Tyler Hopkins has already done something that turned heads in Hockey Canada’s World Junior selection process: he earned an invite ahead of two teenagers who lit up the score sheet last season.
Hockey Canada announced its 32-player camp list on Monday, and the Maple Leafs’ 2025 draft pick - taken 86th overall - was among the names called. That put Hopkins in the mix with players such as Caleb Desnoyers, along with 2026 draft prospects Carson Carels and Tynan Lawrence. It also meant he got the nod over both Liam and Markus Ruck, who each posted massive numbers last season and were still left waiting.
The Ruck brothers were hard to ignore. Markus finished with 108 points, Liam with 104, and both were drafted this past summer by Pittsburgh - Liam in the first round, Markus soon after in the second.
Hopkins, meanwhile, got the edge anyway. One possible factor is age: he’s 19, a year older than both of them.
What Hopkins brings is a different kind of value. He isn’t the same kind of offensive force as the Rucks, but he does offer a reliable two-way game that Canada can use at both ends of the rink.
Split between the Guelph Storm and Kingston Frontenacs after a mid-season trade, he put up 50 points in 56 games, including 25 goals. Still, the numbers only tell part of the story.
Hopkins sees his game through the lens of Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli, and he said as much:
I try to look at Anthony Cirelli as a guy I kind of look up to. Kind of similar style, that 200-foot player that is a little bit flourishing offensively last year, and I think it's something that I'm trying to do as well in my game.
That comparison matters. Cirelli is the kind of player who lives in Selke conversations, and he was a third-round pick himself - 72nd overall in 2015. For Hopkins, that’s a pretty clear blueprint: a hard-working defensive forward can carve out a real role, even without gaudy junior scoring totals.
That’s likely how Canada sees him too. He projects as a penalty killer, a possible fourth-line center, and someone who can tilt the ice in the right direction while still chipping in offense from the bottom six. In a camp full of flashier scorers, Hopkins gives them something different: a player who can handle the ugly work and still come out on the right side of it.
For Toronto, the selection is a small but meaningful validation of the pick Brad Treliving made in 2025. Hopkins may not be the most electric name in the system, but Hockey Canada clearly saw more than a 50-point center. The Leafs now have a prospect with a chance to keep building his game on an international stage, and that kind of experience can matter.
None of this means he jumps to the top of the depth chart overnight. But it does show that Canada values what he brings, and that his defensive acumen sits alongside a group of elite offensive talents for a reason. If that belief holds, the Leafs and their fans may not be far behind.
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