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Team Canada Announces Initial World Championship Roster

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Hockey Canada has followed up news of their World Championship coaching staff by announcing the first 15 players on their tournament roster. The team is a healthy mix between veteran NHL experience and burgeoning stars. That includes reigning first overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini, who will receive his first chance to join Canada’s Men’s team. Celebrini will operate down a loaded center depth chart, behind NHL stars Bo Horvat and Ryan O’Reilly.

Celebrini is the headliner, but Canada will embrace a major youth movement with this lineup. They’re also bringing young forward Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson, as well as defenseman Ryker Evans. All three players proved their worth as everyday NHL talents this season – Fantilli with a 30-goal season, Johnson with 57 points, and Evans with a routine top-four role in Seattle. Interestingly, the roster does not yet contain 2023 first-overall pick Connor Bedard, who scored eight points in 10 tourney games last summer.

Team Canada has also invited 22-year-old goaltender Dylan Garand – the only invitee to not spend the entire season in the NHL. Garand instead served as the starter for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, where he managed a .913 save percentage and 20-10-8 record. He’ll likely be the third-string goaltender once Canada adds more experienced pros currently in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Evans’ role on defense will be sheltered by major supports in the form of MacKenzie Weegar, Noah Dobson, Brandon Montour, and Travis Sanheim. All four players are top defensemen for their NHL clubs and collectively form a very experienced blue-line for the international lineup. None of Canada’s first five defense invites were on the World Championship roster last year.

The current roster is as follows:

F Macklin Celebrini (Sharks)
F William Cuylle (Rangers)
F Adam Fantilli (Blue Jackets)
F Tyson Foerster (Flyers)
F Barrett Hayton (Hockey Club)
F Bo Horvat (Islanders)
F Kent Johnson (Blue Jackets)
F Travis Konecny (Flyers)
F Ryan O’Reilly (Predators)

D Noah Dobson (Islanders)
D Ryker Evans (Kraken)
D Brandon Montour (Kraken)
D Travis Sanheim (Flyers)
D MacKenzie Weegar (Flames)

G Dylan Garand (Rangers)

Flyers Notes: Konecny, Sanheim, Grans, Ersson

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There are only two days until rosters are announced for the 4 Nations Face-Off but we may already have a sneak peek at a couple of players that will play for Team Canada. According to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, Philadelphia Flyers’ players Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim will be named to Canada’s roster.

Konecny would be an unsurprising addition to Team Canada. He’s been a point-per-game player for the Flyers over the last three years with 77 goals and 159 points in 161 games and has represented Canada well in the past. Konecny tallied eight assists in 10 games during the 2017 IIHF World Championships and two points in five games for Team Canada’s U20 team during the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championships.

Sanheim’s inclusion on the roster would be an interesting development. Along with increased ice time, his scoring has increased over the last two years but Sanheim’s name typically isn’t mentioned with the top Canadian defenseman. He hasn’t suited up for Team Canada since the 2022 IIHF World Championships when he scored one goal and four points in 10 tournament games.

Other Flyers notes:

  • The Flyers organization announced a small roster move earlier today by loaning defenseman Helge Grans back to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Grans’ demotion could correlate with the return of defenseman Jamie Drysdale or the team may not feel the need to carry eight defensemen on the active roster. The Ljungby, Sweden native tallied one assist over six games with Philadelphia averaging 14:28 of ice time per game.
  • Philadelphia is nearing the reality of a full goaltending trio as Jackie Spiegel of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that goaltender Samuel Ersson was a full participant at today’s practice. Ersson hasn’t played since November 11th due to a lower-body injury. Still, over 11 games with the Flyers this year, he’s managed a 5-2-2 record with a .902 save percentage and 2.70 goals against average.

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Sanheim, Svechnikov, Wahlstrom

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The Pittsburgh Penguins tweeted today that forwards Rickard Rakell, Noel Acciari, as well as defenseman Chad Ruhwedel will all be game-time decisions when the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Minnesota Wild this evening. The news was announced by Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan who has been trying to manage a litany of injuries up and down the Penguins lineup.

Pittsburgh has been mired in a cycle of inconsistent and sloppy play that has been a constant throughout the first third of the NHL season. They are currently sitting in seventh place in the Metropolitan division and are five points out of a wild card position.

