Canada Announces World Juniors Coaching Staff
Hockey Canada has announced their bench bosses for the 2027 World Junior Championships. The Canadian side will be led by head coach Misha Donskov, earning a promotion after serving as associate head coach and vice president of hockey operations at the 2026 World Juniors. Donskov also served as head coach at the 2026 World Championship and an assistant coach at the 2026 Winter Olympics, while also carrying his VP title through those tournaments. Alongside Donskov will be assistant coaches Drew Bannister, Jim Hulton, Brad Lauer, and Ryan Getzlaf. The staff will be rounded out by Dan De Palma serving as the goalie coach.
Per usual, Canada’s coaching staff will bring a wealth of experience from across the hockey world. Donskov served as Director of Hockey Operations for the Vegas Golden Knights beginning in their inaugural 2016-17 season. He continued in that role until the 2019-20 season, when he was moved to an assistant coach role that he held through Vegas’ Stanley Cup-winning season in 2022-23. After lifting the Cup, Donskov moved to the Dallas Stars bench for two seasons, before taking on an exclusive role with Hockey Canada. His trophy cabinet is filled to the brim. Donskov has won a Gold Medal at the Men’s (2016) and Women’s (2011) World Championship. He also won Gold at the 2012 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the 2015 World Juniors, the 2017 World Cup, and the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off. He also has an OHL Championship (2012), Spengler Cup championship (2020), World Juniors Bronze medal (2026), and Olympic Silver medal (2026) to his name.
Bannister will reappear across the hockey world after only coaching at the Spengler Cup and World U18 Championship in the 2025-26 season. The former St. Louis Blues head coach has taken over the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds for the 2026-27 season. He last coached for Soo from 2015 to 2018, a run marked by two quarterfinal losses and one loss in the OHL Championship. This will be Bannister’s first time coaching at the World Juniors, though he has supported the World U17 Hockey Challenge, Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and World U18 tournament previously. Bannister played with Team Canada at the 1994 World Junior Championship, where he chipped in four points and 10 penalty minutes in seven games en route to a Gold Medal. That championship predated a playing career that spanned 164 NHL games, 149 IHL games, and 204 AHL games.
Hulton represents the journeyman on Canada’s bench, having coached in the OHL, NHL, USHL, and QMJHL. He most recently manned the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs bench after 11 seasons overseeing the Charlottetown Islanders. Hulton has won league recognition as a general manager and head coach, taking home the USHL ‘GM of the Year’ award in 2014-15, both ‘GM of the Year’ and ‘Coach of the Year’ in the QMJHL’s 2020-21 season, and QMJHL and CHL ‘Coach of the Year’ honors in 2021-22. He has also won Silver and Gold at the World Juniors, in 2004 and 2005 respectively.
Perhaps the heaviest hitter on the bench – literally and figuratively – will be former Anaheim Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf. The 17-year NHL veteran has climbed the ranks of Canada’s international presence over the last two seasons. He was a senior advisor at the 2025 World Championship and 2026 Olympic Games – and now takes another step forward overseeing Canada’s next crop of top prospects. Getzlaf is also well-decorated, having won Gold at nearly every level of international competition. That includes the World U18 Championship, World Junior Championship, World Cup, and twice at the Olympic Games. Those accolades were interwoven with an NHL career marked by 1,019 points in 1,157 games – and a Stanley Cup win in 2007.
Lauer marks another veteran of the coaching world. He served as assistant coach to the Anaheim Ducks from 2012 to 2015, then the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2015 to 2018. Lauer then stepped back to a head coach role with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. He held that role until 2022, then returned to the NHL for a pair of seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, before stepping back into a head coach role with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs in the last two seasons. Lauer has a thin trophy cabinet despite 25 years of experience – currently filled by a 2022 WHL championship and 2026 World Junior Bronze medal.
The coaching staff closes with longtime goaltending coach De Palma, who has served on WHL benches since the 2006-07 season. He has taken the mantle with the Prince George Cougars and Kamloops Blazers, overseeing parts or all of the junior careers of Taylor Gauthier, Connor Ingram, Dylan Garand, Dylan Ferguson, and Kurtis Mucha. De Palma has served as the goalie coach for Canada’s U18 team since 2023, and also joined the national team at the 2025 and 2026 World Juniors.
Team Canada will be an early favorite under the guide of decades of NHL experience and two former Stanley Cup champions. They should pull together an incredibly strong roster – headlined by Boston University duo Caleb Malhotra and Tynan Lawrence and potentially bolstered by reigning first-overall pick Gavin McKenna. Canada will also bring 2027 first-overall favorite Landon DuPont and may even roster 2028 star prospects Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue. The litany of top-end talent will champion a roster that could feature NHL prospects at every position.
Photo courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports.
