We’re closing in on the holiday season and that means one thing for the sport we love: It’s World Juniors time, baby. It’s time to watch some teenagers play hockey, impress some folks who have never seen them play, and then suddenly have the entire future of your favorite hockey team on their shoulders.
Before we get to looking at the championship favorites and even teams that could make a strong case for being a contender, we have to look at the group below everyone else. The bottom half. The lame ducks. The team who are mostly filled with players who are more than happy to play for their country and will then continue to have a nice little domestic career, but that’s it.
There are some fantastic stories within these rosters, we just have to find them.
Latvia
Players to watch
LW Sandis Vilmanis
One of the few actual, real-life NHL prospects that are on Team Latvia, the Florida Panthers prospect is having a very good season with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting. Vilmanis is now getting his third chance to achieve some sort of glory with his country at the World Juniors and after netting just one goal and two total points in six games last tournament. We’re not expecting some huge bevy of points coming from the 19-year-old, but he will need to be one of the main stars on this team if they hope to get any wins in a top-heavy Group A.
C Dans Locmelis
Oh, hey, look! Another NHL prospect! Center Locmelis should be the key cog to Latvia’s offense all tournament. The Boston Bruins prospect is currently having his first experience of playing hockey in North America at UMass-Lowell after tearing up the Swedish junior leagues. Again, like Vilmanis, this is the 19-year-old’s third tournament, but unlike his Latvian teammate, Locmelis got to put some big-boy pants on and suit up for his country at the most recent World Championships and earn a bronze medal, to boot.
Locmelis is certainly Latvia’s top goalscorer, but, unfortunately, that is not saying much. He should still get some shine and some opportunity to make top teams like Canada and Sweden look foolish in their own zone.
D Niks Fenenko
While the 19-year-old (there is clearly a theme here with Latvia’s good players) has not been drafted quite yet, Fenenko is getting some shine playing for the QMJHL’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar and being relied upon heavily by the bad junior team to get some points from the backend. The Latvian defenseman has 25 points through just 29 games so far this season and is tied for seventh among all QMJHL defensemen in scoring. While it might not necessarily guarantee a lengthy career, he could use this tournament as a jumping-off point to impress some scouts to earn a training camp invite next fall.
Our takes
Thomas: Latvia certainly won’t rise into the list of potential contenders to make it all the way to the medal rounds of the tournament, but do I think that they could surprise some and make it out of the group? Possibly. Finland always seems to end up disappointing in recent tournaments and it would just take some sneaky point-stealing defensive efforts from this Latvian group to really make it a reality. Or, maybe just not losing by double digits to Canada or Sweden is a victory for them.
Maddie: I think if there’s one of these decidedly less loaded teams that I think could make a surprising amount of noise this year, it would be Latvia. Now, by surprising amount, do I mean a lot? Not so much. But I think there’s some potential for them to give teams a bit more trouble than some might have otherwise predicted.
Germany
Players to watch
D Paul Mayer
Much tends to be made of the performances of draft eligible prospects in this tournament, and we’re here to do exactly that once again. Mayer, once thought to have first round potential in this draft, hasn’t shown terribly well at either the DEL or U20 levels so far thus season. He’ll have a chance to step into an elevated role for Germany, though, with Rayan Bettahar injured and missing this tournament, and this might well be just the opportunity, the springboard he needs to get himself back on track and his stock back on the rise. We’ll see how it goes!
LW Kevin Bicker
But if already drafted prospect watching is more your speed, the Germans have brought a good pair of them along this year up front. Bicker (taken in the fifth-round of last year’s draft) is making his debut with the U20 team, after totaling seven points in 11 games at the U18 level last year. He’s had a bit of a slow adjustment to the top level of play in Germany this year with Löwen Frankfurt in the DEL, but at the U20 level, he’s been stellar, with eight points in three games (how’s that for momentum coming into this tournament?).
LW Julian Lutz
The second of those two drafted forward prospects, Lutz (a 2023 second-round pick of the Coyotes) is back for his second year with the German U20 team. Last year saw him come out of the tournament with two points in five games, a total which doesn’t sound world beating, but was still good for a tie for second in scoring on that team. Lutz has been having a successful season this year with Green Bay of the USHL, and while it will be a bit of an adjustment for him, going back to playing on the big ice for this tournament, he’s primed to be one of the key contributors for this year’s team all the same.
Our takes
Thomas: Gone are the days where we can see one super prospect like Tim Stutzle or Leon Draisaitl, or even lesser-known players like J.J Peterka, drag some of their German teammates to scoring some goals and playing in what would be the peak of their career. Now, it’s just all those players who are along for the ride. We have a couple of NHL prospects but it will be nowhere near enough to try and stave off some future onslaughts coming during this group stage.
