Four Flyers players will be joining Ron Hextall and Dave Hakstol in Europe later this month as Team Canada looks to win its third straight gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Championship.
Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Wayne Simmonds and Travis Konecny were all officially named to the roster for Team Canada on Wednesday afternoon, joining 14 other players. The full roster will be named as the NHL playoffs progress and more players become available to Team Canada.
Hextall is serving as the general manager for Canada, while Hakstol is serving as an assistant coach. No word on whether or not he’ll lobby head coach Jon Cooper to make Konecny a healthy scratch during the tournament.
Brayden Schenn is the only Flyers player who has played for Canada in the Worlds in recent years not to be named to the roster this time around.
Giroux is representing Canada for the sixth time, having also played in last year’s World Cup, the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, and with the under-20 team twice in 2007-08. Couturier is representing Canada for the second time, having played in the 2011 World Juniors and the 2015 World Championships. He also played for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup. Simmonds played with Giroux in the 2009 World Juniors and the 2013 World Championships, while Konecny played in the under-18 Worlds in 2014 and the World Juniors in 2016.
Below is the full roster as selected by Hextall and the Canadian management group, which also includes former Flyer Sean Burke:
- Goalies: Eric Comrie (Edmonton/Winnipeg, NHL) and Calvin Pickard (Winnipeg/Colorado, NHL)
- Defensemen: Tyson Barrie (Victoria, B.C./Colorado, NHL), Calvin De Haan (Carp, Ont./New York Islanders, NHL), Jason Demers (Dorval, Que./Florida, NHL), Michael Matheson (Pointe-Claire, Que./Florida, NHL), and Josh Morrissey (Calgary/Winnipeg, NHL)
- Forwards: Sean Couturier (Bathurst, N.B./Philadelphia, NHL), Matt Duchene (Haliburton, Ont./Colorado, NHL), Claude Giroux (Hearst, Ont./Philadelphia, NHL), Alex Killorn (Beaconsfield, Que./Tampa Bay, NHL), Travis Konecny (Clachan, Ont./Philadelphia, NHL), Ryan O’Reilly (Varna, Ont./Buffalo, NHL), Nathan MacKinnon (Cole Harbour, N.S./Colorado, NHL), Brayden Point (Calgary/Tampa Bay, NHL), Mark Scheifele (Kitchener, Ont./Winnipeg, NHL), Wayne Simmonds (Scarborough, Ont./Philadelphia, NHL), and Jeff Skinner (Toronto/Carolina, NHL)./
The 2017 Worlds begin on May 5 in Paris, France and Cologne, Germany. The gold medal game is scheduled for May 21.
