2025 world juniors roster projections: Pronman, Wheeler and Bultman make their picks

By Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and Max Bultman

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — There’s still a long way to go before the world’s top under-20 hockey players descend on Ottawa this December for the 2025 World Junior Championship. But after Canada, Sweden, Finland and the United States convened in metro Detroit last week for a series of late-summer exhibitions, we have a clearer picture of the potential rosters for some of the tournament’s top contenders.

Summer hockey can be misleading, of course, and many of the expected top players at the actual tournament either did not attend the World Junior Summer Showcase or played limited roles. That — along with the months of hockey still to be played — keeps a layer of uncertainty around what the teams are planning.

But after watching a week of camps and scrimmages, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler and Max Bultman have compiled their projected rosters for four medal contenders.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room: There are going to be some big names left off of Team Canada in Ottawa, particularly up front.

At forward, our projected roster excludes 2024 top-10 pick Tij Iginla, the WHL’s potential leading scorer at Christmas (Washington’s Andrew Cristall, who played well in Plymouth and whose skating has improved), the reigning QMJHL MVP (Vegas’ Mathieu Cataford, who could be a potential bottom-sixer), and some Hockey Canada favourites (Pittsburgh’s Tanner Howe and Tampa Bay’s Ethan Gauthier, two other bottom-six options).

But when you start to do the math, there just isn’t enough room. They’re returning four forwards in Matthew Wood, Easton Cowan, Carson Rehkopf and Brayden Yager. Denver Barkey was one of the last cuts at forward from last year’s team, was excellent in Plymouth and can play multiple positions and penalty kill. Calum Ritchie is a lock. Bradly Nadeau is going to be in the NHL or AHL. And Gavin McKenna is Gavin McKenna.

That really leaves only four contested spots up front. We rounded the group out with Cayden Lindstrom (who didn’t skate in Plymouth but Bultman and Pronman felt should be penciled in regardless), Jett Luchanko (who wasn’t initially invited to the World Junior Summer Showcase but performed well and seems to have really put himself in the mix now), Riley Heidt and Beckett Sennecke (though we debated Sennecke versus 2025 prospect Porter Martone, with Pronman favouring Martone).

On defence, Tanner Molendyk and Oliver Bonk are returnees and Zayne Parekh is a lock. After that trio, we felt five players were competing for the final four jobs: Sawyer Mynio (who played well alongside Parekh all week in Windsor and Plymouth), top 2024 picks Sam Dickinson and Carter Yakemchuk (who both had up-and-down weeks), and 19-year-olds Andrew Gibson (Predators) and Noah Chadwick (Maple Leafs). Wheeler believes Chadwick will end up on the final roster because he’s got the trust of management group lead Peter Anholt, his general manager in Lethbridge, but Gibson outplayed him in Plymouth and won the final job for now.

In net, though we’ve penciled in three names, Canada often takes just two when the tournament is hosted in North America. Top 2025 prospect Joshua Ravensbergen might be the most talented of the bunch, but he wasn’t at his best in Plymouth, and returnee Scott Ratzlaff and U18 worlds top goaltender Carter George are the likely front-runners for now.

Team USA is returning Gabe Perreault, Ryan Leonard and Zeev Buium, which should be where the main bulk of its offense comes from (there’s a chance it gets Will Smith back from the Sharks, too, which would completely change the dynamic of this group).

After those three, the Americans will have to hope to find goals from other sources. Potential 2025 No. 1 pick James Hagens could be that, but depending on a draft eligible to be your go-to player is not ideal. Three other potential sources of offense could come from first-round wingers Trevor Connelly, Cole Eiserman and Quentin Musty. They are all very talented but can frustrate for one reason or another. Connelly is a great skater and puckhandler who can make questionable decisions. Eiserman can sometimes be a one-dimensional shooter, and Musty’s game can lack pace/energy. One or more of those players may frustrate a coaching staff to where it benches or cuts them, but USA may need those players at the same time.

