Canada has expanded its squad for the next World Junior Hockey Championship.
Boston Bruins forward Matthew Poitras has been traded to Junior Team Canada, which will attempt to successfully defend its title in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Canada opted not to retain a 13th forward when unveiling its roster, hoping an NHL club would release a player for the tournament, which runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5.
Poitras has five goals and eight assists in 27 games with the Bruins this season. The five-foot, 11-inch, 180-pound hockey player shares 10th place in scoring among rookies on the Bettman Tour.
The 19-year-old from Ajax, Ontario, recorded 16 goals and 79 assists in 63 games with the Guelph Storm in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OHL) last year. He was selected 54th overall by the Bruins in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
Poitras will join Junior Team Canada on Tuesday in Sweden for pre-season games.
The representatives of the maple leaf will first face Switzerland on December 22, before crossing swords with the United States the next day. They will then officially begin their tournament against Finland on December 26.
Poitras will join forwards Owen Beck – a Montreal Canadiens prospect – and Fraser Minten, as well as Quebec defenseman Tristan Luneau, in the exclusive group of Canadian players who got a taste of the NHL in this tournament reserved for under-20s.
Beck, the only player from last January’s championship team in Halifax returning this year, played a game with the Habs in 2022-23.
Minten played four games with the Toronto Maple Leafs this fall, while Luneau played in seven games with the Anaheim Ducks.
The Canadian team will also count on Macklin Celebrini, a 17-year-old forward who many consider to be the possible first pick in the next NHL draft. Celebrini has 10 goals and 15 assists in 15 games this season in the NCAA with Boston University.
Owen Allard, Easton Cowan, Nate Danielson, Jordan Dumais, Conor Geekie, Carson Rehkopf, Matthew Savoie, Matthew Wood and Brayden Yager are the other forwards in the Canadian group.
Canada will attempt to win this tournament for a third time in a row, a feat it has not accomplished since 2009.