West Notes: Dumoulin, Oilers GM Search, Lauer, Sparkes
Ducks defenseman Brian Dumoulin told Travis Lazarczyk of the Portland Press Herald that he had requested a trade from Seattle before last month’s draft, preferably to an Eastern team. The 32-year-old signed with the Kraken last summer after spending ten years in Pittsburgh and had a limited role, picking up 16 points in 80 games while his average ice time dipped by more than three minutes per game to 17:01 per night. Originally, Seattle didn’t intend to move him but eventually agreed to do so after signing Brandon Montour but didn’t find an East Coast team to send him to, instead moving him to Anaheim for a 2026 fourth-round pick. Dumoulin will enter the final year of his contract next season, one that carries a $3.15MM AAV and he’ll be asked to help shore up a back end that struggled mightily in 2023-24.
Elsewhere out West:
- In an appearance on the Bob McCown Podcast (video link), Oilers CEO of Hockey Operations and interim GM Jeff Jackson reiterated that he has no desire to take on the full-time GM role. He added that there have been several interviews for the position and while he didn’t want to put a firm timeline on a new hire, he’s hoping to have one announced in the next seven to ten days. Jackson is in the interim role following the departure of Ken Holland when his contract expired late last month.
- Former Jets assistant coach Brad Lauer has found his next job as WHL Spokane announced that they’ve named Lauer as their new head coach. The 57-year-old spent the last two years as an assistant with Winnipeg and also has time behind the bench with Anaheim and Tampa Bay. Lauer has worked in the WHL twice before, spending five years with Kootenay as an assistant to kick off his coaching career and four seasons with Edmonton.
- Kings prospect Jack Sparkes has changed college commitments. Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald reports (Twitter link) that the blueliner will now attend Clarkson after originally being committed to Michigan State. The 20-year-old was the tallest player in his draft class at six-foot-eight, going 180th overall. Sparkes split last season between USHL Muskegon and BCHL Chilliwack, picking up a dozen points in 44 games.
Snapshots: Monahan, Chiarelli, Lauer, Trouba
The Winnipeg Jets are reportedly looking to retain pending free agent Sean Monahan, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the latest 32 Thoughts Podcast. The Jets acquired Monahan ahead of the trade deadline, sending a 2024 first-round and 2027 seventh-round pick back to the Montreal Canadiens. Monahan went on to score 13 goals and 24 points across 34 regular-season games with Winnipeg, adding one assist in five postseason games.
Monahan was one of Winnipeg’s two Trade Deadline acquisitions, alongside Tyler Toffoli, who the Jets sent a 2024 third-round and 2025 second-round pick. Toffoli has shared his interest in testing the open market. That decision should give Winnipeg much more freedom to allocate their $13.353MM in cap space between Monahan, pending restricted-free-agent Cole Perfetti, and William Jennings Trophy-co-winner Laurent Brossoit. The trio headline a list of 10 pending free agents on the Jets lineup.
Maintaining Monahan will give the Jets some stability down the middle, while moving on from Toffoli could open the door for top prospects Brad Lambert or Nikita Chibrikov to challenge the opening-day roster. The Jets will likely be removed from any jaw-dropping deals, with limited cap space and already-spent draft picks, but they’ll look to hold onto a playoff-caliber lineup with their signing this summer.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Friedman also shared in 32 Thoughts that expected incumbent to the Columbus Blue Jackets general manager role, Don Waddell, will be splitting responsibilities between GM and President of Hockey Operations through the early going. However, the Blue Jackets haven’t ruled out the idea of bringing in additional support, with Friedman naming Peter Chiarelli as a potential candidate. Chiarelli has received interest from front offices around the NHL, though he’s stayed put in an advisory role, and then a Vice President of Hockey Operations role, with the St. Louis Blues. He’s serving that role after a four-year tenure as GM and President of Hockey Ops for the Edmonton Oilers and a nine-year tenure with the Boston Bruins. Chiarelli has become notorious for his decisions with the Oilers and Bruins, though his role in Columbus likely wouldn’t involve final say. He’ll be a name to monitor, as the Blue Jackets look to pull themselves up from a challenging 2023-24 campaign.
- The Winnipeg Jets have dismissed assistant coach Brad Lauer, and will retain Marty Johnston and Wade Flaherty as assistant and goalie coaches, per TSN’s John Lu (Twitter link). Lauer just wrapped up his second season as Winnipeg’s assistant. The pair of seasons brought him to 11 years spent as an assistant coach across the NHL, with his longest tenure coming during a four-year stretch with the Anaheim Ducks. Lauer played in 10 seasons between the NHL and IHL during his own playing career and has been coaching since his retirement in 2002. He served as the head coach behind the Edmonton Oil Kings to the 2022 Ed Chynoweth Cup, winning the WHL Championship. That accolade, and a long career in the pros, should be enough to land Lauer a new role quickly.
- The NHL Department of Player Safety has fined New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba $5K for an elbow against Florida Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final (Twitter link). The fine is the maximum allowed under the CBA. Trouba was assessed a minor penalty on the hit, though many fans argued the flying-elbow should have warranted a major penalty. He’ll now be assessed a fine instead, maintaining his eligibility for what will be a crucial Game 4. The Rangers are currently up 2-1 in the ECF series, in no small part thanks to Trouba’s three points in three games, including two assists in Game 3. He’s also recorded 12 hits and 16 blocks in the series.