Great Moments Are Born From Great Opportunity: 2025 World Juniors Preview Blog, And Why Team USA Is Going To Win Back-To-Back Golds
Since the turn of the century, only 3 teams have ever won back-to-back gold medals at the IIHF World Junior Championship. Czech Republic won the tournament in 2000 and followed it up with another gold in 2001. Russia then went on to win in 2002 and 2003. And then there is Canada. They won 5 in a row from 2005-2009, and then they won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023.
That's part of what makes this tournament so special. Every year we get to celebrate the holidays with the world's best U20 hockey players getting together for the best international hockey tournament of the year. The World Championships are fine. The Olympics will be great again once NHL players can compete. But until then, the World Juniors is the pinnacle of international ice hockey. And every country dreams about sending the best crop of 19-year-olds out there to take home gold. The only issue with having an elite team of 19-year-olds, however, is the fact that they age out of the tournament the next year. So to be able to maintain that consistency year over year is pretty difficult.
THE United States of America is looking to join that list these next few weeks as the boys head up to Ottawa to play in the 2025 WJC.
Last year's tournament was one of the more dominant routes we've seen out of USA Hockey ever. They went undefeated throughout the whole tournament. Sure, they needed a shootout to take down the Czechs in group play. But they won their 3 medal round games by a combined 10 goals. You win the gold medal game by 4 goals against Sweden while playing IN Sweden? That's as much of a statement as you'll see in this tournament.
Now like I said, it's extremely rare that teams win back-to-back golds at the WJC. In fact, USA Hockey has never done it before. There are going to be plenty of obstacles in the way these next couple of weeks in Ottawa. You have a Canada team that is loaded with the most 1st round picks in the tournament, who are playing on home ice and looking to bounce back after not medaling last year. You have a Sweden team coming back after getting embarrassed on home ice in the gold medal game last year. You have a Slovakian team that may not be as deep as teams like USA, Canada and Sweden, but they've finished 4th in each of the past 2 U18 Worlds. The Czechs are always pesky. Finland is always a threat.
That's not to say that USA isn't arguably the most complete team in this tournament. They have the best goalie returning to his 3rd World Juniors. An experienced blue line with plenty of playmaking abilities. The best trio in the tournament who have been playing together all season and lighting it up at Boston College. So let's set the stage here and give you everything you need to know heading into the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship.
2025 WJC Group A
- USA (2024 WJC Gold)
- Canada (Host, 2024 WJC 5th place)
- Finland (2024 WJC 4th place)
- Latvia (2024 WJC 8th place)
- Germany (2024 WJC 9th place)
2025 WJC Group B
- Sweden (2024 WJC Silver)
- Czech Republic (2024 WJC Bronze)
- Slovakia (2024 WJC 6th place)
- Switzerland (2024 WJC 7th place)
- Kazakhstan (promoted from division 1)
Right off the bat, we're just going to skip any sort of preview for Switzerland, Latvia, Germany and Kazakhstan. No offense or anything, but they really just don't have the ability to compete in this tournament. There's no Nico Hischier. There's no Tim Stutzle. You already know everything you need to know about these teams. The two big goals for these teams are to enjoy the experience, and avoid relegation.
Heading into the tournament, it's fair to say that USA and Canada are the clear favorites to win. USA obviously coming off of last year's win, and a gold at the 2023 U18 tournament. Last year Canada took home gold in the 2024 U18 tournament, have multiple players with NHL experience already this year, and possibly the most electrifying player in the tournament who is still another year away from being draft eligible. That automatically makes Group A the "group of death". Finland is probably pretty locked into that 3rd spot in the group, but they are a medal contender with enough talent to at least make USA and Canada sweat.
Sweden should fairly easily come out of group B as the top seed. The Czechs have had some decent success at this tournament lately, but losing a guy like Jiri Kulich is a tough one to overcome. He was the top point scorer in last year's tournament, and the MVP of the 2022 U18's. Slovakia has one of the best players in the tournament, but they're not nearly as deep to take the top spot from Sweden. Both teams are going to be tough to play against in the medal rounds, but Sweden is in a tier of their own in that group.
All things considered, this year's tournament is a 3-horse race. It's USA, it's Canada, and it's Sweden. There's always a chance for chaos, and maybe one of those teams slips up in the medal round to Finland, Czech Republic or Slovakia. But there's a clear gap from the top 3 teams in this tournament to everybody else. Now you'll see why.