The Penguins put forward Bryan Rust on IR just a few days ago, which left them with two big holes in their top 6, however, with the potential return of Rakell it seems likely that he will have an opportunity to fill one of those holes. Rakell has been practicing on a line with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel and given his history with the duo it seems likely he return to that spot either tonight or later this week.

Acciari had been centering the Penguins’ fourth line before his injury and seems likely to take up that spot if and when he does return, while Ruhwedel will likely get a look on the Penguins’ third defensive pairing, presumably with youngster John Ludvig who has emerged on the backend for Pittsburgh in recent weeks.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • Kevin Kurz of The Athletic is reporting that Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim was back at practice today and should be good for tomorrow night’s game against the New Jersey Devils. Sanheim was dealing with an undisclosed illness and missed Saturday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. The 27-year-old had been heating up before getting sick as he had posted two goals and three assists in his previous five games. Sanheim has been a huge part of the Flyers’ surprising start to the season as his 21 points in 29 games has him second in team scoring behind Travis Konecny.
  • Carolina Hurricanes reporter Walt Ruff is reporting that Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov was a full participant in today’s practice and even was seen taking power play reps with the team. Ruff goes on to add that the 23-year-old could be back in the lineup as soon as tomorrow night against the Vegas Golden Knights. Svechnikov has missed the last six games with an upper-body injury and struggled the week prior to getting hurt. On the season, the former second-overall pick has just a single goal in 16 games, although he does have 10 assists as well. Carolina has underperformed so far this season but currently sits in the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Getting Svechnikov healthy and productive once again could be a big boost for Carolina as they close in on the mid-way point of the season.
  • Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News is reporting that New York Islanders forward Oliver Wahlstrom missed practice today with an illness. The 23-year-old was unlikely to play in tomorrow night’s game even if healthy as he has been a healthy scratch for the Islanders in seven straight games. Wahlstrom has just two goals and three assists in 17 games this season and has been averaging less than 12 minutes of ice time a game when he has been in the lineup.

Snapshots: Chiarelli, Duda, Ponomarev, Sanheim

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Could long-time NHL executive Peter Chiarelli be on the move again?  Long-time Senators reporter Brent Wallace reported on his podcast recently (video link) that Chiarelli has moved to Ottawa and is likely to join the Sens in some capacity.  He actually started his career with Ottawa as their Director of Legal Relations before moving to Boston and later Edmonton as their GM.  Chiarelli has spent the last four seasons in St. Louis, the last two of which were as their Vice President of Hockey Operations.  Wallace notes that Chiarelli has ties to new owner Michael Andlauer whose purchase was formally approved on Thursday.  He has already made one front office hire in bringing back Cyril Leeder and it looks like more could soon be coming.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • The NCAA will be re-examining its original denial of Coyotes prospect Artyom Duda’s request to play at the University of Maine this season, relays PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan. The 19-year-old saw time at the KHL, VHL, and MHL levels last year and with some of those being pro leagues, it stands to reason that this was the reason his initial request was denied.  Duda, a 2022 second-round pick by Arizona, could also play with Youngstown of the USHL this season as it’s believed that the Coyotes would rather not see the blueliner return to play in Russia.
  • Hurricanes prospect Vasili Ponomarev will be out for a little while, notes Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal (Twitter link). The 21-year-old is coming off a strong first season in North America as he picked up 24 goals and 22 assists in 64 games last season with AHL Chicago.  The injury isn’t believed to be overly serious but as someone who might have had a shot at pushing for a spot with Carolina in training camp, missing any time will make that objective harder to accomplish.
  • Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim revealed to reporters including Jeff Neiburg of the Philadelphia Inquirer that he suffered a fractured foot while playing for Canada at the Worlds in 2022. While he was able to participate in training camp, he felt that the injury prevented him from a proper summer of training which may have played a role in his struggles last season.  It was his desire to have a full proper offseason that led him to decline Canada’s request to take part in the tournament back in the spring.

Free Agency Notes: Gostisbehere, Quick, No-Movement Clauses

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As the defending Eastern Conference Champions start the 2023-24 NHL season, they will reportedly be without defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour. Both will be recovering from separate surgeries, and both are expected to be out for about a month after the season kicks off. Needing another defenseman aside from Gustav Forsling to manage the offensive load on the back end, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports the team has an interest in unrestricted free agent, Shayne Gostisbehere.

