Malby and Draper named to Canadian WC squad

Today, Mike Tambellini named the players that will represent Canada in the 2005 World Championships that will take place mostly next month (30. April to 15. May) in Austria. The Canadian squad will have a good experienced backbone surrounded by youth, in constrast to the US team which will be nearly all young players. Red Wings forwards Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby are amoung the veteran players that will make up the Canadian team. They were also part of the Canadian team that won the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. So, congratulation to those two for making it. Steve Yzerman would be on the team but decided he would not be in good enough shape. The whole Canadian roster is as follows: Goaltenders Martin Brodeur - New Jersey Devils Roberto Luongo - Florida Panthers Marty Turco - Dallas Stars Defensemen Ed Jovanovski - Vancouver Canucks Chris Phillips - Ottawa Senators Wade Redden - Ottawa Senators Robyn Regehr - Calgary Flames Scott Hannan - San Jose Sharks Sheldon Souray - Montreal Canadiens Dan Boyle - Tampa Bay Lightning Forwards Brendan Morrison - Vancouver Canucks Dany Heatley - Atlanta Thrashers Rick Nash - Columbus Blue Jackets Joe Thornton - Boston Bruins Kris Draper - Detroit Red Wings Kirk Maltby - Detroit Red Wings Ryan Smyth - Edmonton Oilers Shane Doan - Phoenix Coyotes Mike Fisher - Ottawa Senators Simon Gagne - Philadelphia Flyers Brenden Morrow - Dallas Stars Patrick Marleau - San Jose Sharks Update (12. Apr 05) The Russians have released the list of players they are inviting to a World Championship training camp they are holding later this month. Like the US and Canada, Russia will be going with youth for this tournament, with a few exceptions. Pavel Datsyuk is among the 36 players invited to the camp, as is Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Ovechkin. Former Red Wing Sergei Fedorov is not on the list and neither are veteran goalies Nikolai Khabibulin and Evgeny Nabokov. Team Sweden is expected to be announced Thursday. Nicklas Lidstrom has already said he will not play in the tournament but the Wings' other Swedes are likely to be named to the roster, I would think. Update (14. Apr 05): Team Sweden announced its roster (PDF) today and Henrik Zetterberg is the only one of the Wings' four Swedes to make the team.