Flyers forward Tyson Foerster to play for Canada at upcoming World Championships

After a long and grueling season, most hockey players can’t wait to put the skates away for the summer.

But it’s hard to blame Tyson Foerster for wanting to play a little more hockey. After all, the Flyers winger finished the season with nine goals in his final nine games, including bagging his first career hat trick on April 9 against the New York Rangers.

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On Thursday, Hockey Canada announced the first 15 players on its roster for the upcoming IIHF World Championships, and Foerster, maybe a little surprisingly, was among them. With Canada, he’ll join up with Flyers teammates Travis Sanheim and Travis Konecny, both of whom previously revealed they would play at the event. Goalie Sam Ersson (Sweden) will give the Flyers four representatives overall.

The 2025 World Championships will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark, from May 9-25. Canada, who finished a disappointing fourth last year, had medaled in seven of the previous eight tournaments (four golds).

Foerster’s inclusion is the next promising development for the 23-year-old forward. The 2020 first-round pick is fresh off a career-high 25 goals and has bagged 20-plus goals in each of his first two full NHL seasons. The red-hot finish to the season also came at the perfect time for Foerster, who is a restricted free agent and in need of a new contract.

The winger likely isn’t going anywhere, as general manager Danny Brière has repeatedly name-checked him when discussing key pieces to the Flyers’ future. Brière recently said Foerster “brings another level” of skill to the lineup.

At exit interviews, Foerster said his next steps include trying to find a way to get off to quicker starts to seasons and “trying to beat defenders one-on-one” to make him a more complete offensive player.

But while Foerster has made good on his junior hockey reputation as a goal scorer, his rapid development away from the puck as an all-around player is all anyone in the Flyers organization wants to talk about.

“He’s an impressive young man, as far as his maturity, as far as being a pro, I think he’s never taken anything for granted, which some young players can,” interim coach Brad Shaw said in early April. “It took him a while to maybe figure out where he fits in at the NHL level. He seems way more comfortable in his own skin.”

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The analytics back up Foerster’s defensive growth. Over the past two seasons, the winger ranks eighth among NHL forwards in Evolving Hockey’s even-strength defensive goals above replacement metric (8.6).

He’s also found chemistry on a line with Noah Cates and Bobby Brink, two other young players he’s close friends with. That line was the team’s most consistent this past season, as the trio created 52% of the overall scoring chances when on ice together, 58% of the high-danger chances, and outscored opponents, 29-23, at five-on-five for a 56% goal share. All three players set career highs in goals this season.

Foerster will hope to find similar chemistry playing for a Canada team that will feature rising stars like San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini and Columbus’ Adam Fantilli, as well as former Conn Smythe winner Ryan O’Reilly (Nashville).

While this will represent Foerster’s first appearance with the senior national team, he previously donned the maple leaf at the 2022 World Juniors in Edmonton.