A top-pairing of Gostisbehere and Forsling shouldn’t be expected to replicate the output of Ekblad and Montour, but those two would be serviceable for the first month of the season, and would even represent a superb top-four once Ekblad and Montour make their return. If the Panthers and Gostisbehere do come to an agreement, it will be interesting to see the term handed out, as the team currently doesn’t have any defenseman signed beyond 2024-25.

It wasn’t so long ago that Gostisbehere was considered a salary dump, after being traded along with a second-round pick in 2022 and a seventh-round pick in 2022, to the Arizona Coyotes for nothing but future considerations. After landing in the desert, Gostisbehere had an offensive resurgence of sorts, scoring 24 goals and 58 assists in 134 games with the Coyotes. At last year’s trade deadline, Gostisbehere was moved to the Carolina Hurricanes for a third-round pick in 2026. In a combined total of 38 games in Carolina, Gostisbehere scored three goals and ten assists split between the regular season and the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Other notes:

Latest On Travis Sanheim

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The Philadelphia Flyers will be one of the hottest names in trade talks all offseason long, and the second domino fell earlier today with Kevin Hayes getting shipped to St. Louis. One name supposed to be included in that trade was defenseman Travis Sanheim, who remains a Flyer thanks to Blues defenseman Torey Krug’s no-trade clause eliminating all the ancillary parts of the proposed deal.

It remains clear, though, that Sanheim is a highly sought-after asset – he was expected to fetch Krug and a first-round pick from St. Louis (either 25th or 29th overall) in return. Teams are still calling on him, namely the Toronto Maple Leafs and Winnipeg Jets, says The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta.

Sanheim, a former first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft, is Philadelphia’s most competent all-around defenseman and has been for the past few seasons. His stock took a small hit in 2022-23, seeing his offense dip to 23 points in 81 games and his defensive play falter at times, and it certainly wasn’t the best timing with an eight-year, $50MM extension with trade protection set to kick in on July 1. It seems at least a few teams are attributing that to the team around him, though, and they believe the 27-year-old is still a high-end top-four defender.

Despite having many holes to fill among their forward group, the Maple Leafs seem to keep popping up in conversations surrounding marquee defenders on the trade market. While they were already linked to Erik Karlsson earlier today, acquiring Sanheim would be a more financially sensible and palatable move for their needs. Sanheim would slot behind Morgan Rielly on the team’s depth chart of left-shot defenders, likely kicking Jake McCabe over to the right side and keeping 39-year-old Mark Giordano in a bottom-pairing role. Toronto’s been reported to have their first-round pick, 28th overall, on the block for more immediate boosts to their lineup.

The Winnipeg Jets are scouring the trade market for talent, looking to retool on the fly and keep their team competitive despite the impending departures (via trade or buyout) of Blake Wheeler, Connor Hellebuyck, and Pierre-Luc Dubois. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of roster room for Sanheim with the Jets, so a potential trade could involve the final season of Brenden Dillon’s contract at a $3.9MM cap hit heading to the Flyers. The 32-year-old Jets defender does not carry trade protection.

East Notes: Sanheim, Rohrer, Smith

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Although it seemed yesterday that Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim was headed to St. Louis as part of one version of the blockbuster Kevin Hayes trade that is still yet to be fully ironed out, new details have emerged on Hayes’ status. Defenseman Torey Krug is reportedly not waiving his no-trade clause to be part of the Hayes deal, likely eliminating the possibility of Sanheim getting included in the trade. That doesn’t mean Sanheim won’t be on the move this summer, though.

The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that “a few teams spoke with Philly about Sanheim, including the Toronto Maple Leafs.” While Sanheim’s $6.25MM cap hit expiring in the early 2030’s might seem difficult for Toronto to fit on their books, Sanheim would certainly be an intriguing addition to the left side of their defense. Worth noting is a conflicting report from Crossing Broad’s Anthony SanFilippo, who tweets that Toronto has not yet spoken to the Flyers about a possible Sanheim deal.

