TORONTO — When scouting goaltenders for the 23-and-under World Cup team, Peter Chiarelli hasn’t had to watch an NHL game.

No one eligible has even appeared in one this season.

Instead, the primary candidates — John Gibson, Connor Hellebuyck, Matt Murray and Malcolm Subban — are all currently plying their trade in the American Hockey League, which is why Chiarelli recently asked the NHL if he could add an older goalie to his roster.

“We broached that very, very briefly,” he said Tuesday.

The request was denied.

Even with the World Cup still 10 months away, the scouting and debates on roster decisions are already well underway. Each team must submit a list of its first 16 players by March 1 and settle on a final 23-man group by June 1.

Team Canada’s management group, which is being led by Doug Armstrong, met for a third time on Monday. Armstrong and his four assistants have each compiled a shadow roster to present at those sessions and says that “I’d say there’s at least 11 guys that’s been on everybody’s list every time and multiple guys that have been on it two of the three times.”

Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Steven Stamkos will obviously be among those included in the initial roster. Carey Price, Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty are extremely safe bets as well.

Where it’ll get interesting for Armstrong and Co. is the depth positions because they’re bound to leave some qualified players off. As a result, their initial 16 picks will be dictated by how the battles are shaping up.

“If we believe that there’s more competition in the forward or defence spot, maybe we’ll name an extra goalie or an extra forward or extra defenceman to leave that flexibility into that area of real good competition for the team,” said Armstrong.

The GM identified four players that have put themselves on his radar with their strong play: Tyler Toffoli and Jake Muzzin of the Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher and Ottawa Senators leading scorer Mark Stone.

One attribute that will be valued above all others is skating ability.

“The game is so fast,” said Armstrong. “We see it now, the NHL game is a speed game. We’ve talked about it: We want to be a good skating team.”

The biggest thing on Dean Lombardi’s mind as he ponders what Team USA will look like is seeing Ryan Suter, Zach Parise and Ryan McDonagh exert themselves as leaders. He doesn’t think that happened at the Sochi Olympics, where the Americans lost in the bronze medal game.

Since some of the country’s young stars aren’t available to him — Brandon Saad and Jack Eichel will be on Chiarelli’s North American team — there’s only so much he can do to change the dynamic of his group.

“Some of the best players aren’t going to be qualified,” said Lombardi. “I think there’s a definite trend towards having a bit of a turnover. Not only with the players, but with the players that will be back in assuming more hands-on leadership role. I think that’s one of the things that we learned from the last team.

“I’m not sure some of those top players realized it’s now their team, its their responsibility to take over.”

Perhaps the most difficult roster decisions will need to be made by Chiarelli and associate GM Stan Bowman with the 23-and-under squad. They’ve had some players come out of nowhere to land on their radar — surprising St. Louis Blues rookie Colton Parayko was mentioned by Chiarelli — while Detroit’s Dylan Larkin and Coyotes rookies Max Domi and Anthony Duclair have seen their stock rise.

Chiarelli estimates that about “60 per cent” of the roster is already locked in after a weekend conference call, but sees a lot of room for change beyond that.

“There’s been a lot of variance,” he said. “I think that’s what’s going to happen with the younger players. It’s been really interesting. For us I think it’s going to go down to the last minute on both deadlines.”

In the meantime, the work continues.