Recently, the Canucks haven’t had much to look forward to when the NHL goes on its annual Christmas break. The World Junior Championships, a Boxing Day Tradition, have typically been light on Canuck talent. That’s starting to change, though, thanks to the efforts of general manager Mike Gillis. There are a number of players in the system who have a good shot of representing their country for the Juniors. With Team Sweden’s announcing their roster tomorrow and Team Canada naming their training camp roster on December 3rd, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at those players.

Cody Hodgson
The Canucks top prospect had an excellent year at the World Juniors last year, leading the tournament in scoring with 16 points. Hodgson’s had a rocky start to his season, as a back injury at the Team Canada training camp over the summer has kept him out of action. The latest news on Hodgson is that he should be back at the beginning of December and, assuming he is recovered from his injury, should be suiting up for Canada at the end of the month. He also is a likely candidate to captain the club, being one of a few returning members from last year’s squad and the only one who had a letter on his jersey.

Jordan Schroeder
Schroeder had a slow start to his season, playing for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. How slow? At one point, much-maligned former Canucks prospect Patrick White was outproducing him. That’s now in the past, as the Canucks 2009 first round pick has 10 points in 14 games and has been getting back into his usual form. Schroeder is another player coming back for his second year at the World Juniors and should be a lock for Team USA, as he was the leading scorer for the Americans last year. Hopefully he will be able to carry his solid play into the Juniors.

Anton Rodin
The Tampa Bay Lightning may have been asking if anyone’s seen Stamkos, although Canucks fans may be asking if anyone’s seen their second round pick from this year’s draft. Rodin, despite being named to Sweden’s preliminary roster and making the jump to the SEL this season, has not gotten a lot of action so far this season, averaging 6 minutes a game…when he gets to play, that is. In addition to not seeing a lot of playing time, Rodin also suffered from the flu, which has seen some missed time. All that said, the winger has been gradually improving as the season has worn on, having worked his way up to playing on the second line of Brynas IF alongside Sebastian Lauritzen and Mats Hansen. Swedish brass have liked what they’ve seen of the youngster, so he stands a good chance of making the club.

Long Shots

Peter Andersson
Andersson has faced adversity: a severe back injury had him sidelined and came close to ending his career before it had a chance to begin. This may have hurt his stock and explain why the talented defenseman fell to the fifth round before the Canucks picked him up. He has bounced back from that setback, earning a nomination on Team Sweden’s preliminary roster, as well as picking up a nomination for Hockeyallsvenskan’s most promising player award, the Guldgallret (any Swedish readers out there feel free to correct me on this!) Recent injuries to the Frolunda’s top 4 saw him called up from Boras and not look out of place, earning him a spot on Frolunda until Christmas. Andersson has some competition for Sweden’s 6/7 dman spot, so it’s possible that he may not get the nod due to a lack of visibility.

Yann Sauve
Hailing from the class of 2008, Sauve, along with 2009 7th round selection Steven Anthony, have been having great seasons with the Saint Johns Sea Dogs. I predicted that this might happen with the sacking of Jacques Beaulieu, the team’s former head coach, so it’s nice to be right about something for once. Sauve has represented Canada, participating in the Canada-Russia super series, as well as being part of the U18 squad in 2007. That all being said, there is no lack of quality blueliners capable of suiting up for Team Canada, so while he may get an invite on December 3rd, his chances of making the squad are slim.