The National Hockey League’s 2025-26 regular season is set to wrap up in two weeks and as half the league begins to prepare for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, those on the outside looking in have several questions they’ll need to answer this summer.
Before those non-playoff teams get down to business this summer, a number of their players will have the opportunity to represent their respective nations at the 2026 IIHF World Hockey Championship, which is being hosted in Zurich & Fribourg, Switzerland. Switzerland was initially supposed to host the 2020 IIHF World Hockey Championship, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the tournament was cancelled. This year will mark the 11th time Switzerland has hosted the IIHF World Hockey Championship and the first since 2009.
After failing to medal at last year’s tournament, Canada will be looking to turn things around this year and based on how well they’ve played in previous World Championships held in Switzerland (five gold, one silver), they have a good chance at bringing home some hardware.
Hockey Canada is going to have some intriguing options available to them at this year’s tournament and According to Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman, projected 2026 first overall pick Gavin McKenna is on the team’s radar after a strong freshman year at Penn State University (NCAA).
“First of all, obviously Gavin McKenna, the potential number one pick. Penn State lost last night. He can’t go to the AHL, he couldn’t even make a miracle return to the CHL if Medicine Hat wanted to make it happen. I do think that the most likely next step for Gavin McKenna is the World Championships for Canada. Nothing’s finalized at this point in time, but I think there’s a will on everybody’s part to make this happen. So we should expect, barring something very surprising, that he’s going to end up there.” Friedman said during the Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada last weekend.
Potential options for Canada’s roster
Looking at the NHL standings as of this morning – Tuesday, April 7th, five teams have already been eliminated from playoff contention (Chicago, Florida, New York R, Toronto & Vancouver) so there’s a pretty good chance that Hockey Canada’s brass have been reaching out to players on those teams to see if they’re interested in representing the nation next month. Beyond those clubs, I have also included players from Calgary, Seattle, St. Louis, San Jose and Winnipeg, although the latter two are still in the mix for a wild card spot in the Western Conference, sitting two and three points back, respectively, of the Los Angeles Kings.
One of the biggest names on my list below is Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard, who has reached the 30-goal mark for the first time in his young career. Hockey Canada wanted Bedard to play for them at last year’s World Championship, but he declined an invitation as he wanted to work on getting better off the ice and be the best player he could be by the time the 2025-26 season rolled around. While that certainly helped Bedard in Chicago this season as he’s set new career-highs, it may have played a small role in his exclusion from Canada’s Olympic roster earlier this year. Committing to playing at this year’s World Championship could go a long way in helping his chances of making Canada’s roster for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey.
Along with the North Vancouver native, my list below includes a total of 43 players, with some of their teams hanging on to playoff hopes by a thread. Among those on my list are four members of the Florida Panthers – Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad & Carter Verhaeghe, all of whom would be incredible additions to Canada’s roster, but given how much hockey they’ve played over the last couple of seasons, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups, it might be a bit unrealistic to expect them to accept an invite to the tournament.
Other notable names on my list are 2020 first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere, who hasn’t played for Canada at the senior men’s level yet, 2026 Winter Olympians Jordan Binnington, Colton Parayko and Josh Morrissey. 24 of the 43 players below have experience representing Canada the IIHF World Championship.
- Morgan Frost (Calgary Flames)
- Connor Zary (Calgary Flames)
- Kevin Bahl (Calgary Flames)
- Ryan Strome (Calgary Flames)
- Zayne Parekh (Calgary Flames)
- Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks)
- Tyler Bertuzzi (Chicago Blackhawks)
- Andrew Mangiapane (Chicago Blackhawks)
- Sam Reinhart (Florida Panthers)*
- Sam Bennett (Florida Panthers)
- Carter Verhaeghe (Florida Panthers)
- Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers)*
- Alexis Lafreniere (New York Rangers)
- Will Cuylle (New York Rangers)
- Dylan Garand (New York Rangers)
- Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks)
- Tyler Toffoli (San Jose Sharks)
- Mario Ferraro (San Jose Sharks)
- Michael Misa (San Jose Sharks)
- Jordan Eberle (Seattle Kraken)
- Chandler Stephenson (Seattle Kraken)
- Vince Dunn (Seattle Kraken)
- Jared McCann (Seattle Kraken)
- Brandon Montour (Seattle Kraken)
- Shane Wright (Seattle Kraken)*
- Robert Thomas (St. Louis Blues)
- Jordan Kyrou (St. Louis Blues)
- Dylan Holloway (St. Louis Blues)
- Jake Neighbours (St. Louis Blues)
- Colton Parayko (St. Louis Blues)
- Jordan Binnington (St. Louis Blues)
- John Tavares (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Morgan Rielly (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Max Domi (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Easton Cowan (Toronto Maple Leafs)
- Jake DeBrusk (Vancouver Canucks)
- Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets)
- Gabe Vilardi (Winnipeg Jets)
- Josh Morrissey (Winnipeg Jets)
- Cole Perfetti (Winnipeg Jets)
- Dylan DeMelo (Winnipeg Jets)
- Eric Comrie (Winnipeg Jets)
- Gavin McKenna (2026 NHL Draft eligible)
*- Player is currently injured.
Canada’s schedule
Canada will be in Group B along with Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Slovenia, Slovakia and Sweden, which is set to be played at Fribourg’s BCF Arena (capacity: 9,009). Team Canada will open things up against the Swedes on Friday, May 15th at 10:20 am ET (4:20 pm local), with their final group stage game slated for 11 days later against Czechia.
- Friday, May 15th vs Sweden (10:20 am ET)
- Saturday, May 16th vs Italy (10:20 am ET)
- Monday, May 18th vs Denmark (10:20 am ET)
- Thursday, May 21st vs Norway (10:20 am ET)
- Friday, May 22nd vs Slovenia (10:20 am ET)
- Sunday, May 24th vs Slovakia (2:20 pm ET)
- Tuesday, May 26th vs Czechia (2:20 pm ET)
With a fourth place finish in 2024 and a fifth place finish last year, Hockey Canada is hoping to avoid yet another medal-less tournament. The last time Canada went three or more years without a medal at the IIHF World Championship was 2010 to 2015. Given the talent that Hockey Canada will have available to them, fans should feel positive about the nation’s chances of bringing home the gold medal.
Stay tuned for my 2026 IIHF World Championship tournament preview in early May, followed by in-depth daily recaps starting on Friday, May 15th.
(Photo Credit: Andrea Branca / Eurasia Sport Images / Getty Images)