Some other notes from the NHL’s Eastern Conference:

  • Montreal Canadiens prospect Vinzenz Rohrer has signed a two-year deal with the ZSC Lions of Switzerland’s National League, per a team announcement. Rohrer, 18, was a third-round pick of the Canadiens at the 2022 draft and has played the last two seasons with the Ottawa 67’s of the OHL, scoring 97 points in 118 games and earning Second-Team All-Rookie honors in the OHL in 2021-22. The Austrian forward captained ZSC’s U17 side at the junior level and with this contract, he’ll now get the chance to test himself at the pro level against men.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets’ choice at the number-three pick is one of the more intriguing storylines heading into the draft three days from now, and The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline has injected some more mystery into the lead-up to draft night. Writing what he called “informed, but highly speculative insights” Portzline said “The Blue Jackets are huge Will Smith fans,” and that “if we had to pick one today, some 72 hours before the draft, we’d lean toward Smith.” (subscription link) Seeing as Portzline stressed the speculative nature of those insights his piece shouldn’t be seen as a firm indication of Columbus’ preferences, but rather more of an indication that their choice at number three between Smith, Leo Carlsson, and potentially Adam Fantilli isn’t as clear-cut as some might lead one to believe.

Philadelphia Flyers Sign Travis Sanheim

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5:30 PM: CapFriendly has detailed the full structure of Sanheim’s deal. It runs as follows:

Year 1: $5.125MM + $3MM signing bonus
Year 2: $5.125MM + $3MM signing bonus
Year 3: $5.125MM + $3MM signing bonus
Year 4: $6.125MM
Year 5: $1.875MM + $3MM signing bonus
Year 6: $1.875MM + $3MM signing bonus
Year 7: $4.875MM
Year 8: $4.875MM

Of note is also that Sanheim will have a full no-trade clause for the first four years of the deal, and then the clause will become a twelve-team no-trade for year five through year eight.

4:45 PM: The Flyers have now officially announced a contract extension for Sanheim. The deal is an eight-year pact with an average annual value of $6.25MM. Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher gave the following statement regarding the signing:

We’re extremely happy to have Travis under long-term contract and see him as a key piece of our team’s future. Travis has improved each season to become a highly reliable player and key contributor on our blueline. Furthermore, he is someone who has developed his entire career with us and has grown into a valuable leader for our team.

1:45 PM: The Philadelphia Flyers are once again showing that they have no interest in a rebuild. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the team is making progress on an extension with Travis Sanheim, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. The long-term deal would pay Sanheim around $6MM per season, though Friedman can’t confirm the actual figure that is being discussed.

It’s been five seasons in the NHL now for Sanheim, the 17th overall pick from 2014, and while he didn’t turn into the superstar defenseman that some early returns suggested, he is arguably the team’s most consistent player on the back end. Averaging close to 23 minutes a night last season, almost exclusively next to Rasmus Ristolainen, Sanheim recorded seven goals and 31 points, racked up 142 blocks, and was one of three regulars who finished the year with a positive goal differential (+9, to lead the team).

An extension in this case makes sense for the 26-year-old, who likely is just entering his true prime as an NHL shutdown defenseman. He was given heavy defensive deployment last year and will likely get much of the same this time around as Ivan Provorov and Tony DeAngelo are given offensive touches and youngsters like Egor Zamula and Ronnie Attard are sheltered.

The biggest question, though, is whether or not the Flyers can actually turn things around without stripping down the roster first. Signing their players to big-money extensions only reduces the amount of surplus value they can offer, and a $6MM cap hit for Sanheim would mean the team has five defensemen over the $5MM mark for next year. One of those is Ryan Ellis, whose career is completely up in the air at this point, but even with him on the shelf it is a lot invested in a group that has struggled.

The Flyers were 27th in goals against last season with 294 and finished 29th in the overall standings. Over the summer they failed to really change the lineup very much, outside of adding DeAngelo and some toughness up front. While John Tortorella seems to have the group motivated for the upcoming challenge and players like Kevin Hayes are at a much better place health-wise, the question remains over whether the team would be better off trading away some of these expiring assets instead of extending them.

Regardless, Flyers fans should be excited about the fact they likely will get to watch Sanheim, a player they drafted and developed, for another several years. The big defenseman will start his season tonight against the New Jersey Devils, though partner Ristolainen is out with an injury for the season opener.