Team USA
Usually whenever I do these previews, I like to start from the net out. But it's impossible to start talking about this US roster without immediately bringing up 3 Boston College Eagles who are going to be filling up the net incessantly this tournament. When team USA won gold at the 2023 U18's, Will Smith (San Jose Sharks) was the tournament's leading scorer and MVP. On his line were Gabe Perreault (2023 NYR 1st Rd) and Ryan Leonard (2023 WAS 1st Rd). The three of them put up a combined 55 points in 7 games.
Will Smith would still be eligibile for this year's tournament based on age. But considering he's played the entire season with the Sharks this year in the NHL, he won't be available for Team USA. So who do they replace him with? James Hagens (2025 NHL Draft Top Prospect). Hagens led the 2024 U18 tournament in points and won MVP with 22 points in 7 games. He's likely going to be the 1st overall pick in this upcoming summer's draft. His draft stock is currently dipping a little bit after being the clear favorite to go 1st overall, but this is the type of tournament that can vault him right back up to being the easiest possible choice for that top pick.
All 3 players are top 20 in scoring so far this year in the NCAA. Having a legitimate top line of superstars is hard enough to get in this tournament. But to have a top line who have all played together this whole season so far? That's almost unheard of. It's a quick tournament where you don't have a ton of time to get overly acquainted with your teammates. So having that built-in chemistry makes this line the most dangerous in the tournament by far.
Also returning from last year's gold medal team at forward are Oliver Moore (2023 CHI 1st Rd) and Danny Nelson (2023 NYI 2nd Rd). Again, it's really important to have a strong group of 19-year-olds to do well in this tournament. That extra year of development is always so important with this age group, and guys like Moore and Nelson may not have the skill that jumps out at you like other guys in this tournament but they'll be able to provide that secondary scoring that guides you to a gold medal.
On the blueline this team is going to be led by couple of returning players from last year's gold medal team with Zeev Buium (2024 MIN 1st Rd) and Drew Fortescue (2023 NYR 3rd Rd). Buium had a breakout tournament last year where he seemed to skyrocket his draft stock during the tournament. Which made it seem wild that he dropped to 12th overall last summer because he played like a top 5 pick. And he's been playing even better this year as a sophomore at Denver.
He should be one of the top 2 defensemen in this year's tournament. He's the top point scoring defenseman in the NCAA right now, but he also has true shutdown defenseman capabilities. Great skater, great stick, should be a total game changer out there for USA. He'll probably QB the top powerplay unit for USA, but if somehow this team doesn't score in the first 30 seconds of every penalty and needs to get to the 2nd powerplay unit? I'd expect Cole Hutson (2024 WAS 2nd Rd) to be the guy.
Lane Huston was one of the best defensemen in last year's tournament, and now USA Hockey gets to just throw another Hutson out there on the blueline with mostly all of the same skills. You see the way Lane Hutson has been dog walking guys at the blueline all year in the NHL so far this season. I'd expect plenty of opposing forwards to look silly trying to take the puck away from Cole up there this tournament. 14 points in 16 games as a freshman defenseman. Not bad at all.
And last but not least….
This is going to be the Trey Augustine (2023 DET 2nd Rd) tournament. He's playing in his 3rd World Juniors this year. He played for the senior team at the World Championships last year. There has been such a huge wave of incredible American goalies lately, and Trey Augustine is setting himself up to be right up there with all of them. He's the best goalie in the tournament and the most experienced. So there will definitely be a game or two where the offense just seems to dry up a bit for Team USA, but luckily they have a guy like Trey Augustine between the pipes who will be able to give them the time they need to start finding the back of the net again. And whenever he needs a day off, Sam Hillebrandt also returns from last year's squad.
Team Canada
Last year was maybe the first time ever that Canada went into a World Juniors where everybody knew it would take a miracle for them to win gold. If there's ever a time they don't medal at the World Juniors, it's usually because they just fucked up royally. They typically bring the most talent to the tournament every year, but last year's roster was unusually weak coming off of back-to-back golds.
That's not the case this year. The haters are sick because Canada's roster is back to being absolutely fucking loaded. So loaded that they were able to leave the top point scorer in the OHL this year, Michael Misa, off the roster. They have a tournament high 10 1st round picks on the team. They have guys like Calum Ritchie (2023 COL 1st Rd) and Jett Luchanko (2024 PHI 1st Rd) who have already made their NHL debuts this season. And then, of course, there is Gavin McKenna (2026 NHL Draft Top Prospect).
