," Peter Anholt, who is leading Canada's management group, said in a statement. "There are always difficult decisions to narrow it down."
Bruins rookie Poitras potential addition
Canada's only returnee from the 2023 team that won gold in Halifax is Montreal Canadiens draft pick Owen Beck. The forward was cut from last December's selection camp, but later added to the roster following an injury.
A chunk of high-end talent also won't be available.
- Connor Bedard (Chicago), Adam Fantilli (Columbus), Shane Wright (Seattle/AHL) and Kevin Korchinski (Chicago), who were all on last year's team and eligible to return, are the NHL this season.
- Matthew Poitras (Boston) and Zach Benson (Buffalo), meanwhile, are other potential additions currently in the NHL.
The rest of the forwards invited to camp include Owen Allard, Denver Barkey, Jordan Dumais, Jagger Firkus, Paul Ludwinski, Carson Rehkopf and Markus Vidicek.
Michael Buchinger, Jorian Donovan, Jake Furlong, Tristan Luneau, Ty Nelson and Noah Warren make up the remaining hopefuls on defence for the tournament that runs Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
Canada will practice Sunday and Monday in Oakville to open camp before playing a pair of games against a team of university all-stars Tuesday and Wednesday.
"We are expecting a highly competitive camp," Anholt said. "We look forward to naming our final roster that will wear the Maple Leaf with pride starting on Boxing Day."
