Report: Scheifele, Duchene, MacKinnon to play for Canada at worlds

It's safe to say Canada's entry in the upcoming World Hockey Championship will be fine down the middle.

A trio of talented centers - Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche and Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets - have agreed to play in the tournament, TSN's Darren Dreger reports.

Scheifele and Duchene won gold with Canada at last year's event and also represented their home nation at the 2014 tourney on the team that finished fifth. MacKinnon was a part of the Canadian squad that won gold at the worlds in 2015.

Scheifele posted a career-high 31 goals and 80 points with the Jets this season, while MacKinnon and Duchene both had disappointing campaigns, by their standards, for the league-worst Avalanche.

New Jersey Devils forward Taylor Hall recently told ESPN's Pierre LeBrun that he's unlikely to play for Canada in the upcoming tournament. The Canadian contingent is being assembled by Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall.

The 2017 World Hockey Championship runs May 5-21 in Paris and Cologne, Germany.