Gavin McKenna is still 2 years away from making his NHL debut. That, of course, is because he's not draft eligible until 2026. But within the first minute of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft starting, he'll already have his name being called. Hockey Canada might try to politic this a little bit and not give him the ice time he deserves considering he just turned 17 a few days ago. But make no mistake about it, Gavin McKenna is the most "generational" player in this year's tournament. He put up 97 points in 61 games last year as a 15/16 year old for Medicine Hat in the WHL. He scored 20 points in 7 games while leading Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2024 U18's. And this year he already has 60 points in 30 games in the WHL. Once again, he's not draft eligible until 2026. He is also cousins with Connor Bedard, who would still be eligible to play in this year's tournament.
Again, there's a chance that Hockey Canada overthinks it and doesn't put McKenna in a position to be their best player in this tournament. But even if that's the case, this team has more than enough talent to make up for it. And it'll be Calum Ritchie leading the way.
Ritchie will be the 1C for Team Canada this year. He played his 7 games with the Avs to start the season, and already picked up his first career goal in the NHL. Since getting sent back to junior, he has 34 points in 18 games with Oshawa. He's 6'2", 190 lbs, and if he was born a few weeks earlier then he would have missed the cut off for this year's tournament. So he's one of the oldest players in Ottawa this week, and getting a chance to play in his first World Juniors on home ice. I'd expect a massive tournament out of him.
Easton Cowan (2023 TOR 1st) also looks like he's heating up for a big tournament. He only had a goal and an assist in 5 games at last year's tournament, but he's been all over the place during the prelim games already.
And obviously the Flyers fan in me is hoping that Jett Luchanko (2024 PHI 1st Rd) has a massive tournament. Not only is this kid one of the best 200-foot players in the game, but he also has a crispiest salad in the tournament as well.
He has unreal speed. He has great awareness and positional discipline in the defensive zone. He may not have that pure goal scorer's touch that'll completely light up a scoreboard and get him on the top line for Canada. But he still has 20 points in 16 games so far this season in the OHL, and should have a ton of confidence after already gaining some NHL experience this year.
And for anybody whose favorite NHL team sucks this season, keep your eyes on Porter Martone (2025 NHL Draft Top Prospect).
Porter Martone could go anywhere from 1st to 5th in the upcoming draft. If you are interested in a true 1C for years to come, this is your guy. He's huge (6'3", 207 lbs), and is a point scoring machine. 54 points in 26 games this year for the Mississauga Brampton Steelheads. All while wearing the 'C' as a kid who just turned 18 in October.
Defensively, Team Canada doesn't have a ton of returners from last year. There is Sam Dickinson (2024 SJS 1st Rd) and Oliver Bonk (2023 PHI 1st Rd). Once again, my Flyers bias is going to come in here and hope that Bonk ends up being one of the best defensemen in the tournament.
It should be a pretty special tournament for Oliver Bonk playing in Ottawa where his dad, Radek, played 9 seasons for the Senators. Oliver had 67 points in 60 games last year while helping lead the London Knights to an OHL Championship. He's going to find the back of the net in this tournament, but as one of the oldest guys on the team he's going to also be tasked with shutdown roles. Which then opens up the offensive role for a guy like Tanner Molendyk (2023 NSH 1st Rd).
I mean Jesus fucking Christ. Just look at the way this kid skates. It's ridiculous. What a freak. What a mutant. This kid gets a head of steam against you and you're toast.
In between the pipes for Team Canada is arguably the best tandem in the tournament. I know I said Trey Augustine is the best goalie, but this duo for Canada is also as good as it gets. They have Carter George (2024 LAK 2nd Rd) and Carson Bjarnason (2023 PHI 2nd Rd). Carter George was the best goaltender at the 2024 U18's where Canada took home the gold medal. Bjarnason is the best goalie in the WHL so far this year. He has a .913 sv% through 16 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Team Sweden
It's crazy that it's been over a decade since Sweden has won gold at the World Juniors. Mainly because I feel like they're always playing in the gold medal game. 4 silvers since the last time they won the whole thing, and their most recent silver came last year on home ice after Team USA throttled them 6-2 in the final game.
Obviously that's going to send this Swedish team into Ottawa with a sense of "unfinished business". But with how much firepower USA and Canada are bringing to the tournament this year, it might be hard for Sweden to keep up. Their best hope isn't to keep up, but rather slow them down. Which they'll be able to do with the top pair of defensemen they have returning this year.
Axel Sandin Pellikka (2023 DET 1st Rd) was named the best defenseman at last year's tournament. Theo Lindstein (2023 STL 1st Rd) was also named one of the top 2 media all-star defensive selections from the tournament. So 2 out of the best 3 defensemen in last year's tournament are a pair of Swedes who are returning this year.
