Do you smell it in the air? The stench of teenagers playing meaningful hockey as we just sit on our couches for the entire holiday season? It’s World Juniors time.
The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship in Ottawa this year should be an interesting one. There is no definitive frontrunner among the top nations that we typically expect — Canada has questionable team building, USA has some depth issues, Sweden lacks punch, and Finland is just steady — but more on that later.
With all that going on, we need to look at the other teams first. The teams that are more than happy to compete and outside of perhaps having a surprisingly close game against one of the top teams, have a goal of staying in the tournament and not being knocked down a division.
Are these four countries just hoping to not get embarrassed? Do they have any interesting players we should look out for? Are they just cannon fodder for the top of the tournament? Let’s find out.
Latvia
Players to watch
D Darels Uljanskis
Uljanskis is an interesting player. As a defenseman, the 18-year-old was one of the youngest players in the 2024 draft class and was scooped up by the Anaheim Ducks in the seventh round after scoring at a decent clip in the Swedish junior league, the J20 Nationell.
Well, he took that selection in stride and as a barely-adult blueliner, the Latvian has scored five goals and earned 21 total points in just 27 games. That total makes him the fifth-highest scorer currently in that junior league among all defensemen. Not too shabby for a seventh-round pick from Latvia.
Watch for Uljanskis to be on Latvia’s top pair and use his mobility to potentially be an all-situations type of blueliner in this short tournament.
LW/RW Eriks Mateiko
Mateiko is the only other drafted player on this Latvia team other than Uljanskis. The 19-year-old winger was drafted by the Washington Capitals as an overager earlier this year, in the third round. He earned that selection by scoring almost a point per game in his second year after making the trip overseas and playing for the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs — specifically scoring 23 goals in 49 games.
Now captaining a very mediocre Sea Dogs team (they are literally 16-16-0-0), Mateiko is taking on the burden of being the primary scorer. Fourteen goals he has scored in just 23 games this season, but he has just five assists to his name. Essentially, the Jelgava product is bullying his way to the net and just potting them in.
Oh, and he’s 6-foot-6, so it should be easy to spot him. Watch for him to annoy the absolute crap out of every opposing goaltender through the whole tournament.
Our take
Maddie: I feel bad saying that my expectations for the teams around the bottom of this list are, well, no expectations, but that’s pretty much where I’m at with Latvia. It feels like the top teams are getting more and more stacked every year, and it’s getting even harder for these other teams to compete with them in a really meaningful way. There are a couple of interesting players on this roster, but not nearly enough talent to pull them out of the “this is probably going to be a bad time” zone.
Thomas: Coming into the tournament, Latvia is always poised to upset at least one of the big teams. Whether it is a surprise win over Finland, or forcing Canada to play overtime and suffering some fatigue for their future matchups — the Latvians can be absolute pests.
This team, as we pointed out above, has some interesting players but don’t really scream “cohesive unit”. Almost every single player on this roster plays in a different league from one another. Whether it’s the junior league in Czechia, Sweden, or Finland; or a North American junior league like the QMJHL or USHL — these guys just play everywhere and might not have had appropriate time to really gather a scheme to earn some upsets.
Kazakhstan
Players to watch
G Vladimir Nikitin
As with any of these lower-level countries, some of the most interesting players are the goaltenders. We plopped down Vladimir Nikitin’s name here because he might be more recognizable for the true prospect sickos since he was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the seventh round of the 2023 NHL Draft; but Jokhar Dudarkiyev could also slot in this spot as well.
Both players are currently 19 years old and playing in the Russian junior league and for the same team, Kazakhstan-based Snezhnye Barsy Astana. Nikitin has more appearances than Dudarkiyev, but the latter has played substantially better in between the pipes. It really will be either one of them making the start for their country and are just praying that they can stop enough pucks to not be on the other side of a double-digit blowout.
RW Asanali Sarkenov
Oh, look. Another large winger from a country that isn’t typically a hockey nation playing in Canadian juniors. Sarkenov, 18, came over to North America from Kazakhstan just last summer to suit up for the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. The 6-foot-4 winger has 15 points in 21 games; so he isn’t the most offensively gifted player but he does at least have some experience playing hockey on the same soil that the tournament will take place.
