Team Canada won't have Connor Bedard or Adam Fantilli this year at the world juniors, but the 30-player preliminary roster has many notable names and snubs.

The World Junior Championship kicks off at the end of the month, and the defending gold medalists in Canada unveiled their Selection Camp roster, with 30 players vying for a spot on the Canadian under-20 squad.

Four goaltenders, 10 defensemen and 16 forwards are set to take part in Team Canada’s National Junior Team selection camp, scheduled for Dec. 10 to 13 in Oakville, Ont. The team must cut five players for the 25-man roster that will represent Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, 2024, in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The selection camp will feature a pair of games against a team of U Sports all-stars, as is tradition. Canada will continue its pre-tournament slate of games against a U-25 team from Denmark on Dec. 19. They will play a pair of pre-tournament games against world junior squads from Switzerland on Dec. 22 and the United States on Dec. 23.

Head coach Alan Letang (Sarnia, OHL) leads this year's coaching staff. He'll be aided by assistant coaches Gilles Bouchard (Sherbrooke, QMJHL), Shaun Clouston (Kamloops, WHL) and Scott Walker (Guelph, OHL), as well as goaltending consultant Justin Pogge (Hockey Canada).

Notable names left off this year’s camp roster include Andrew Cristall (Kelowna Rockets/Washington Capitals), Riley Heidt (Prince George Cougars/Minnesota Wild), Owen Pickering (Swift Current Broncos/Pittsburgh Penguins), Carson Bjarnason (Brandon Wheat Kings/Philadephia Flyers) and Bradly Nadeau (Univ. of Maine/Carolina Hurricanes). 

While Hockey Canada likely hoped they'd see more players loaned from NHL teams for the tournament, only Tristan Luneau of the Anaheim Ducks was loaned. Connor Bedard and Kevin Korchinski of the Chicago Blackhawks, Adam Fantilli of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Zach Benson of the Buffalo Sabres, Shane Wright of the Seattle Kraken, and Matthew Poitras of the Boston Bruins were all kept by their NHL squads.

Macklin Celebrini, the projected top prospect for the 2024 NHL draft, is the only first-time eligible player who was named to the roster.

Forwards

Owen Allard

Denver Barkey

Owen Beck (returning player)

Macklin Celebrini

Easton Cowan

Nate Danielson

Jordan Dumais

Jagger Firkus

Conor Geekie

Paul Ludwinski

Fraser Minten

Carson Rehkopf

Matthew Savoie

Markus Vidicek

Matthew Wood

Brayden Yager

Defensemen

Oliver Bonk

Michael Buchinger

Jorian Donovan

Jake Furlong

Maveric Lamoureux

Tristan Luneau

Denton Mateychuk

Tanner Molendyk

Ty Nelson

Noah Warren

Goaltenders

Domenic DiVincentiis

Scott Ratzlaff

Mathis Rousseau

Samuel St-Hilaire