Getty Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks playing for Team Canada
The 2024 IIHF World Championship will kick off less than a month from now with the first puck drop scheduled for May 10 in the Czech Republic and the first reports regarding which players will fill the rosters of Team USA and Team Canada have emerged.
Both nations will be “well represented” at the upcoming World Championship, according to St. Louis Blues’ rinkside reporter Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest.
Hearing Canada and the U.S. will be well represented at the upcoming World Championships . Connor Bedard and Jordan Binnington are two names for 🇨🇦…USA roster will include Seth Jones, Brady Tkachuk, Trevor Zegras, Luke Kunin and more. 🇺🇸
“Hearing Canada and the U.S. will be well represented at the upcoming World Championships,” Strickland wrote on April 10.
“Connor Bedard and Jordan Binnington are two names for [Team Canada]. [Team USA] roster will include Seth Jones, Brady Tkachuk, Trevor Zegras, Luke Kunin, and more,” Strickland revealed.
One day later, Strickland added a few more names to the list of players Team USA will try to add to their rosters for the international tournament, according to what he’s hearing.
Additional players expected to represent 🇺🇸 at upcoming world championships include Johnny Gaudreau, Cole Caufield, Tage Thompson, Luke Hughes, Shane Pinto in addition to the names I reported yesterday which included Brady Tkachuk, Seth Jones, and Trevor Zegras. @usahockey
“Additional players expected to represent [Team USA] at upcoming world championships include Johnny Gaudreau, Cole Caufield, Tage Thompson, Luke Hughes, (and) Shane Pinto,” Strickland reported on April 11.
The List of World Championship-Bound Players Keeps Growing
As documented by Heavy in early April, Chicago Blackhawks rookie and superstar-in-the-making Connor Bedard is expected to receive a call to represent Team Canada even though he’s still just a rookie taking his first steps in the NHL.
The information covered in that story, originally reported by Pierre Lebrun on TSN, was confirmed by Strickland after he shared his intel on April 10 mentioning Bedard.
However, Strickland didn’t mention Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby nor his potential availability for Team Canada as Pierre LeBrun did in his report.
Similarly, Strickland didn’t list Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish as a potential candidate to join Team Canada, a name that was mentioned by LeBrun in his original report.
Heavy also documented the expected call-up of Columbus Blue Jackets No. 1 defenseman Zach Werenski following a report shared by Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch.
Hedger revealed on April 5 that Werenski told him he “plans to play for the U.S. at the World Championship this spring.”
2 Blackhawks Expected to Join Connor Bedard at World Championship
To all of the aforementioned players, we can add two more coming from Chicago and Bedard’s teammates during his rookie season: defensemen Seth Jones and Alex Vlasic.
“Seth Jones says he and Alex Vlasic will both play for the USA in the World Championships this year,” Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reported on April 10.
Vlasic, 22 years old, has yet to represent the United States of America hockey team at the senior level. The last time he did, more than five years ago, he played at the U18 World Championship during the 2018-19 season.
Jones, a seasoned veteran who turned 29 last October, has represented the USA at different competitions in the past. The last time he did was two years ago, also at the World Championship. Back then, Team USA finished in fourth place missing the podium. Jones was named team captain for the Americans.
Team Canada is coming off winning the 2023 World Championship after doing so in 2021. It marked the second triumph in three years post-COVID-19 when the pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 edition of the tournament.
Team USA has finished third in two of the last five editions, but the Americans could only place fourth in the two most recent tournaments. Team USA has never won the gold.