Duchene, Hall, O’Reilly return to defend gold

Canada is already putting together a strong roster with the inclusion of rookie phenom Connor McDavid as the team hopes to defend gold at the upcoming 2016 IIHF world championship in Russia.

The 19-year-old Edmonton Oilers centre will be joined by world juniors teammates Max Domi and Sam Reinhart. All three young forwards helped Canada to gold at the 2015 world junior championship.

Returning players include Colorado Avalanche centre Matt Duchene, Edmonton Oilers winger Taylor Hall and Buffalo Sabres centre Ryan O’Reilly.

They will join 12 other NHLers in Prague, Czech Republic to prepare for the tournament ahead of the opening May 6 match against the United States in St. Petersburg.

It is a noticeably youthful squad, as 27-year-old forward Brad Marchand will be Canada’s veteran offensive presence, but the team can name up to 25 players to their final roster and will likely make additions as the NHL playoffs progress.

“The opportunity to represent your country in international competition is something that never gets old, as we’ve seen in the enthusiasm of this first group of players to join the squad, and the others we’re still in discussion with as we move through the process of building our roster,” co-general manager Brad Treliving said in a statement.

Complete early roster:

Forwards

• ​Max Domi (Toronto/Arizona Coyotes)
• Brendan Gallagher (Tsawwassen, B.C./Montreal Canadiens)
• Boone Jenner (Dorchester, Ont./Columbus Blue Jackets)
• Connor McDavid (Newmarket, Ont./Edmonton Oilers)
• Brad Marchand (Hammonds Plains, N.S./Boston Bruins)
• Sam Reinhart (West Vancouver, B.C./Buffalo Sabres)
• Mark Scheifele (Kitchener, Ont./Winnipeg Jets)
• Mark Stone (Winnipeg/Ottawa Senators)
• Matt Duchene (Haliburton, Ont./Colorado Avalanche)
• Taylor Hall (Kingston, Ont./Edmonton Oilers)
• Ryan O’Reilly (Varna, Ont./Buffalo Sabres)

Defencemen

• Cody Ceci (Orleans, Ont./Ottawa Senators)
• Ben Hutton (Prescott, Ont./Vancouver Canucks)
• Ryan Murray (White City, Sask./Columbus Blue Jackets)
• Morgan Rielly (West Vancouver, B.C./Toronto Maple Leafs)
• Chris Tanev (Toronto/Vancouver Canucks)

Goaltenders

• Calvin Pickard (Winnipeg/Colorado Avalanche)
• Cam Talbot (Caledonia, Ont./Edmonton Oilers)