Team USA Roster For 2025 World Juniors Led By James Hagens, Ryan Leonard – FloHockey

Team USA now knows the final group it will take to Ottawa as they look to become the first American squad to go back-to-back at the World Junior Championship.

Of the 25 players selected to Team USA, a whopping 10 are returnees from last year’s squad. Among the returnees are Ryan Leonard (WSH), Gabe Perreault (NYR), Oliver Moore (CHI), Danny Nelson (NYI), Trey Augustine (DET), Sam Hillebrandt, Zeev Buium (MIN), Drew Fortescue (NYR), Carey Terrance (ANA) and Aram Minnetian (DAL).

USA’s roster will also feature one of the top NHL Draft prospects for 2025 as center James Hagens will be looking to help Team USA go back-to-back after narrowly missing a spot on last year’s team.

Team USA had to cut down its camp roster from 29 to 25 and sent four players home. Included among them were New York Rangers first-rounder EJ Emery, 2025 NHL Draft-eligible defenseman Blake Fiddler, and forwards AJ Spellacy (CHI) and Chris Pelosi (BOS). Max Plante (DET), who was the last player added to USA’s camp roster, made the final team.

The U.S. will play two pre-tournament games prior to embarking on their back-to-back quest on Dec. 26 when the tournament opens in Ottawa.

Here’s the full list of players going to Ottawa. Full roster analysis to come soon.

Team USA’s 2025 World Junior Championship Roster

Forwards

• Austin Burnevik (ANA)
• Trevor Connelly (VGK)
• Cole Eiserman (NYI)
• James Hagens (2025)
• Ryan Leonard (WSH)
• Oliver Moore (CHI)
• Danny Nelson (NYI)
• Gabe Perreault (NYR)
• Max Plante (DET)
• Teddy Stiga (NSH)
• Brandon Svoboda (SJS)
• Carey Terrance (ANA)
• Joey Willis (NSH)
• Brodie Ziemer (BUF)

Defense

• Zeev Buium (MIN)
• Paul Fischer (EDM)
• Drew Fortescue (NYR)
• Logan Hensler (2025)
• Cole Hutson (WSH)
• Adam Kleber (BUF)
• Aram Minnetian (DAL)
• Colin Ralph (STL)

Goalies

• Trey Augustine (DET)
• Sam Hillebrandt
• Hampton Slukynsky (LAK)

Who Was Cut From Team USA’s Roster?

Four players invited to Team USA’s World Junior camp were cut from the roster including:

• EJ Emery, D (NYR)
• Blake Fiddler, D (2025)
• Chris Pelosi, C (BOS)
• AJ Spellacy, RW (CHI)

Team USA Roster Instant Analysis

The U.S. roster was finalized a little bit earlier than I expected as I wondered if Team USA might play at least one of its two exhibition games prior to making their decisions. The coaching staff had seen all they needed to see through the first four days of practice, however, and decided to make the cuts now.

The roster is loaded with experience, with 10 players from last year’s gold-medal winning team all back for more. Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault are the offensive drivers of the team along with BC teammate James Hagens, who will be making his first WJC appearance after two strong showings at the U18 Worlds and being a late cut for last year’s team. The Americans also have Trey Augustine set to play in his third WJC, becoming just the third U.S. goalie to accomplish that feat. He is a big part of this team.

USA’s blue line will be anchored by Zeev Buium and Drew Fortescue, with Buium likely to play a boatload of minutes and lead USA’s top power play, which should be formidable.

As far as the rest of the roster, there were some definite surprises. I thought EJ Emery was a lock for this team, but he ultimately got beat out by Adam Kleber, Logan Hensler and Aram Minnetian on the right side of USA’s blue line. That’s a tough group as Kleber has size, Hensler is a high-end skater and Minnetian has more offensive upside. Emery was so good at last year’s U18 World Championship, I thought there was no way he’d miss out on this team, but it’s never an easy team to make. I’m still a bit surprised, but you also can’t argue a ton with who they brought.

Blake Fiddler was the biggest surprise add to the camp roster and as I wrote earlier this week, the only way you take an underage defenseman is if he is markedly better than your older players. USA wanted to see how he looked alongside those older players and ultimately decided the gap wasn’t large enough. Fiddler is a lock to be part of USA’s plans for the U18 Worlds and we’ll see how he fares in the future, but just making this camp was a major statement for the draft-eligible. 

Up front, USA’s decisions weren’t as shocking as I thought both Pelosi and Spellacy were probably bubble-adjacent players. I thought Spellacy’s speed and size would give him the edge to make the team, but USA decided to bring smaller, more skilled options like Max Plante and Teddy Stiga.

Secondary scoring is going to be interesting and I thought USA’s going to have to find the right mix for lines two through four up front. The top line is set, but who will be the No. 2 center and which wings get the most minutes outside of Leonard and Perreault? I think that remains to be seen.

USA has really no worries in net with Augustine returning and I think Hampton Slukynsky is as good a No. 2 goalie as there is in this tournament.

There’s no question that this U.S. roster is a threat for gold once again. The coaching staff was doing everything they could to find the right mix, bringing all 29 players to Canada to get through some practice, and these cuts probably weren’t easy to make, but now we know who will represent USA at the World Juniors as they go for the first ever American double at this event.

How To Watch The 2025 World Junior Championship

The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship will air on TSN and RDS on television in Canada. The tournament will be streamed on TSN+ in Canada, as well. 

In the United States, NHL Network will be the television home of the World Junior Championship. Streaming information for USA is not currently available.

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