The World Junior Hockey Championships were held for the first time in 1974. Doug Jarvis, undrafted and representing the Peterborough Petes was the first (future) Canadien to play in the tournament. Though the tournament had humble beginnings, it soon became a barometer for young talent, especially following the Gretzky tournament of 1978. The Canadiens scouts over the years have clearly used the tournament to make their minds up, which is either very efficient or very lazy (I can't quite decide yet). And since Jarvis there have been 117 other World Junior alum to suit up for the big club in Montreal, including a whopping 50 for team Canada.
On the cusp of the tournament final, I thought you might all enjoy an updated look at Habs to participate in this tournament over the years.
Of the current Habs, there are only a handful of players who never suited up for their country at this event – 7 in all. The list is headed by Josh Gorges and Hal Gill, later bloomers both. The others are less surprising with Lapierrs, Moen, Halpern, Drache and Picard all missing out on their opportunities.
Team Canada
Alex Auld, Steve Begin, Shawn Belle, Dustin Boyd, Patrice Brisebois, Mike Cammalleri, Andrew Cassels, Kyle Chipchura, Eric Chouinard, Shayne Corson, Alain Cote, Russ Courtnall, JJ Daigneault, Jason Dawe, Marc Denis, Eric Desjardins, Gerald Diduck, Karl Dykhuis, Stephane Fiset, Doug Gilmour, Jeff Hackett, Kevin Haller, Doug Jarvis, Yvan Joly, Mike Keane, Guillaume Latendresse, Gary Leeman, Claude Lemieux, Trevor Linden, Rollie Melanson, Olivier Michaud, Kirk Muller, Garth Murray, Dave Orleski, Patrick Poulin, Benoit Pouliot, Carey Price, Tom Pyatt, Yves Racine, Rob Ramage, Mark Recchi, Mike Riberio, Stephane Richer, Michael Ryder, Pierre Sevigny, Richard Sevigny, Bobby Smith, Doug Soetaert, PK Subban, Alex Tanguay, Jose Theodore, Scott Thornton, Darcy Tucker, Pierre Turgeon, Sylvain Turgeon, Ryan Walter, Jason Ward
USSR/CIS/Russia
Sergei Berezin, Valeri Bure, Andrei Kovalenko, Alexei Kovalev, Vladimir Malakhov, Andrei Markov, Alexander Perezhogin, Oleg Petrov, Sergei Samsonov, Sergei Zholtok
Sweden
Patrik Carnback, Kjell Dahlin, Jonas Hoglund, Patrik Kjellberg, Mats Naslund, Niklas Sundstrom
Czechoslovakia/Czech and Slovakia
Jozef Balej, Jaroslav Halak, Roman Hamrlik, Marcel Hossa, Tomas Plekanec, Martin Rucinsky, Jaroslav Spacek, Petr Svoboda, Tomas Vokoun, Richard Zednik
Finland
Marti Jarventie, Marko Kiprusoff, Saku Koivu, Juha Lind, Jyrki Lumme
USA
Jim Campbell, Chris Chelios, Tom Chorske, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Ron Hainsey, Chris Higgins, Sean Hill, Pat Jablonski, Doug Janik, Mike Komisarek, Tom Kurvers, Scott Lachance, Jay Leach, John Leclair, Craig Ludwig, Paul Mara, Max Pacioretty, Matt Schneider, Bryan Smolinski, Alfue Turcotte, Eric Weinrich, David Wilkie
Switzerland
David Aebischer, Mark Streit, Yannick Weber
Poland
Mariusz Czerkawski
Belarus
Andrei Kostitsyn, Sergei Kostitsyn (Grabovski only ever played in the B-tier competition)
Denmark
Lars Eller
Top player at position honours
Best forward – Niklas Sundstrom, Mike Cammalleri
Best goalie – Stephane Fiset, Jose Theodore, Marc Denis, David Aebischer, Carey Price
Tournament All-star team
Forward – Mats Naslund, Shayne Corson, Alexei Kovalev, Martin Rucinsky, Valeri Bure, Niklas Sundstrom, Sergei Samsonov, Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri
Defence – Scott Lachance, Andrei Markov, Mark Streit, PK Subban
Goalie – Stephane Fiset, David Aebischer, Carey Price
Top 10 Games played
21 – Niklas Sundstrom
19 - Paul Mara
15 – Scott Lachance
14 – Shayne Corson, Patrice Brisebois, Chris Higgins, Saku Koivu, Mike Komisarek, Tomas Plekanec, Mike Cammalleri, Eric Desjardins, Karl Dykhuis, Gary Leeman, Jason Ward, Jim Campbell, Kjell Dahlin, Ron Hainsey, Marcel Hossa, John Leclair, Eric Weinrich, Sergei Zholtok
Top 10 Points
33 – Niklas Sundsrom
19 – Shayne Corson
18 – Saku Koivu
17 - Mike Cammalleri
16 – John Leclair
15 – Mats Naslund
14 – Martin Rucinsky
13 – Jim Campbell, Kjell Dahlin, Sergei Samsonov, Russ Courtnall
Top 10 Points per game
2.00 – Martin Rucinsky
1.86 – Russ Courtnall
1.83 - Brian Gionta
1.67 – Bobby Smith
1.57 – Niklas Sundstrom, Andrei Kovalenko, Alfie Turcotte
1.43 – Alexei Kovalev
1.36 – Shayne Corson
1.33 – Ryan Walter
Top 10 Goals
18 – Niklas Sundstrom
11 - Mike Cammalleri
10 – John Leclair, Sergei Samsonov
9 – Shayne Corson, Martin Rucinsky
8 – Kjell Dahlin
7 – Jim Campbell, Russ Courtnall, Chris Higgins
Top 10 Goals per game
1.29 – Martin Rucinsky
1.00 – Russ Courtnall, Brian Gionta
0.86 – Niklas Sundstrom
0.83 – Ryan Walter, Richard Zednik
0.80 – Doug Jarvis
0.79 - Mike Cammalleri
0.77 – Sergei Samsonov
0.71 – John Leclair, Andrei Kovalenko, Alexei Kovalev, Valeri Bure, Juha Lind
Top 10 Points (Defenceman)
11 – Patrice Brisebois
9 - PK Subban
8 – Scott Lachance
7 – Ron Hainsey, Paul Mara
6 – Andrei Markov, Yannick Weber, Tom Kurvers
5 – David Wilkie, Eric Desjardins, Rob Ramage, Alain Cote, Jyrki Lumme
Top 10 Points per game (Defenceman)
0.86 – Tom Kurvers
0.79 – Patrice Brisebois
0.71 – Alain Cote, Jyrki Lumme
0.69 - PK Subban
0.67 - Yannick Weber
0.57 – Kevin Haller, Marko Kiprusoff, Petr Svoboda
0.53 – Scott Lachance
Finally, for a bit of fun to wrap up the post, I thought a Canadiens all-time WJC participant roster based on WJC performance (including personal stats and medal standings), interesting considering the current Habs featuring:
Forward lines:
Mike Cammalleri - Saku Koivu - Nicklas Sundstrom
Mats Naslund – Shayne Corson – Brian Gionta
Martin Rucinsky - Bobby Smith – Alexei Kovalev
John Leclair – Ryan Walter – Andrei Kovalenko
Defence pairings
Patrice Brisebois – PK Subban
Scott Lachance – Andrei Markov
Mark Streit – Eric Desjardins
Goalies
Carey Price
David Aebischer
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