2026 World Juniors roster projections: Predicting lineups for Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Czechia

New York Times

6 hours ago

By Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and Max Bultman
After a week of summer hockey in Minneapolis, the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase is in the books, and it's time to make some projections for what the rosters could look like for the tournament come December.
Canada exited the last two World Juniors early, finishing fifth both times. This time, though, Canada looks like a prohibitive favorite, with a stacked-on-paper lineup teeming with premium prospects.
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Still, they'll have challengers, starting with the host Americans, a highly skilled Sweden outfit, a Finland team that's always a tough out and the upstart Czechs.
There's still plenty of time and games to be played before the final rosters will be selected, but here's how we see those five rosters shaping up as of early August.
On paper, Canada is loaded. This top six — and not by design — is made up of five top-eight NHL Draft picks and projected 2026 No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna. There are 22 first-round picks on this 25-man roster, with second-round goalies Carter George and Jack Ivankovic (two returnees who should give Canada the best tandem in the tournament for a change) and Rangers second-rounder Malcolm Spence as the only exceptions.
There are some big cuts here, too, and there will be some big ones in December, so brace yourselves.
Our final cuts for the top nine were Kings first-rounder Liam Greentree (who missed the summer showcase due to a hand injury and played a limited role when he last played for Hockey Canada at U18s, but finished third in the OHL in scoring last season), Blues first-rounder Justin Carbonneau (who had St. Louis staff talking about the potential for him to push for the NHL team coming out of a standout development camp) and Blackhawks first-rounder Sacha Boisvert (who can play both center and left wing and featured prominently at camp on both special teams and at five-on-five). We thought Montreal's Michael Hage outplayed Carbonneau this week for that last right wing spot, and the depth in left-shot forwards made it tough for Greentree and Boisvert (we've moved lefty Cole Reschny to right wing here). Boisvert and Greentree could both make the team if they lose a forward or two to the NHL.
Brady Martin (a top-five pick who was excellent at U18 worlds) could be a bottom-sixer for this team, but he was outplayed by Spence and Reschny this week and lost out to O'Reilly and Desnoyers, whose junior coaches are on Canada's bench. Ducks top-10 pick Roger McQueen is a factor for this team as well, but we elected not to include him for now due to his lack of games in the last couple of years and his absence at camp. Tij Iginla we've given the benefit of the doubt despite his injury history and absence from camp.
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On the blue line, Canada appears locked in on the first two pairings, and Kashawn Aitcheson looks like the No. 5. We went with top 2026 D prospect Keaton Verhoeff (who they played a lot at U18s) and the competitive, shot-blocking, penalty-killing Ben Danford for the last righty spots, and the well-rounded Cameron Reid for the fourth lefty job. Blue Jackets prospect Charlie Elick seems to be in a battle with Danford, though. Canada will likely also bring Flames prospect Henry Mews to run one of its power plays if they lose some combination of Sam Dickinson, Zayne Parekh and Matthew Schaefer to the NHL as well.
The two-time defending champions are going to have their work cut out for them this time around.
The team's headliners are no secret. James Hagens, the seventh pick in 2025, should be one of the very best players at the tournament and has already shown he can star at this event. Cole Hutson led the tournament in scoring last year — as a defenseman, no less — and now comes back for a second go-around. Cole Eiserman has the scoring touch to change a game with one shot and is another productive returnee.
But the Americans will have a couple of issues to contend with. One is the size of their top six. Brodie Ziemer and Teddy Stiga both play appealing, high-motor games, and certainly won't shy away from the hard areas, but they inevitably give up a size advantage in some board battles. Max Plante and Ryker Lee likewise won't be easily intimidated, but still skew smaller. It's a theme for this group (we also included the competitive and tiny LJ Mooney, who will play for Bob Motzko at the University of Minnesota and had a nice camp, as an extra).
The fourth line has plenty of both size and edge, but you do wonder if the size consideration will be a factor when it comes to debates such as Cullen Potter versus Cole McKinney. We have Potter in the lineup projection here based on the strength of his camp and the dynamism his speed provides, but it's a storyline to watch in the lead-up to December. If McKinney has a good first half, his profile could lend itself more naturally at 3C come tournament time.
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The other big question is in goal, with Trey Augustine aging out. Nick Kempf and Caleb Heil are our picks as the top two for December, but in either case, there's a lot of wait-and-see element in net.
That all said, while Team USA certainly has its questions, there were some pleasant surprises this week in Minneapolis. Lee was perhaps the biggest, looking like a potential top-six option who consistently generated offense. Potter was another, using his pace and smarts to make a strong impression. The trio of Hagens, Ziemer and Stiga has the potential to do plenty of damage in spite of its size, thanks to the work rate all three possess. And the fourth line trio of AJ Spellacy, Will Horcoff and Shane Vansaghi looks like it could be miserable to play against, with all three very good athletes who are willing to bang bodies.