Flyers Open Extension Talks With Travis Sanheim

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Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim is entering the final year of his contract and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.  However, GM Chuck Fletcher told reporters including Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the goal is to re-sign the 26-year-old and discussions with his agent have already started.

Back in the 2021 offseason, Philadelphia somewhat surprisingly opted to file for club-elected arbitration with Sanheim.  That allowed the defender to choose the term had it gone to a hearing and he likely would have picked two years, permitting him to get to unrestricted free agency at 27.  It didn’t get that far as the two sides settled three days before the scheduled hearing but again, somewhat surprisingly, the Flyers agreed to give him a two-year deal with a $4.675MM AAV, putting them in the situation they are now where they’re really going to have to pay up to keep him beyond the upcoming campaign.

Sanheim is coming off arguably the best season of his five-year NHL career as he collected 31 points in 80 games last season while logging nearly 23 minutes a night.  That wasn’t his best single-season point total (that was 35 back in 2018-19) but he clearly established himself as one of their top defenders.

With Ivan Provorov ahead of him on the depth chart, Sanheim slots in as their second-pairing left defender although, with special teams time, he was still their second-most-used defender last season.  That’s an important distinction to note as while the team might want to argue that he’s not a top-pairing player based on their depth chart, Sanheim’s camp can easily claim otherwise.

Philadelphia already is one of the highest-spending teams in the league when it comes to their blueline at over $31MM this season.  While Ryan Ellis’ playing future is in doubt, things aren’t at the point where they can conclusively rule that he won’t play in 2023-24 so they can’t automatically assume he’ll be on LTIR at that time.  They already have $23.875MM in commitments to just five blueliners for that year and a new deal for Sanheim alone would push that amount over $30MM before they round out the rest of their back end.

Can they justify spending that much on their back end?  Spending upwards of 40% of the salary cap on the blueline isn’t something many teams want to do.  But at the same time, can they afford not to?  Letting Sanheim go would deal a big blow to their defense corps and considering their stated intention is to get back to being a playoff contender, losing him would make that task much more difficult.  There’s still plenty of time to work on a new deal but with most of the heavy lifting for the 2022-23 roster now done, reaching a new agreement with Sanheim should now be at the top of Fletcher’s priority list.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Hockey Canada Announces 2022 IIHF World Championship Roster

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The roster is set, with just a few days to go before things kick off for Hockey Canada at the 2022 IIHF World Championship. The defending gold medalists will be icing a rather youthful roster this season, highlighted by some of the league’s up-and-coming stars, along with some established top-end youngsters.

The full roster will be:

G Chris Driedger
G Logan Thompson
G Matt Tomkins

D Thomas Chabot
D Ryan Graves
D Nick Holden
D Dysin Mayo
D Travis Sanheim
D Damon Severson
D Zach Whitecloud

F Josh Anderson
F Mathew Barzal
F Drake Batherson
F Max Comtois
F Dylan Cozens
F Pierre-Luc Dubois
F Morgan Geekie
F Noah Gregor
F Kent Johnson
F Adam Lowry
F Dawson Mercer
F Eric O’Dell
F Nicolas Roy
F Cole Sillinger

For a player like Mayo, this selection truly solidifies the hard work he has put in over years of grinding in the minor leagues. The fifth-round pick spent parts of seven seasons in the AHL before arriving this year with the Arizona Coyotes and becoming one of the team’s most reliable options. Now 25, he’ll be suiting up for his country for the first time at a major international tournament.

Meanwhile, someone like Cozens is taking the next step in representing his country, after last captaining Team Canada at the 2021 World Juniors (where he scored an incredible 16 points in seven games). The Buffalo Sabres forward had 38 points in his first full-length NHL season and has huge upside as a potential franchise cornerstone. The same could be said for players like Johnson and Sillinger, two names that will likely drive the offense for years to come in Columbus.

Perhaps the most interesting name in the group is Dubois, given the Winnipeg Jets center doesn’t have a contract for next season. Pending restricted free agents, especially ones as important as Dubois, usually skip the tournament because of insurance issues and the risk of injury. Instead, he’ll head overseas to play in a tournament he’s already attended twice previously, despite still just being 23 years old.

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