2024 Team Canada World Junior Championship Goalie Candidates

Credit: The Canadian Free Press Every year the conversation around the Canadian World Junior Championship U20 team is always centered around the goaltending. Who is going to be Canada’s goalie at the WJC’s and are they going to be good enough? Feels like there’s a referendum on goaltending every single time a Canadian goalie lets in more than 4 goals in a single game. Last year to start the tournament when the entire Canadian team struggled including goaltender Ben Gaudreau it turned into over 24 hours of Canada has no goaltending. Then Thomas Milic showed his skill and the goaltending question went away completely. By the end of November we’ll pretty much know who will be the two goalies Canada takes with them to Gothenburg so while it’s still early to make concrete predictions we can at least narrow down the goalies Team Canada will be looking to take with them.

Dom DiVincentiis

If there’s a goalie that has the best inside track on at the very least a spot on Team Canada it’s Dom DiVincentiis. The 7th Round Pick of the Winnipeg Jets broke out last year in a major way. Won OHL Goalie of the Year, named to the OHL 1st All-Star Team, and the CHL 2nd All-Star team. All of those accolades were extremely well deserved as DiVincentiis finished 1st in OHL GSAA (43.415), 2nd in OHL QS% (0.826), 2nd in OHL GSAA/30 (0.965), and tied for 1st in OHL Shutouts (5). DiVincentiis has seen some regression in his numbers to start the season, 0.600 QS% and 0.144 GSAA/30, though those are still above average numbers. In terms of play style DiVincentiis would be a bit of a departure from previous Team Canada goalies. He’s very tight in his structure and positioning. If you’re looking for agile, reflexive saves that’s not going to happen from DiVincentiis. He’s not slow around the crease as his mobility is fine there’s just not a lot of explosiveness to his game and he’s very focused on his positioning making the save. If Canada can match the defensive play of North Bay then DiVincentiis will fit really well. If there’s a lot of chaos the legitimate concern is DiVincentiis just doesn’t have the necessary agility and reaction speed to keep up with the play.

Scott Ratzlaff

If you had to get the approval of the country to add a goalie to a WJC team Scott Ratzlaff might be the toughest one to sell to the general masses. It has nothing to do with his play and all to do with his numbers. Definitely not last years numbers though as he had an incredible Draft Year (DY) posting the 5th highest Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA) in the WHL along with the 4th highest Quality Starts % (QS%). When Thomas Milic was off winning Gold at the 2023 WJC Ratzlaff posted a 0.935 SV% and a 0.818 QS%. Add on shutting down Connor Bedard multiple times at the CHL Top Prospects Game and Ratzlaff looked like an easy contender for a Canadian WJC spot in 2024. Now though Ratzlaff is on a Seattle Thunderbirds team that is going through the typical CHL team post-Memorial Cup run phase and his numbers are suffering for it. He’s sporting a -0.777 GSAA/30 though somehow has an above average 0.571 QS%. The numbers have changed for Ratzlaff but his play hasn’t. He’s stuck to his play style and it’s what’s keeping him on this list of goalies. His mobility, agility, structure and technical play look as good as you can ask for. He’s someone you can look at and be confident in no matter how the game is played he won’t lose you a game.

Carson Bjarnason

Canada’s highest ceiling goalie available is Carson Bjarnason and there’s still the legitimate question of if he can hit that ceiling. Statistically he’s taken the jump from his DY to DY+1 that you want to see of a goalie with his skill set. In his DY he posted a respectable 0.574 QS% and 0.185 GSAA/30 in 47 starts on an average at best Brandon Wheat Kings team where Bjarnason’s goalie partner Nicholas Jones posted a 0.250 QS% and -0.906 GSAA/30. This year he’s off to a great start with a 0.727 QS% and 0.462 GSAA/30 in 11 starts showing himself to be one of the best goalies in the WHL. If you read my draft rankings from the 2023 NHL Draft the biggest concern I had with Bjarnason was his stance usage. He liked getting low and wide with his feet no matter where the play was really hurting his mobility. He’s made that adjustment and is reaping the rewards of it with his great start. Now what you’re concerned about is his struggle on below the goal line plays as he hasn’t quite figured out what way works the best for him to deal with those situations. Otherwise he has nearly every skill you want in a goalie of his size. If he doesn’t try to ignore his limitations Canadians could be in for a great run from Bjarnason.