Defensively, the Americans have a nice collection of size and skating with which to surround Hutson, featuring EJ Emery, Will Skahan, Adam Kleber and Logan Hensler (and Blake Fiddler, who we have listed as the extra). Sabres prospect Luke Osburn impressed at the showcase and could be their PP2 quarterback, as could Islanders prospect Sam Laurila, who didn't attend the camp and was one of our final cuts in favor of Kings first-rounder Henry Brzustewicz (who isn't a lock after a mixed-bag camp).
The U.S. will go into this tournament as underdogs despite playing on home ice, but they still have enough talent to make it interesting if they can get a couple of things to break right.
There's a lot to like in this Swedish forward group, starting with the three big names up top.
Victor Eklund is a returnee who should be one of the top players at the event this time around, and while Anton Frondell wasn't on last year's World Juniors team, his two-way profile makes him an ideal fit atop the lineup. Ivar Stenberg looks like a potential top-five pick in 2026, and was a standout at both this week's showcase and the U18 World Championship last spring. If Sweden plays those three together, they could be right up there with the top Canadian lines in terms of talent.
But there's depth to this team, too. Jack Berglund was very impressive in Minneapolis, a big body who can score around the net and win pucks behind it. Viggo Björck is an intelligent, creative pivot who has the potential to be a high pick in 2026 despite his size (listed at 5-foot-9), and showed nice chemistry with his brother Wilson, a Canucks draft pick. Linus Eriksson is a proven returnee to anchor the bottom six. And wingers Liam Danielsson and Lucas Pettersson are good complementary pieces in the top nine.
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Canes prospect Filip Ekberg, the MVP of the most recent U18 worlds, slots in as an extra forward who could inject skill into the top-nine/PP if he a skill forward goes down, and speedy and determined fellow Canes prospect Viggo Nordlund slots as an extra and potential bottom-sixer.
On defense, the Swedes have only one returning blueliner from the 2025 World Juniors, Viggo Gustafsson. But the big names are Sascha Boumedienne (named the top defenseman at U18 worlds) and Leo Sahlin Wallenius (who had a strong week in Minneapolis). There are other players to watch — Maple Leafs prospect Victor Johansson showed he could play physical and be hard on top players this week in Minneapolis, and the Swedes have a pair of towering 6-foot-7 blueliners they can choose from in Carl-Otto Magnusson and Gabriel Eliasson (we lean Magnusson as the No. 7 after Eliasson had a tough camp) — but a lot will come down to how ready those top two are to play a major role.
They'll likely need Boumedienne to be a difference-maker offensively, and for Sahlin Wallenius to have the big-minute, two-way impact teams need to win at this tournament.
It's an inexperienced defense group, but if it can rise to the occasion and help insulate Love Harenstam and Herman Liv, this Swedish team has the forward corps to be a real threat.
We would be surprised if Sabres first-rounder Konsta Helenius is loaned to play in a third World Juniors (or if he even has interest in going again), but we've decided to include him here for now because he is technically still eligible.
The entire first line here didn't participate in the summer showcase, but the expectation is that the Stars' Emil Hemming and the Kraken's Julius Miettinen will return. Still, without Helenius, this Finnish team is the weakest on paper of these five. The competitive Heikki Ruohonen looks like their 1C in Helenius' absence, and Aatos Koivu was one of the standouts of the summer showcase and will play an important role in the top six and on their first power play. The strength of this group will be its blue line and in net. Aron Kiviharju is the captain and a top player at this level, and he's supported by a strong group of returning 19-year-old D: Daniel Nieminen, Sebastian Soini, Veeti Vaisanen and Mitja Jokinen.
Petteri Rimpinen was one of the top goalies in last year's tournament and will be back as well. The real question is where the depth scoring comes from up front.
The Czechs have been one of the World Juniors' most consistent teams in recent years, and they look strong again. They've medaled in three straight tournaments, with bronzes in Ottawa and Gothenburg and a silver in Halifax. That's more medals than the Canadians, Swedes and Finns in that period.
They've got nine returnees (forwards Petr Sikora, Adam Jecho, Ondrej Kos, Vojtech Cihar and Adam Novotny, defensemen Adam Jiricek, Tomas Galvas and Jakub Fibigr, and goalie Jakub Milota) and will add first-round picks Radim Mrtka and Vaclav Nestrasil to that group, as well as rangy second-round defenseman Max Psenicka. Diminutive Wild prospect Adam Benak is also a top player in this age group, and defenseman Vladimir Dravecky, who played well at their recent three-team tune-up with Switzerland and Finland, is a potential first-rounder in 2026.
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Novotny is the real player to watch, though. He also impressed against Switzerland and Finland a couple of weeks ago and enters his draft year as a potential top-10 pick and one of the top imports in the CHL (he'll play for the Peterborough Petes).
(Photo of Carter George and Gavin McKenna: Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press via AP)