Five big 2025 World Juniors questions: Canada’s skill? Sweden’s blue line?

Today the 2025 IIHF World U20 Championship, aka the World Juniors, begins. This tournament is always much anticipated. Here are the major questions I’m watching to see unfold in Ottawa over the next week and a half.

1. Did Canada bring enough skill?

Canada clearly has the deepest lineup in the tournament. They have impact players in every spot on the roster. Looking through their bottom six forwards and their defense group, there was a priority placed on speed and compete in the roster construction. This group still has a ton of offensive talent and will score a lot of goals, but decisions were made to build a third line that could outwork opponents as opposed to adding more high-end skill and to add steady two-way defenders instead of one-way skill types. If Canada fails to score enough in the big games, or if the power play falters in particular, those decisions could be questioned.

2. Who will stake their case to be No. 1 pick in 2025 NHL Draft?

We delved into this question on Monday, but the 2025 NHL Draft lacks a no-doubt No. 1 pick currently among its crop. Most scouts favor Matthew Schaefer, a big defenseman who should play a lot of minutes for Canada. Several favor Brampton winger Porter Martone who currently is a top-six winger for Canada and has a two-points-per-game average in the OHL, and some favor preseason favorite James Hagens who will be Team USA’s No. 1 center. All three players will be under the spotlight on New Year’s Eve when Canada faces the U.S. I think we’ll have more clarity on how the top of the draft shapes up by the end of the tournament on Jan. 6.

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3. Can USA get secondary offense?

USA’s top line is expected to be the Boston College trio of Hagens in between Gabe Perreault (NY Rangers) and Ryan Leonard (Washington). They are the early favorite to be the most productive line in the tournament. USA’s Zeev Buium (Minnesota) is also a favorite to be the best defenseman in the event, and goaltender Trey Augustine (Detroit), entering his third World Junior tournament, should be a top goalie as well.

They have the top players to win this tournament, but will they have the depth, particularly up against Canada? Secondary scoring has been an issue for this U.S. age group before. The obvious candidates to score are first-round wingers Cole Eiserman (NY Islanders) and Trevor Connelly (Vegas), but they can be enigmatic players and will the coaching staff trust them in crunch time?

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4. Will Sweden’s blue line carry them to a big win?

The strength of Sweden’s team will come from their defense. Theo Lindstein (St. Louis) and Axel Sandin Pellikka (Detroit) were among the best defensemen in last year’s tournament. ASP and Tom Willander (Vancouver) were arguably the two top defensemen at their U18 World Championships as well. Sweden has a path to beating the U.S. As they did 18 months ago, they could match Lindstein/Willander up against USA’s top line to try to neutralize them as much as possible. Their forward group is very good, but not outstanding, so whether they can roll lines with Canada is to be determined. If ASP can provide a lot of offense as he has versus men in the SHL, he could be a variable that puts Sweden over the top.

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5. Where do the surprises come from?

The World Junior tournament is always good for some surprises; a couple of unexpected players emerging as top scorers or playing well in big moments, or a traditional top nation getting upset in the medal round. You typically can at least see the surprises coming in some way. You knew last year, for example, that Canada’s team was a bit weaker than usual and could lose a big game earlier than expected. You knew in recent years that Slovakia and Germany had unusually good teams and could beat a favorite.

On paper, this tournament has the potential to be quite vanilla. The overwhelming majority of the best NHL prospects are on Canada, Sweden and the U.S. Their rosters look notably better than the next best team. Could Czechia or Finland win a game against them? Sure, but it would be a major upset. Maybe goaltender and top Utah prospect Michael Hrabal could lead Czechia to an upset win. We enter this tournament with more questions than usual on where the surprise moments, if any, could come from.

(Photos of Brayden Yager and Axel Sandin Pellikka: Bjorn Larsson Rosvall / TT News Agency / AFP via Getty Images and Adam Ihse / TT News Agency / AFP via Getty Images)