Eric Staal confirmed Monday that he will play for Canada in the IIHF World Championships, which begin next month in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Quebec City, Quebec. Staal played for Canada's gold-medal winning team last year.

"You don't want to be in that position," Staal said. "You want to be in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But the next best thing is the opportunity and challenge to win another gold medal."

Cam Ward and Ray Whitney will join Staal with the host nation, Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said, and Tim Gleason will play for the United States, Niclas Wallin for Sweden and Tuomo Ruutu for Finland.

Last year, Staal, Ward and Justin Williams played for Canada; Chad LaRose and Erik Cole played for the United States; and Ruutu, then with the Chicago Blackhawks, played for Finland.

Gleason said Monday morning he was hoping to get a call from the U.S. team and was excited about the possibility of playing. Joe Corvo and Cole are under late consideration for U.S. roster spots.

A USA Hockey spokesman said a preliminary roster was expected as soon as Wednesday.

Dennis Seidenberg said he was debating whether to play for Germany, but with a newborn baby and sore ankle, he was leaning against it. Frantisek Kaberle could be a possibility for the Czech Republic.

DRAFT LOTTERY: The Tampa Bay Lightning has the first pick in June's draft after holding onto the top spot in the draft lottery Monday night.

The Hurricanes will pick 14th in the first round. Even if they had won the draft lottery -- they had a 0.5 percent chance as the last team to miss the playoffs -- they would have moved up only to 10th.

ALBANY BOUND: The Canes are planning to place Jeff Hamilton and Tim Conboy on waivers today with the intention of sending them to Albany (AHL) on Wednesday for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. The River Rats clinched a postseason spot Saturday night.

NATIONAL NOD FOR FORSLUND: Hurricanes television broadcaster John Forslund will be working extensively for Versus during the first round of the playoffs, with seven games on his schedule starting with Wednesday's Ottawa Senators-Pittsburgh Penguins game.