- Daily Faceoff put out its first Canada roster projection for the 2027 World Juniors in Edmonton
- Cole Reschny and Braeden Cootes headline a forward group with no obvious game-breaker
- Read below for the full projected lineup, the deepest position on the roster and who gets the crease
Canada’s World Junior roster is still about five months from being picked, and the first real projection does not paint a comfortable picture up front.
Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis published a very early projection Monday for the tournament in Edmonton, and he has Cole Reschny and Braeden Cootes back as the centerpieces of the forward group.
Both were on the 2026 roster. Reschny, a Calgary Flames pick, was Canada’s best player at last week’s World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor, and Ellis slots him between Dima Zhilkin and Nashville prospect Brady Martin.
Here’s how the projected forward group and blue line shake out:
- Line 1: Dima Zhilkin – Cole Reschny – Brady Martin
- Line 2: Caleb Desnoyers – Braeden Cootes – Cameron Schmidt
- Line 3: Ethan Belchetz – Caleb Malhotra – Jake O’Brien
- Line 4: Chase Harrington – Tynan Lawrence – Jack Nesbitt
- Pairs: Carels-Verhoeff, Reid-DuPont, Rudolph-Lin, Smith-Liske
Ellis was blunt about what that forward group is missing.
“Canada is lacking a high-end difference-maker, but will it matter? They’ll still have one of the deepest forward crops available, with very few players (seemingly) in the running to make the NHL out of training camp.”
Windsor gave everyone reason to squint. Canada lost to Sweden, needed a big second-half comeback to beat Finland, then got run over 7-2 by the United States in the finale.
Take a look at the lineup Canada rolled out for that last game:
Ethan Belchetz, projected on Canada’s third line, got the only real highlight of that night in his hometown. Watch him open the scoring in Windsor:
Defense is where Ellis is most confident, and he calls it the easiest position to project. Three of the four pairs come with built-in chemistry, since the top duo will play at North Dakota, the second at Michigan and the third at Denver.
Landon DuPont, the projected first overall pick for the 2027 NHL Draft, lands on the second pair. Keaton Verhoeff flashed his own upside in the comeback win over Finland, where he scored alongside a two-goal night from Zhilkin.
In net, Jack Ivankovic finally gets the No. 1 job after two years backing up Carter George. Lucas Beckman is penciled in as the backup, with William Lacelle third.
Hockey Canada has until December to sort out the scoring, and Edmonton is not the place you want to find out you got it wrong.
