Montreal Canadiens Prospect Joshua Roy Getting Cut Shows How Incredible Depth of Canada

The Montreal Canadiens knew since last year that they would be sending one of their top prospects to represent Canada at the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship.

Kaiden Guhle played a depth role on the team that finished with a silver medal in the 2021 tournament and he is the lone defenceman eligible to return this year.

Guhle has returned and will play a huge role on this team, possibly being their leader in ice time as he will grab a prominent role in all situations. For a while it looked like he would be the only Canadiens prospect playing for Canada, but another young player made it a difficult call.

Joshua Roy was not on Team Canada’s radar at all before this season began. He was not invited to their summer orientation camp and it appeared the 18 year old had absolutely no chance at making this team. He was coming off a point per game season as a 17 year old but was traded from the Saint John Sea Dogs to the Sherbrooke Phoenix partially due to a lack of commitment to the finer details of the game.

Roy found a new level of compete this season as he changed his approach and preparation to the season mostly by paying better attention to exercise and diet. The result is a completely reinvigorated prospect who looks like he should have been drafted well before the fifth round in 2021.

Luckily, the Canadiens did get him in the fifth round and Roy is rewarding their faith in him with an incredible season in the QMJHL.

When he left the Phoenix to fly to Calgary and take part in the World Junior evaluation camp, Roy was leading the QMJHL in points with 45 in 25 games. He has helped Sherbrooke emerge as one of the top teams in the QMJHL and one of the ten best teams in Canadian Junior hockey.

HIs rejuvenated season was enough to earn him an invite to the final evaluation camp, but Roy was one of the seven forwards cut from the team on Sunday night.

He played well in the exhibition games in Calgary as well, scoring a goal and adding an assist in the two contests against Canadian University All Stars. But it just wasn’t enough for the 18 year old who could be a huge contributor for Canada a year from now.

Nine of the forwards on the team this year are 19 year olds and will be too old to return. Mason McTavish, Dylan Guenther and Shane Wright are also on the team and will likely be in the NHL next year so that means there could only be two returning forwards in 2023. You can bet right now that Joshua Roy will be a top six forward on the team next year.

The fact an 18 year old winger averaging just under two points per game was cut this year is extraordinary. It really just goes to show the incredible depth on this version of Team Canada. If Roy were eligible for literally any other country, he would be on one of their top two lines.

Considering he was not one of the 30 forwards invited to the team’s summer camp, it is incredible that Roy was able to get this close to making the team. It just goes to show how far he has come since the Canadiens drafted him.

At least now he can go back to Sherbrooke and try to win the scoring title as an 18 year old.