Horvat, Dobson Officially Join Canada for Worlds; Holmstrom Likely for SWE

This year, however, the stakes have been immensely raised. The Winter Olympics are just 10 months away. The 4 Nations Face-Off this past February set the bar high. For any roster hopefuls, the World Championship is the single-best opportunity to raise your stock for your country in hopes of making the team.

After locker cleanouts, it seemed clear Bo Horvat and Noah Dobson wanted to join Canada for the tournament. That became official today.

Bo Horvat is an Olympic hopeful and will look to use this to get his name back in the conversation. At clean out, Horvat said:

“It’s definitely been talked about. I haven’t made a decision or anything yet. But it’s definitely something to consider, and it’s a pretty big year for Olympic-wise next year. I think it’d be a good stepping stone for me to go prove myself and represent my country. If I do get that opportunity, I’ll take it.”

With the roster released today, Horvat is expected to wear a letter for Team Canada at the tournament. He last participated in the 2018 World Championships after the 2017-18 season, scoring three goals and seven points through 10 games.

Dobson’s International Debut:

Noah Dobson entered the season as a 4 Nations hopeful, but a slow start ended that opportunity. Now, he’s back on the bubble for the Olympics and has never appeared for Canada in an international tournament outside of the youth and World Juniors.

That changes now. Canada named him to the team, and he will be a major piece of the team.

Asked if he holds an interest in the tournament, Dobson said: “Yeah, definitely a thought. I think I’ll kind of use the next day or two to just process the options and figure out what’s best, but definitely interested for sure.”

Then, asked about the intrigue of playing in an optional international competition like this, he said:

“Yeah, I think obviously, if I went, it’d be my first one. So I don’t know exactly what it’s like, but I know just the mindset going into it for me is I only played 70 games this year, and my body feels pretty good. Also, with the Olympics coming up, it’s an opportunity to represent your country and kind of put yourself in a position to get on the radar going into next season and just go into the summer feeling good and hopefully try and win a gold medal. Like I said, I need to take the weekend, but definitely an interest for sure.”

Holmstrom Likely to Join Sweden:

The only other major option for the IIHF Worlds tournament was Simon Holmstrom. With the World Championship in his native Sweden, Holmstrom fielded a question during exit day about whether he’d thought about playing:

The 23-year-old replied: “I haven’t thought about it that much. I have a contract that I have to sign, and I’ve been focused on this season.”

While he remained mum on the topic that day, it was well-known that Sweden would likely offer him a roster place. Like Dobson, he’s only represented his country to this point during World Juniors, with Holmstrom’s appearance coming in the 2020-21 season.

Instead, Sweden released their roster a few days ago, and Holmstrom is not listed as an attendee for the pre-tournament games held May 1-4: https://x.com/trekronorse/status/1916115065087930532?s=46

It’s expected for the real tournament that Holmstrom will join the Swedes for his first senior international tournament.