Our take
Maddie: Kazakhstan has some intrigue in this installment of the tournament, with this being their first year back since being relegated back in 2020, and this is certainly exciting for their program. That said, this being their first appearance since relegation doesn’t exactly leave us with high hopes of them showing up as world-beaters with their play. Without the top-end talent to give them dynamic scoring pop, nor the national development infrastructure that gets the top teams playing cohesively, they’re at a disadvantage. The hope is that they can show a little bit of something — whatever something is — but it feels likely that they’re going to have a bit of a rough go of things as well.
Thomas: While Latvia had a whole lot of junior players from all over the world coming to make this team, it is almost entirely polar opposite for Kazakhstan. This team is either currently playing, or has recently played for, that same Kazakhstan-based MHL team that we mentioned earlier. If we are looking for any reason why this team won’t be terrible and could pull off something out of nowhere, that would be it. Otherwise, this team will probably be on the other end of Canada or USA having their one double-digit goal game of the tournament.
Germany
Players to watch
F David Lewandowski
One of few 2025 Draft-eligible players on this Germany squad, Lewandowski has been getting some hype as a mid-to-late pick for next summer. After developing in the minor leagues of pro hockey in his home country, he made the trip overseas to the WHL, and with the Saskatoon Blades has scored seven goals and 15 points in 20 games. That level of production is fairly impressive for a not-hyped prospect making his first mark in North America and coming from a level of hockey that not many people think about at all.
Lewandowski could be a power player for this Germany team, if they want to score any goals whatsoever in this tournament.
C Julius Sumpf
On the other side, 19-year-old Julius Sumpf is in his second year of playing in the CHL — Sumpf laces up for the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats — and has certainly proven to be better than that league as he begins to age out of it. In 29 games this season, the man from München has scored 16 goals and 37 points. He should be the highest producing German forward at the World Juniors this year, but again, if they score any goals.
Our take
Maddie: We really are in quite the lull sort of period for the German team. They’ve had some years where they’ve brought a handful of really interesting and dynamic prospects, but this is just not one of those years. There’s not a ton of firepower up and down the lineup, and that’s going to make things challenging for them. Maybe they can surprise us, but the expectation is that this tournament is going to be a tough one for them.
Thomas: Gone are the years of Leon Draisaitl, J.J. Peterka, or Tim Stutzle dragging a Germany team kicking and screaming to respectable results. Right now, they is just no one even close to that caliber of player and to not sugarcoat it whatsoever, Germany should be focused more on not getting relegated than winning any games.
Slovakia
Players to watch
D Maxim Strbak
Of all the players we have tried to highlight on this underdog teams, Maxim Strbak is certainly the one with the highest profile. The Slovakian defenseman was drafted in the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres and has been a fairly steady presence for Michigan State in his last two seasons. Now a sophomore, he has already matched his freshman point total in half the games. In addition to college, he was certainly able to impress for Slovakia at last year’s World Juniors with seven points in just five games from the blue line.
Now, he will have to do more of the carrying and that could be interesting to watch.
C Dalibor Dvorsky
Of course, we have to mention Dvorsky when we’re talking about this Slovakian team. Easily the best player on this team, the St. Louis Blues top prospect should be destroying defenses all tournament long and can only hope that his teammates can help him out from time to time. And as an added bonus, he has been playing in the AHL this season and tearing it apart after coming overseas and suiting up in the OHL last season. He is perfectly ready and primed for this tournament. Could easily be one of the best players of the whole dang thing, but is just stuck on an unfortunately untalented group.
Our take
Maddie: There was just so much turnover on this roster, purely by virtue of older players aging out (so it goes), and this new mix is understandably pretty unproven. Slovakia in the past has shown up, at least in flashes, as a tough matchup even if they’re not piling up wins, and the hope will be that they can at least see some stylistic carryover in that regard. It’ll be tough for them, but there’s something intriguing about an unproven group, all the same, and they might well be an interesting watch.
Thomas: Slovakia was such an exciting and fun team last year but too many good players have now graduated. Filip Mesar Samuel Honzek, Adam Sykora, and Philadelphia Flyers prospect Alex Ciernik, have all left the team and handed the reins over to the younger, unproven crew. And those are just the forwards that have left. It is a vastly different team that just does not have the same level of talent as before. They should ultimately struggle, and might just be the best team of the worst.