It shouldn't be a shock to anybody that Sweden constantly has elite defensemen coming up through the pipeline. I feel like I say this every year in the previews, but these kids all grew up with idols like Lidstrom, Karlsson, and Hedman. Axel Sandin Pellikka is the next up in that line of great Swedish defensemen. Last year he won the Salming Trophy as the best defenseman in Sweden. As an 18-year-old helping to lead Skelleftea AIK to an SHL Championship. Like what are we even talking about here? The guy who won it the year before was 12 years older.
Theo Lindstein is also playing in the top Swedish league this year. Though he hasn't been quite as productive offensively as Sandin Pellikka, he should head into this tournament with plenty of confidence from playing against fully grown men all season so far.
And if there's one guy on this roster who will be able to have a good scout on the Americans, it's Tom Willander (2023 VAN 1st Rd)
The 11th overall pick in 2023 is currently playing in his sophomore season at BU. Considering how many BC guys are on the USA roster and I'd say it would be worth having Willander on this Sweden roster just for the scouting reports alone. But he was also one of the best defensemen at the 2023 U18's, and can make great plays on both ends of the ice. So per usual, Sweden is bringing a blueline to this tournament that can compete with anybody.
The forward group is where this team starts to fall off a little bit. It's tough to replace a guy like Jonathan Lekkerimaki, who was the MVP of last year's tournament. Sweden's top 2 scorers have both aged out for this year's tournament, so now it's on the shoulder of Otto Stenberg (2023 STL 1st Rd) to lead the way offensively.
He had a strong tournament last year putting up 9 points in 7 games. 3 of his 5 goals came in a hat trick against Germany, but he also scored in the gold medal game against USA. He also had a massive U18 tournament in 2023 where he was named one of the best forwards of the tournament. He was 4th in scoring that tournament behind the cheat code line of Will Smith, Gabe Perreault, and Ryan Leonard. So Otto Stenberg is a guy who Sweden really needs to get going this tournament, because you're probably not holding USA and Canada to just 2 or 3 goals.
Outside of Stenberg, however, there isn't really a proven commodity for this group of Swedish forwards. David Edstrom (2023 NSH 1st Rd) has 1st round pick talent. He only managed to put up 3 assists in last year's tournament. But he's having a pretty solid start to the season with Frolunda in the top Swedish league. 13 points in 22 games.
But if we're going with unproven guys who have a chance to shine at this tournament, then Victor Eklund (2025 NHL Draft Top Prospect) is the guy.
Victor Eklund could be one of those guys who uses the World Juniors to catapult himself into being a top 5 pick in this upcoming draft. He's already a top 10 prospect, and had a huge start to his season in the 2nd tier Swedish league. His production has started to tail off since his start, but maybe the WJC could be the reset he needs. Sharks fans might want to keep an eye on this kid just in case he really starts to jump up the rankings.
And then honestly I have no idea about how Sweden is going to look between the pipes. Hugo Hävelid was the best goalie in last year's tournament, but he's aged out. Love Härenstam was one of the better goalies at last year's U18's, but he's not on the roster. Melker Thelin (2023 UTA 5th Rd) made a couple of starts on last year's team, and he's been a top 10 goalie in the 2nd Swedish league this year with IF Björklöven. So I'd assume that's the guy for them this year.
Team Finland
Canada and USA definitely seem to be in a tier together at the top of this year's tournament. Sweden is maybe just a step down from them. And then that's where we get to Finland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. These 3 teams are all going to be on Spoiler Alert this tournament. I don't think any of them have a realistic shot of playing for a gold medal. But they can definitely make it difficult to come away with a bronze.
Finland finished in 4th place in last year's tournament. They had every chance to leave with a bronze after heading into the 3rd period of that game up 5-3. Then they gave up 5 goals in the 3rd period to the Czechs, and left empty handed.
My guess is that they leave empty handed again this year because there's not too much to love about this Finnish roster. That is, of course, besides Konsta Helenius (2024 BUF 1st Rd).
I know that Buffalo fans probably hate hockey right now, but Konsta Helenius might be able to pull them back in at this tournament. He's spent the full season playing for Rochester in the AHL so far this year, and has 17 points in 28 games. Not necessarily lighting the world on fire, but that's solid production out of an 18-year-old kid playing in a league full of men. He already played a full season of pro hockey last year with Jukurit in the Liiga, so a tournament against kids his own age should be a nice change of pace for him.
