There will be a special sort of spotlight on Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship this holiday season in Edmonton, and that focus can begin in earnest now.
Forty-six players were named Thursday morning to Canada’s 2021 National Junior Team selection camp roster, including 26 forwards, 15 defenders and five goaltenders. The NHL’s No. 1 overall draft selection, Alexis Lafreniere, was not named to the selection camp, but six returnees from last winter’s gold-medal winning side include NHL lottery selections Quinton Byfield, Bowen Byram, Jamie Drysdale and Dylan Cozens, as well as Connor McMichael and Dawson Mercer.