Ryerson Leenders

The Canadian WJC management group has a long history of not wanting to bring first time NHL draft eligible goalies to the WJC. This year they’re definitely going to be thinking about breaking that trend as Mississauga Steelheads goalie Ryerson Leenders has exploded out of the gate not just in terms of numbers but in how he plays as well. Last year in Leenders’ DY-1 he was given a crash course into being a goalie in the OHL posting a 0.433 QS% and -0.254 GSAA/30. His goalie partner Alessio Beglieri didn’t fare much better posting a 0.541 QS% and -0.596 GSAA/30. Leenders made the Hlinka Cup Canadian team showing he’s on their radar though the no. 1 job went to Owen Sound Attack goalie Carter George. Leenders has cooled off a tiny bit but he’s still a Top 3 OHL goalie fighting it out with Carter George and Brayden Gillespie. Apart from the impressive 3rd best in the OHL in GSAA, QS%, and GSAA/30 what stands out most about Leenders is how he’s playing. He’s showing shades of Trey Augustine and Scott Ratzlaff from last season. He has high end agility and reflexes but doesn’t rely on them and trusts in his technical/structural skills. Would like to see him be better at recognizing backdoor threats and better positioning himself to have a chance on them but other than some nitpicks like that where the defense can step up to prevent Leenders is going to give Team Canada a lot to think about this month.

Mathis Rousseau

Team Canada has become more comfortable recently with bringing undrafted, passed over in the NHL draft goalie prospects to the WJC’s. Most notable being Nico Daws and Thomas Milic in recent memory. If Team Canada management is once again open to bringing an undrafted goalie aboard than there’s no doubt Mathis Rousseau of the Halifax Mooseheads is on their radar. Rousseau came out strong onto the scene last season in his DY+1 with Halifax posting a 0.638 QS% and 0.565 GSAA/30 in the regular season making him a Top 3 goalie in the QMJHL. Where Rousseau stood out the most though was in the playoff series versus the juggernaut, and eventual Memorial Cup winners, the Quebec Remparts taking them to six games when the previous three Remparts series’ all ended in sweeps. Rousseau took that momentum turning himself into the hottest goalie in the CHL with a 0.900 QS% and 1.467 GSAA/30 in 10 starts with a 9-1-0 record making Halifax an early Memorial Cup threat. The question right now is Rousseau the next Thomas Milic and be just that much better than all the NHL drafted goalies available. I’d say he has a shot but needs to keep up his level of play. What Team Canada will like about Rousseau is how strong his structure is and he plays very well within his limits. You do become somewhat concerned though if he’s capable of keeping his structure intact when it comes to needing to be explosive in his movement and it’s noticeable how he struggles seeing through screens.

Carter George

For Team Canada to be considering one first time NHL Draft Eligible goalie is hard to fathom, two seems like you’re starting to hallucinate. Carter George though has just been too good to start the season to be ignored by Team Canada and has the ability to keep himself on the radar long enough to make the actual team or at least the training camp roster. George had a short stint in the OHL in his DY-1 seeing nine starts while posting a 0.667 QS% and 1.110 GSAA/30 on a not so great Owen Sound Attack. This season he's really built on the momentum where he earned the no. 1 role on the Canadian Hlinka Cup Gold Medal team and is on fire to start the season to the tune of an OHL best 0.875 QS% with a 2nd OHL best 1.259 GSAA/30. What George brings to the crease is reliability in the same way that Dylan Garand did. You’re just not going to get the high end reflex or agile saves you’ll get from most of the goalies on this list but what you will get is a goalie who is very good positionally and understands that’s where his success comes from. He gets in position, holds his edges and his structure tight taking away a fair amount of net. There’s the same general concern with George as there is with DiVincentiis, if the situations get chaotic and he’s forced to use his edges/rotations to make last second saves that’s just not his strength whatsoever.

Those are the six big names to watch for Team Canada as we start getting very close to the beginning of Team Canada’s WJC camp. There’s still a chance for other goalies to make the team or push themselves into consideration such as Reid Dyck, Harrison Meneghin, Ty Young, and Brayden Gillespie. Taking into account the type of goalies Team Canada typically look for, the ones playing the best hockey, and the goalies who I believe have the necessary skills to find success in the WJC’s these are the six goalies I believe to stand the best chance at being on the team come December. Personally I lean towards Bjarnason/Ratzlaff as to who’d I’d take this early in the process but wouldn’t find too much to argue about if any of the other four goalies are chosen. Bookmark this and let’s see which goalies continue their ascent to finally secure their spot on Team Canada.