Maddie: Yeah, it’s not likely to be a very pretty go of things for the German team this time around. Weird things can happen in this tournament, but if we’re picking out our top candidates to pull off a surprise upset… Germany is still not really at the top of that list. But who knows, maybe we’ll still get some fun and intriguing individual efforts!
Switzerland
Players to watch
D Rodwin Dionicio
While we don’t want to make this essentially just a list of the rare NHL prospect on these bottom teams of the tournament, Dionicio is the only player on Team Switzerland drafted by an NHL club. The Ducks prospect has been establishing himself as a very solid blueliner in the OHL for some time now. He is now in the middle of his third season over on this continent and is already on his third team. But throughout his time in the OHL, he has consistently produced at a high level and is currently set to finish with over a point per game. For Switzerland, look for him to be the primary player on the blue line and log near 40 minutes every single game, because there isn’t a whole lot of options.
RW Leo Braillard
Braillard, 18, is having one hell of a season since making the important cross-country switch from playing in the QMJHL to lacing it up in the WHL. He managed to come overseas last season after dominating Swiss junior hockey, but didn’t find his footing for the Shawinigan Cataractes. Since his recent mid-season move to the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricnaes, he has seven goals and 20 points in 18 games. It’s just the perfect momentum-building move to make him have one hell of a tournament and catch some scout attention.
Our takes
Thomas: While other teams in this group of teams we’ve decided to pair together could potentially scrape and claw their way to a couple points, it’s really difficult to see Switzerland among those surprises. Sure, they might be able to earn a win over fellow-bottom team Norway, but then they have to face some of the most talented players under the age of 20 in the entire world. Imagine having one real solid blueliner that has to face Cutter Gauthier one night, then Jiri Kulich another, and then Dalibor Dvorsky and Filip Mesar the other. That is just pain.
Maddie: Yeah, it’s a shame to say it, but I definitely agree here. The Swiss team is pretty thin and the schedule really isn’t doing them any favors in this one. I don’t want to pile on too much, but I think this could be a bit of a shocker for Switzerland.
Norway
Players to watch
G Markus Røhnebæk Stensrud
This is likely not going to be an easy tournament for the recently promoted Norwegian team — they’re kicking things off against a high-powered American team, after all — and if they want to keep themselves more or less afloat, goaltending is going to need to be sound for them. As such, they’ll likely be leaning on Markus Røhnebæk Stensrud, who’s returning for this third go with the U20 team.
He was huge for them in the Division 1A tournament last year, where he picked up wins in each of the five games he played, and was a key factor in them getting promoted in the first place. It’s likely that he’ll be facing a whole lot of shots in this tournament, and it will be interesting to see how he fares, as a smaller goaltender at just 5’9”. It all makes for an intriguing package, if nothing else.
C/W Petter Vesterheim
While we’re on the thread of returning players expected to make big impacts, we’ll turn now to Vesterheim. He was the team’s leading scorer in last year’s tournament, with two goals and seven points in his five games played, and he’s off to a decent start to his season this year in Sweden. He’s spent the bulk of the year up with Mora in the Allsvenskan, where’s he’s adjusting and has found a bit of success (to the tune of nine points in 24 games). The numbers may not be hugely flashy here, but Vesterheim has been a fixture for the Norwegian team to date, has done well for them, and we expect that to continue here.
RW Michael Brandsegg-Nygård
The big name to keep an eye out for on this team, though, is Brandsegg-Nygård. At just 18 years old, he’s back for his second run with the U20 team, and what’s more, he’s one of the more exciting draft eligible prospects set to play in this tournament. Brandsegg-Nygård is coming off of a year which saw him put up a point per game in the D1A tournament for Norway, more than a point per game in Sweden’s J20 Nationell as a 17-year old, and three points in his 11 games when he was promoted to the Allsvenskan. As is stands, he’s projected to go in the first round, if not, by some projections, the top-10 or 15 in this upcoming draft, making him someone that, depending on how things go for the rest of the season, might well be on the Flyers’ radar.
Our takes
Thomas: Can I just be pretty mean for a second? I mean, they might be able to survive their one single game without allowing double-digit goals against Switzerland, but that’s it. There is a whole lot of players still playing in the Norwegian domestic league, and just four total who have experience playing overseas. We might see a flash of skill, but Norway will be lucky if they don’t get embarrassed by the higher powerhouses.
Maddie: While I’m not in disagreement with Thomas here, I want to be a little nicer about it. I’m not sure I’m banking on the team results being terribly strong here, I’m still kind of cruising on that “maybe a few of their bigger names (or, well, name) will have a positive impact, relatively speaking” vibe that I mentioned earlier. Different bars for success for different folks, right?
