The 2025 World Hockey Championship kicks off on Friday in Sweden and Denmark, with 16 teams competing for gold.
For players on NHL teams that missed the playoffs, the international tournament is their one chance to play meaningful hockey in May. Many players embrace the opportunity to represent their country, with some big names playing in this year's tournament, like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Macklin Celebrini, and Marc-Andre Fleury for Team Canada.
Four members of the Vancouver Canucks will be heading to the World Championship tournament for three countries.
Marcus Pettersson for Team Sweden
Marcus Pettersson, the Canucks' lanky left-side defenceman, will be the team's only representative on Team Sweden this year. The Canucks' top prospect, Tom Willander, was in consideration for the team, but didn't quite make the cut, even as he received praise from head coach Sam Hallam.
#Canucks draft pick Tom Willander did not make the Swedes roster for the WHC’s. Coach Sam Hallam : He is not there yet but very impressed with him, elite skater, you can trust him in your own end, we see lots of potential for future.
— Rick Dhaliwal ()
Hallam also talked to Elias Pettersson about joining the team, but his focus is on ensuring he's healthy heading into the summer.
This will be the fourth World Championship tournament for Marcus Pettersson, who had 5 points in 10 games for Sweden last year en route to a bronze medal.
Filip Hronek for Team Czechia
While he did not confirm his participation at the Canucks' season-end media availability, Filip Hronek will play for Czechia at the World Championship.
This will be Hronek's fifth World Championship tournament, as he had several opportunities to represent his country while with the Detroit Red Wings. His best performance came in 2019, when he racked up 11 points in 10 games to lead all defencemen in scoring.
That performance earned Hronek accolades, as he was named the tournament's best defenceman and to the tournament all-star team. He likely far preferred the result in 2022, however, when he won the bronze medal with Czechia despite a more pedestrian individual performance with just two points in 10 games.
Filip Chytil has played in four previous World Championship tournaments for Czechia, but given that he's coming off a concussion, it's best that he stays away from the rink. He was reportedly healthy enough to play at the end of the Canucks' season, but better safe than sorry at this point.
Conor Garland and Drew O'Connor for Team USA
The American squad will have two Canucks on it this year, with both Conor Garland and Drew O'Connor suiting up in the red, white, and blue.
"I love my country and anytime you get to represent your country, I think it's pretty special," said Garland. "Obviously, you'd love to be playing right now in the playoffs with [the Canucks] but I'm gonna go over and try to keep working at being a better player come May. I think it's a huge step in the process of being able to play later in the summer in big games."
This will be Garland's third World Championship tournament and just his third time playing for Team USA at any level, as he never played on the World Junior team or in other international tournaments. Garland was second in tournament scoring in 2021 with 13 points in 10 games, helping Team USA win a bronze medal.
Drew O'Connor was teammates with Garland at the 2023 World Championship and matched him in scoring, with both picking up eight points in 10 games. In fact, the two played on a line together. This will be O'Connor's second World Championship tournament.
Garland and O'Connor will be looking for redemption from the 2023 tournament, where Team USA cruised through to the semifinals, then shockingly lost to Germany in overtime to keep them out of the gold medal game. Then Arturs Silovs over Team USA in the bronze medal game.
Other Canucks not making the trip
Speaking of Silovs, the Latvian netminder won't get an opportunity to repeat . He's a little bit busy with the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL playoffs.
Latvia will also be without Teddy Blueger, though it's unclear why. Blueger has played in three World Championship tournaments for Latvia and captained the Latvian team at Olympic qualifiers in 2022.
Kevin Lankinen played for Finland at the 4-Nations Face-Off, but will not represent his country at the World Championship as he deals with the injury that kept him out of the Canucks' lineup at the end of the season.
"We had this conversation with Team Finland, and I'm not going this year," said Lankinen. "I've had this little niggle that's not gonna allow me to go this year, so I'm gonna focus on rest and recovery and then keep building for next season instead."
Thatcher Demko and Quinn Hughes will both skip the World Championship to focus on their health heading into the offseason, which is very understandable given their injury troubles this past season, Demko more so than Hughes.
Canada has a strong roster at this year's tournament, likely because the Olympics are next year, so it's understandable that Jake DeBrusk and Tyler Myers didn't get the invite.
The one other Canuck for whom it's surprising to see him not at the World Championship is Pius Suter, who won't be representing Switzerland. Apparently, Switzerland's head coach suggested that with Suter set to cash in on a strong season, he ahead of free agency. With millions of dollars at stake, that makes sense.
Suter will surely be suiting up for Switzerland at the 2026 Olympics. He had eight points in eight games in his last World Championship appearance in 2022.
