Canada gets younger for the Worlds, and Denmark will test it
Six Worlds debutants, no Poulin, and an average age down to 25.8 from 29.2 at the Olympics, with Team USA waiting.
Canada just picked the right November to get younger, and it's going to cost them a gold medal anyway. That's not a knock on the roster Hockey Canada named Monday. It's the honest price of a rebuild that starts less than three weeks before the Worlds.
The 25-player team for Denmark has six players making their Women's Worlds debut: Caitlin Kraemer, Rebecca Leslie, Sara Manness, Hayley McDonald, Rosalie Tremblay and Sarah Wozniewicz. Tremblay and McDonald are 18. Defender Chloe Primerano is 19. Nineteen of the 25 play in the PWHL and six in the NCAA.
The number that tells the story
The average age is 25.8, down from 29.2 at the Olympics. By our count, that's a team 3.4 years younger in eight months. Thirteen players won silver in Milan, which means 12 of the 25 weren't on that podium at all.
Some of that turnover was chosen. Brianne Jenner and Jocelyne Larocque were left off. Some of it wasn't. Marie-Philip Poulin is out after knee surgery, and Natalie Spooner, Sarah Nurse, Blayre Turnbull and Emerance Maschmeyer were invited to selection camp but couldn't attend.
"There is a great sense of energy, hunger and determination within this group," head coach Kori Cheverie said.
Why it's the right call
The tournament moved from April to November to stay out of the PWHL's way. So this Worlds lands in the one window where a new core can learn the system without an Olympic final on the line. If Canada was ever going to hand Primerano real minutes against the Americans, it's now.
The spine is still there. Ann-Renée Desbiens is in goal with Ève Gascon and Kayle Osborne behind her. Renata Fast, Sophie Jaques and Erin Ambrose run the blue line. Sarah Fillier, Laura Stacey, Emily Clark and Daryl Watts give the forwards real finish.
And Bruce Cassidy joins the staff as a special advisor, which is a line nobody would have predicted a few years ago.
Why it still probably ends in silver
The last two big finals went to the U.S. in overtime: 4-3 at the 2025 Worlds in Czechia and 2-1 in Milan. By our count, that's two straight best-on-best finals decided by one goal after 60 minutes. Canada is close. It just isn't ahead.
And the Americans aren't rebuilding. Team USA is treating Denmark as a title defense, bringing back its gold group. A younger Canada without its captain, against that, starts as the underdog.
What's next
The first look comes fast: Canada plays the U.S. on Oct. 28 in Windsor and Oct. 30 in Plymouth, Mich. Then Group B opens against Sweden on Nov. 6, with Finland, Japan and host Denmark also in the group.
The W read: The right roster for 2030, a hard one for 2026. My call: Canada wins one of the two October games against the Americans, then loses the Worlds final to them anyway, and at least one of the six debutants scores in Denmark.
