Chase Harrington doesn’t exactly come from a soft background.
The Flames prospect spends his off-season working construction at his father’s company, and that kind of grind shows up in the way he plays, too. The 2024 NHL Draft pick has built a reputation on pace, skill and a willingness to make life miserable for opponents, and now he’s trying to turn that profile into a spot on Canada’s World Junior team for this winter.
Harrington has had limited time back on the job site this year. Flames Development Camp came first, then a week in Ontario at Canada’s World Junior Summer Showcase, a key early step toward getting noticed for the 2027 World Juniors in Alberta.
“It would mean everything to me,” Harrington said over the phone last week when asked what making Team Canada would mean to him. “Watching World Juniors in my house every Christmas, it was a pretty big deal growing up. It’d be such an honour.
“Watching them dominate, watching them win gold medals. It’s the standard in Canada, to bring home gold.
I’m excited to get the opportunity to try and do that. It’ll be electric in Edmonton, so I hope I can make my way onto the roster to do that.”
The Flames saw enough in the Prince George, B.C. product to take him early in the second round of this past June’s NHL Draft. Harrington believes that the same blend of traits that appealed to Calgary can carry weight with Canada’s brass, too.
His game is built on speed and skill, but also on that hard-edged style that keeps shifting the temperature of a game. Harrington thinks his week in Oakville gave him a chance to show exactly that.
“I play heavy, I play fast, I think that’s pretty valuable,” he said. “I think I bring a little bit of a different aspect in that sense, producing offence while also having that hard style of game, being a good fore-checker, and being good in the D zone and on the penalty kill.”
He wasn’t the only Flames prospect in the camp with WHL roots. Cole Reschny and Carson Carels were there too, and both know Harrington well from the Western Conference battles that came with matchups between Spokane, Victoria and Prince George.
Reschny, a World Juniors returnee, said Harrington brings exactly the kind of edge Canada needs.
“He’s a hard player, he goes to the dirty areas, he’s getting under guys’ skins,” Reschny said. “You need guys that can fill different roles and play in different situations. For him to come here and showcase what he does, that’s the biggest thing.
“He got picked for a reason, and he’s looked good so far.”
Carels, who also has World Juniors experience, sees the same thing. After trading series wins with Harrington’s Chiefs over the past two springs, he knows how quickly the forward can tilt a game.
“His game kinda speaks for itself, he’s a playoff player,” said Carels. “In the playoffs, you’ve got to play the Canadian way, a lot of hits, keep running down the other team. I think his game kinda complements that really well.
“He has that kind of ‘playoff mode’ and switch where he just turns into an absolute animal, almost. I’ve gotten to know him quite a bit in the past year, he’s a great guy but as soon as he gets on that ice, he’s just an animal.”
The three have grown close, and that bond now sits alongside a bigger shared ambition: getting to the NHL and doing it in Flames colours.
For now, though, there’s another prize in view. Canada is chasing its first World Juniors gold in four years, and Harrington could fit as the kind of energy piece that helps push the group forward, with Reschny and Carels among the returning pieces.
Harrington knows exactly what he wants to bring.
“I play the game that I play,” Harrington said.
“I think the Flames appreciate that, and I think Team Canada will too.”
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