2025 World Junior Championship Group B preview | NHL.com

The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship will be held in Ottawa, from Dec. 26-Jan. 5. Today, we preview the Group B preliminary-round bracket.

Sweden is looking for its first gold medal at the World Juniors since 2012, and powering that bid will be nine players who won a silver medal at the 2024 WJC.

That includes two St. Louis Blues prospects who should play significant roles, forward Otto Stenberg and defenseman Theo Lindstein.

Stenberg, selected by the Blues with the No. 25 pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, led Sweden with five goals in seven games at the 2024 WJC, and his nine points are the most among the returning players. Lindstein, the No. 29 pick of the 2023 draft, led all defensemen at the tournament with eight points (two goals, six assists) in seven games.

“For the group, they are my key players because they have good leadership and they’re both good, skilled players,” Sweden coach Magnus Havelid said. “So of course they can help us at big moments and to be a steady team.”

Lindstein has four points (two goals, two assists) in 23 games with Brynas in his first season in the Swedish Hockey League. Stenberg has six points (three goals, three assists) in 25 SHL games with Malmo.

“We’re great buddies outside the ice, and we have been together now for a couple of years here in the national team,” Lindstein said. “So it’s fun that we got drafted into the same team too. So it’s always nice to have a couple of guys here who have been here before, and so it’s always fun to have him here.”

Lindstein is expected to carry a heavy load on defense along with two other returning defensemen, Axel Sandin-Pellikka (Detroit Red Wings) and Tom Willander (Vancouver Canucks).

Sandin-Pellikka was voted the tournament’s best defenseman in 2024 after he had six points (two goals, four assists) in seven games. The 19-year-old leads SHL defensemen this season with 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in 25 games with Skelleftea. Willander was a plus-9 while averaging 19:36 of ice time in seven games last year. He has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 16 games as a sophomore at Boston University.

Besides Stenberg, returning are forwards David Edstrom (Nashville Predators), Felix Unger Sorum (Carolina Hurricanes), Zeb Forsfjall (Seattle Kraken), Anton Wahlberg (Buffalo Sabres), and goalie Melker Thelin (Utah Hockey Club).

“It’s good to have that experience when we come to Canada, to North America, and play on a smaller rink,” Havelid said. “It’s more learning by doing. We can transfer that to the other players as well.”

Here’s a look at each Group B team, in predicted order of finish: