Elliotte Friedman Reveals Top Choice for Team Canada Head Coach After Embarrassing World Juniors Performance
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Photo credit: Hockey Canada
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman has revealed who he believes will coach Team Canada at next year's World Junior Championship.
Team Canada put up one of their worst performances of all time this year at the IIHF World Junior Championship.
The team lost without taking home a medal for just the 13th time in the 48-year history of the event.
Shockingly, this is the second year in a row Canada has failed to take home hardware with back-to-back 5th place finishes.
Naturally, the team has drawn a lot of criticism from around the hockey world for these poor results.
For example, Flyers general manager Danny Briere called out team Canada for not utilizing his team's top prospects correctly.
Similarly, Minnesota Wild forward Jakob Lauko, who hails from Czechia, roasted Canada on social media after they were eliminated at the tournament by his countrymen.
Now, Team Canada is looking to make some changes as they attempt to reestablish themselves as the top team in the World Juniors.
The organization is looking to hire a full-time coach to work with Canada's top prospects all year round in an effort to build team chemistry going forward.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reports that the club is considering former WHL head coach Kris Mallette for the position.
He adds that Mallette has championship experience with Team Canada, winning three gold medals at the annual Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
"As Hockey Canada considers a full-time world junior coach, one name to keep an eye on: Kris Mallette. Mallette was fired as WHL Kelowna's bench boss in January, due to a poor start after three consecutive playoff berths. More importantly, he knows this age group of Canadian players, and has had success with them: three Gold medals at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup - one as a head coach, two as an assistant."
Mallette is certainly a strong candidate for the position but it will be interesting to see if this move has a positive impact on Canada's performance at next year's tournament or not, regardless of who ends up getting the job.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 6 | 173 ANSWERS Elliotte Friedman Reveals Top Choice for Team Canada Head Coach After Embarrassing World Juniors Performance Do you think Team Canada will win the gold at the 2026 World Junior Championship? | ||
| Yes | 38 | 22 % |
| No | 92 | 53.2 % |
| Too early to tell | 43 | 24.9 % |
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