Two Montreal Canadiens players will wear a Team Canada jersey at the 2023 Men’s World Championship.
Justin Barron and Samuel Montembeault received the call to represent their country at the tournament, which takes place from May 12 to May 28 in Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia.
Hockey Canada named 20 players, leaving a few open roster spots to use once additional NHL teams are eliminated from the playoffs.
Former Montreal Canadiens forward Tyler Toffoli should feature prominently as one of the few seasoned veterans on the team. Toffoli is fresh off the most productive season in his NHL career. He led the Flames in scoring by producing an impressive 34 goals and 39 assists in 72 games.
Montembeault will share the net with NCAA star Devon Levi, who recently made his NHL debut after a fantastic two-season tenure with Northeastern University. He’ll be playing behind a decent defensive group, including established NHL defencemen such as Ethan Bear, Tyler Myers, and Mackenzie Weeger.
Not only is it a perfect reward for a player who was arguably the Canadiens’ most valuable player in 2022-23, but it should also serve as a confidence booster for the 26-year-old goalie. Montembeault has never participated in a game on the international stage for Canada, though he was part of the 2016 U-20 Canadian team that was eliminated in the World Junior Championship quarterfinals. Unfortunately for Montembeault, he was not given a start.
Justin Barron, on the other hand, does have international experience with Canada. He was part of the 2021 team that captured silver at the World Junior Championship, where he spent a fair amount of his shifts alongside his current teammate, Kaiden Guhle.
Given the players named to the roster, it’s unlikely Barron will feature on the top pairing, but his mobility and offensive creativity should serve Team Canada well on the power play, a crucial aspect of any short tournament.
Barron, 21, was one of the few rookie defencemen that did not earn a roster spot at training camp last season, but a solid stretch with the Laval Rocket seemed to re-invigorate the young blueliner once he was recalled from the AHL.
The confidence he built in the AHL seemed to wane down the stretch, though it should be noted that despite only playing 39 games, Barron finished the season as one of the most productive defencemen on the team by scoring four goals and 11 assists.
Much like Montembeault, Barron will look to use the tournament as a way to maintain momentum through the summer, which will hopefully lead to a much better showing at training camp next season.
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