Max Plante and Brodie Ziemer are talented players, but they may not be ready to step up into that type of role this season.

USA will have to search for scoring outside the top line, but it has plenty of options for speed and two-way play. Oliver Moore, Danny Nelson and Carey Terrance will be reliable two-way centers. Brandon Svoboda is a big center who can fly and also had a big summer showcase. Beckett Hendrickson, Svoboda’s linemate at times, is a player Bultman argued to be on the final roster.

Buium, Drew Fortescue and Cole Hutson seem to have clear paths to making Team USA. After that, it feels wide-open as to who the starting seven defenders could be. The panelists debated the bottom few spots. Bultman and Wheeler believed Aram Minnetian, an extra on last year’s roster, would be in the starting six, whereas Pronman preferred Adam Kleber. Draft eligible Logan Hensler also has a case.

There wasn’t much debate over the three goalies. Bultman offered up Carsen Musser as a potential third, but it feels like Kempf will have the No. 3 job.

The Swedes return some top contributors from their silver medal-winning team in 2024 but lose significant skill up front from Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Noah Östlund. They’ll lean on key returners Otto Stenberg, who had nine points in seven games last year, and Felix Unger Sorum (six in seven) for offense but will need more players to step up around them.

Big-bodied center David Edstrom is a two-way horse down the middle, and he and fellow returnee Anton Wahlberg give the Swedes size with offense high in the lineup. Flyers 2024 second-rounder Jack Berglund is another big body who drew praise from Sweden’s coaching staff for his play in Plymouth. Zeb Forsfjäll is small at 5-foot-9 but is a returner who should be trusted in important moments. And Felix Nilsson brings a smart, high-motor game.

Two candidates who could bring a bit more pure offense are 2025 draft eligibles Anton Frondell and Victor Eklund. Frondell has a chance to go top three in the 2025 draft, and Eklund is another potential first-rounder who flashed his scoring ability at the summer showcase. Another potential high pick in 2025 is forward Jakob Ihs-Wozniak, though he would likely need a big first half of the season to get strong consideration.

The blue line should be the strength of this Swedish team, returning three key pieces from the 2024 team in Axel Sandin Pellikka, Tom Willander and Theo Lindstein — all 2023 first-round picks. Given how much offense Lindstein and Sandin Pellikka produced at last year’s tournament, they could be one way to take some pressure off the forward group. We don’t have Willander’s Boston University teammate (and 2025 draft eligible) Sascha Boumedienne on this projection, but he was a name Pronman highlighted and could potentially challenge for a lower lineup spot between now and December.

In goal, returner Melker Thelin looks like Sweden’s No. 1, with Islanders fifth-round pick Marcus Gidlof the expected backup.

None of Konsta Helenius, Aron Kiviharju, Kasper Halttunen or Veeti Vaisanen participated in the World Junior Summer Showcase, but they make up the Finns’ core for 2025, along with Emil Pieniniemi (a standout in Plymouth) and forwards Rasmus Kumpulainen and Jesse Kiiskinen. Kiiskinen wore the “C” at the showcase and has also been a frequent wingmate with Jesse Nurmi (who led the showcase in scoring with six points in four games) over the years.

The Finns will need first-rounder Emil Hemming to produce, as well.

Joona Saarelainen (a staple of this Finnish age group), Topias Hynninen and the towering Kalle Kangas (who wore an “A” in Plymouth) also played well at the showcase and should be factors up front.

We were all also struck by undrafted forward Emil Kuusla’s week; he is a real sparkplug and rounded out our 13 forwards.

The toughest decisions for the Finns might be in net, though. Neither the Oilers’ Eemil Vinni nor the undrafted Noa Vali were in Plymouth, but both are front-runners. Seattle prospects Visa Vedenpäa and Kim Saarinen as well as the Devils’ Veeti Louhivaara are also candidates. Only three of those five will make it.

(Photo of Canada goaltender Joshua Ravensbergen making a save on USA forward Cole Eiserman at the 2024 World Junior Summer Showcase: David Reginek / USA Today)