Canada’s squad for the World Cup includes six world champions as well as No. 1 draft picks Bedard and Power

The defending champions’ squad includes two NHL draft picks Owen Power from Buffalo, who is the 2021 champion, and Connor Bedard from Chicago. The only player outside the NHL is 17-year-old forward Macklin Celebrini from Boston University, who is the favorite for the June draft in Las Vegas.

In last year’s triumph in Latvia and Finland, goalkeeper Joel Hofer from St. Louis and forwards Jack McBain of Arizona and Adam Fantilli of Columbus, a No. 3 pick in last year’s draft.

Along with Power, the 2021 gold from Riga is held by forwards Michael Bunting from Pittsburgh and Andrew Mangiapane from Calgary, who was the most valuable player, top scorer and also made the All star team at the successful tournament.

Goalie Jordan Binnington and defenseman Colton Parayko of St. Louis won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019. Buffalo guard Bowen Byram celebrated with Colorado the year before. Parayko won silver at the World Championships in 2017, made his debut a year later, and in 2016, as a member of the North American Team, he competed at the World Cup in Toronto.

Fullback Damon Severson from Columbus brought silver from both of his previous starts at the 2019 WC in Bratislava and the year before. Forward Jared McCann from Seattle is also the world runner-up from Slovakia, and Dylan Cozens from Buffalo and Dawson Mercer from New Jersey have silver from last year. Power and McBain also competed at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Binnington, who holds the 2019 NHL Rookie of the Year Calder Trophy, fellow goaltender Nico Daws of New Jersey, defensemen Byram, Montreal’s Kaiden Guhle, Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak, Anaheim’s Olen Zellweger and forwards Bedard, Seattle’s Brandon Tanev, Ridly Greig from Ottawa and Dylan Guenther from Arizona will make their debuts in the Canadian national team.

Goalkeepers Binnington, Daws and Hofer, defenders Byram, Guhle, Oleksiak, Zellweger and forwards Bedard, Celebrini, Cozens, Fantilli, Greig, Guenther and Mercer represented at the Junior World Championships. Only Binnington in 2013 and Celebrini were left without a medal this year.

Daws with Hofer, Byram, Cozens and Mercer have gold from 2020, Zellweger and Bedard triumphed the year before and last year, and Greig celebrated with them in 2022 and Fantilli with Guenther last year. Byram with Cozens and Mercer also achieved silver in 2021, when Guhle was also on the team. Oleksiak took bronze in 2012.

“Some of the players on this squad have had success on the international stage, and we know that the fans are looking forward to seeing us perform against the best teams in the world. We are confident that the players will be proud to represent Canada in Prague and Ostrava. We believe that we have a great chance to defend the gold with this team,” general manager Rick Nash, whose assistants are Kyle Dubas and Scott Salmond, told the Canadian Hockey Federation’s website. The team is led by Arizona coach André Tourigny with assistants Dean Evason, Jay Woodcroft and Steve Ott.

Canada has a warm-up match against Austria on Sunday in Vienna and a friendly against Hungary on Tuesday in Budapest. The Canadians will enter the championship on Saturday, May 11 with a duel against Great Britain, in the other matches of Prague’s basic group A they will play against Denmark, Austria, Norway, Finland, Switzerland and on Tuesday, May 21 from 4:20 p.m. against the Czech national team.

Nominations of Canada’s ice hockey players for the World Championships in Prague and Ostrava (May 10-26):

Goalkeepers: Jordan Binnington, Joel Hofer (both St. Louis/NHL), Nico Daws (New Jersey/NHL; Utica/AHL),

defenders: Bowen Byram, Owen Power (both Buffalo/NHL), Kaiden Guhle (Montreal/NHL), Jamie Oleksiak (Seattle/NHL), Colton Parayko (St. Louis/NHL), Damon Severson (Columbus/NHL), Olen Zellweger (Anaheim /NHL),

attackers: Jack McBain, Dylan Guenther (both Arizona/NHL), Jared McCann, Brandon Tanev (both Seattle/NHL), Connor Bedard (Chicago/NHL), Michael Bunting (Pittsburgh/NHL), Macklin Celebrini (Boston University/NCAA), Dylan Cozens (Buffalo/NHL), Adam Fantilli (Columbus/NHL), Ridly Greig (Ottawa/NHL), Andrew Mangiapane (Calgary/NHL), Dawson Mercer (New Jersey/NHL).