Flames prospects at the 2025 WJC: Hurtig

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

I just noticed Luca Pinelli's name lol. That might be the strangest pick of all.

Luca is my son’s favourite player so that pick gets a pass for me. Strange picks by Hockey Canada. They often outthink themselves on these things.

[dammage79]

Another name missing is Michael Misa. Plenty of top end talent overlooked.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Tbull8

Yakemchuk
Sennecke
Tij
Parekh all snubbed. Insane.

And we're not even talking about the final cuts. We're talking about invites to camp.

Absolutely bizarre.

[Johnny Makarov]

Wideman Effect.

[Tbull8]

Slightly related, but apparently Sanheim and Konecny are on Canada for 4 nations....

[stemit14]

It is baffling that Iginla, Parekh and Yakemchuk weren’t even invited.

Tij had a fantastic U18s to go along with his breakout season. He plays one of the most mature styles of games amongst anyone in the 2024 draft. If you watch him play - he does everything right out there.

Parekh has dominated the OHL last year and this year and was a major part of his team winning the memorial cup last season. Could easily be considered the best offensive defenceman available.

Yakemchuk was one of the oldest players in last years draft, is one of the most physical defencemen eligible for the WJ tournament and is considered by many to be the most NHL ready Canadian defenceman from the 2024.

I can only speculate on these very poor excuses that the management/coaching staff used for not bringing them:

-probably choosing older players over Iginla because he was one of the youngest players in the 2024 draft. They are probably assuming he’ll be available for the team next year. Problem with that is they’ve invited several undrafted players instead of him.
-probably not inviting Parekh because of the perception that he’s not good defensively but so many scouts said his defensive game was actually pretty solid. You don’t win a memorial cup as a team’s top defenceman without being capable in your own end.
-probably not inviting Yakemchuk because he had the reputation of being a bit of a puck hog last season. Remember a scouting report that he had more attempts to beat players one-on-one than any other player in the CHL last year. Still though - he’s got all the tools hockey Canada should want in a defenceman at a tournament like this.

[MrButtons]

Canada choosing Cole Beaudoin, Utah's #24 pick over Tij, Utah's #6 pick??

Beaudoin GP25, 11G, 26P
Tij GP24, 14G, 32P

[dissentowner]

Hockey Canada has steadily declined yearly, it needs a complete overhaul.

[Monahammer]

Sennecke
Iginla
Hage
Misa

All extremely deserving of being considered up front.

[HighLifeMan]

Misa is a much larger omission than Iginla upfront.. He leads the CHL in goalscoring, and is 2nd in points.

As for Parekh, I suppose being a top 10 NHL draft pick, the reigning CHL defensemen of the year, a Memorial cup champion, and a Hlinka winner wasn't enough to warrant getting a camp invite over the elite skillsets that the likes of Cam Allen, Beau Akey, Harrison Brunicke, and Andrew Gibson bring as the right handed defensemen on the roster.

[Bonded]

So Parekh is total bust and the Flames should have taken Dickinson. Swing and a miss

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by icarus

Wow, that's four out of the first nine players drafted in 2024... does Hockey Canada think it's smarter than NHL scouting staffs?

Well, drafting is about long term evaluations, and this team is about right now.

When teams draft players, they have time to develop and clean up defensive deficiencies, it's not Team Canada's job to do that, not do they have time.

Now, I have no idea if that is the reason why some players were bypassed, just making a statement.

Although Canada has won gold the last two years, so its not like they have a history of bad choices?

Have there been more surprising omissions than normal?

[stemit14]

This definitely has the makings of Hockey Canada assuming they’re the smartest guys in the room. I really can’t imagine how some of these guys didn’t get an invite. You don’t want an Iginla to even be given a shot at the World Juniors? That probably comes off as nepotism but it’s not like he didn’t earn his draft position. He is pretty much universally considered a top 15 drafted NHL prospect. Same with Parekh.

[Bonded]

Yeah, I don’t follow prospects enough but if they already have a pure offence dman then skipping Parekh makes sense.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I guess Hockey Canada just assumed that some of the best kids were playing in the NHL this year. LoL

[the-rasta-masta]

I mean the crazy thing is this is the training camp, still cuts to be made. To not even see Parekh on this list is incredibly frustrating. He must be livid.

[bluejays]

In many ways I think this may be a good thing. Parekh has a chip on his shoulder. Would this drive him further - likely. Canada management has been terrible for years. It seems like a serious flaw to have so many highly drafted players missing, but I'm sure they have their logic.

[TheIronMaiden]

Whats the word on Flames playing for other teams? Should we expect anyone?

[HighLifeMan]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Although Canada has won gold the last two years, so its not like they have a history of bad choices?

?

Canada finished fifth last year. They lost to the Czech's 3-2, and were also shutout by the Swedes as well. I suppose their response to those results was to omit elite offensive talent this year.

[Lewis_D]

Well that sucks, I was expecting Parekh to be a lock. But there's a handful of other players not on that roster that should be, so hockey Canada just clearly doesn't know what they're doing.

I would have thought Morin has been solid enough to at least get an invite to camp, was also hoping Battaglia would get an invite.