The only other 1st round pick on this roster is Emil Hemming (2024 DAL 1st Rd). He's also been playing in North America this year, playing for the Barrie Colts in the OHL. So that should give him a little more familiarity with the Canadian team and that style of play. But 20 points in 30 games for Barrie doesn't make me feel like Emil Hemming is going to do too much damage in this tournament.
Outside of Helenius, the most important player for the Finns is going to be Aron Kiviharju (2024 MIN 4th Rd). He was originally projected to be a high-end 1st round draft pick. Like we're talking 1st overall high end. Then he ended up tearing his ACL during his draft year and dropped all the way to the 4th round.
He'll wear the C for Finland in this tournament. He wore the C for Finland at the U18 Worlds last year. This is a chance for him to prove that teams made a mistake on letting him drop to the 4th round, and to help keep Finland in the upper echelon of this tournament. If Kiviharju has a strong tournament then there's a good chance that Finland has a strong tournament.
Team Slovakia
Gabe Perreault, Ryan Leonard and James Hagens are all studs. Gavin McKenna is generational. Konsta Helenius will be a weapon. But if I had to pick one guy right now who I think could be the best forward at this tournament, it's Dalibor Dvorsky (2023 STL 1st Rd). This will be his FOURTH World Juniors appearance, and obviously his last. In those previous 3 tournaments, he's scored 11 points in 14 games. I think there's a chance he doubles his production this year.
He has 11 goals and 21 points in 27 games so far this season in the AHL. He scored 45 goals in 52 games last year in the OHL. He has one of the most lethal shots in this tournament. And he gets to just leave it all out there.
The Slovakians have finished in 4th in each of the last 2 U18 tournaments. They had a strong group stage showing at last year's WJC before crashing out in the quarterfinal. They're not a medal threat this year, but they are going to put the top teams in some real dicey situations.
Also, another player to keep an eye on is Luka Radivojevic (2025 NHL Draft Top Prospect).
He should be a mid-to-late 1st round pick in this upcoming draft. This will already be his 2nd appearance at the world juniors. He has 10 assists through 19 games so far this year with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL. And his old man used to play for the Flyers, so I'm sure there's a decent layer of grit to his game.
Team Czechia
Jiri Kulich ain't walking through that door. He was the top point scorer in last year's tournament, and the MVP of the 2022 U18's. He was a huge part of what made this Czech group so successful over the last few years. The Czechs probably got a little lucky to leave last year's tournament with a bronze medal after stunning Finland in that 3rd period. But I just don't see them adding enough pieces to this roster to have the same level of success.
Eduard Sale (2023 SEA 1st Rd) is a good player with silky hands. He's been playing this season in the AHL with Coachella Valley.
But he hasn't really taken that step to look like a dominant 19-year-old heading into this tournament.
Adam Jiricek (2024 STL 1st Rd) has potential to be one of the best defensemen in this tournament. But he's just coming off an ACL injury. And by just coming off, I mean that he literally just played his first game a few days ago. So who knows what level of Adam Jiricek we'll actually get to see in this tournament.
I do think Michael Hrabal (2023 UTA 2nd Rd) is going to be the biggest difference maker for the Czechs in net this tournament. He plays college hockey for UMass, so he's used to the North American shooters. He's put up pretty solid numbers this year for UMass with a .917 sv%. He wasn't exactly great at last year's tournament by any stretch. But he was lights out in the 2023 U18's. So as long as he's not facing older shooters, he seems to do better. Which should be big for him in this year's tournament. So I wouldn't think goals will be super easy to come by against the Pesky Czechs.
Games To Watch:
Honestly with the way the groups shook out this year, Group A is the only one that has any fireworks on the schedule. I always love when we can get a couple border wars going at the same time on New Years Eve with USA vs Canada, and Sweden vs Finland. But I guess we'll have to wait until the medal games for that. Even though the first game of the tournament should be a pretty good one with Sweden vs Slovakia kicking things off at 12pm on Boxing Day.
- USA vs Germany // Thursday December 26 // 2:30pm
- Canada vs Finland // Thursday December 26 // 7:30pm
- USA vs Latvia // Saturday December 28 // 3:30pm
- USA vs Finland // Sunday December 29 // 2:30pm
- USA vs Canada // Tuesday December 31 // 7:30pm
Medal Predictions:
Gold: USA
Silver: Canada
Bronze: Sweden
4th place: Finland
MVP: Gabe Perreault
Best Defenseman: Axel Sandin Pellikka
Best Goalie: Trey Augustine
And just remember--USA Hockey is Do or Die.