2024 World Juniors roster projections: Who makes Team Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland?

Publish date: 2024-05-23

The road to the 2024 world juniors in Gothenburg kicked off last week in Plymouth, Mich., with the 2023 World Junior Summer Showcase featuring the top under-20 hopefuls for USA, Sweden and Finland.

At the conclusion of the nine-day event, here are our early roster picks (including lines, pairings, extras and final cuts) for the four superpowers of Canada (picked by Corey Pronman), USA (picked by Max Bultman), Sweden (picked by Scott Wheeler) and Finland (also picked by Wheeler).

Team Canada

The 2004 age group for Canada isn’t their strongest so they turn to a lot of 2005-born players here and a 2006. In general, projecting Team Canada is more difficult than a typical year because they didn’t host any of their Program of Excellence summer camps due to budget constraints.

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Projecting the three Wenatchee Wild players on the top line feels like a somewhat realistic scenario for the tournament. I don’t know if Canada would be in love with any of their No. 1 center options, even though Conor Geekie, Nate Danielson and Brayden Yager are all excellent players. In a very ideal world, they would get Shane Wright from Seattle, but it will depend on whether they want to send him to his third World Junior tournament. Macklin Celebrini is the early favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL draft. A top-six role could be aggressive on Team Canada for a 17-year-old but his game is very well rounded and dynamic to make it work. If Canada wants an older player in the top nine, Jagger Firkus would be a strong candidate in that scenario although it creates an odd situation where there are an excessive number of right-shots in the top nine. He could push Jordan Dumais or Matthew Wood for a spot as well. Ideally, they would probably want more size in this lineup, especially at the bottom parts.

Kevin Korchinski, if available, should be the clear leader of this blue line. He and Owen Pickering would give their blue line size, mobility and offense and will be leaned on, whether on the same or different pairs. Korchinski would likely be on a power-play unit. Where Canada gets the rest of their offense from is TBD, but Denton Mateychuk, Tristan Luneau, Michael Buchinger, Ty Nelson and Lucas Cagnoni are candidates to run a power play for them. Once that’s figured out, the size, mobility and hardness of Maveric Lamoureux and Noah Warren fit into this team well.

As always projecting Team Canada in goal isn’t an easy task. Domenic DiVincentiis’ strong season in the OHL and athleticism I think makes him the early favorite to start but we’ll see how the rest of the season goes. He’s the only one I feel confident projecting onto the team. After that, Scott Ratzlaff’s strong performance for Canada at last year’s Hlinka I think gives him the edge to be the backup. — Corey Pronman

Team USA

Logan Cooley signing with Arizona likely subtracts a dynamic player at the top of the lineup, and the tournament MVP favorite, from Team USA. That hurts. But the good news for the Americans is they have loads of talent up front, and their forward corps may actually be able to survive the hit this year.

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Cooley’s old running mates, Cutter Gauthier and Jimmy Snuggerud, are big-bodied snipers who shouldn’t miss a beat, and Rutger McGroarty and Gavin Brindley are fellow returnees who can both score and win battles in hard areas of the ice. Newcomer Ryan Leonard is a scaled-up version of that same profile, and was very good at the Americans’ summer camp despite being separated from usual linemates Will Smith and Gabe Perreault. Center Frank Nazar was outstanding all week too, turning in a four-goal game and consistently creating chances with his speed.

One of the most interesting stories at the World Junior Summer Showcase was James Hagens, who isn’t draft eligible until 2025 but already stands out due to his dynamic skating and brain. He’s small, but doesn’t back down either — reminiscent, in fact, of a young Cooley, who made the team and turned in more than a point-per-game showing at the world juniors in his U18 season. By the final practice day of the event, Team USA was even experimenting with a line that slotted Hagens between Gauthier and Snuggerud. I have the two big wingers playing alongside Smith for now, but Hagens will be fascinating to watch between now and Boxing Day. He looks like a first-overall pick candidate in 2025.

The final cuts from this forward group will be excruciating. 2023 first-round pick Perreault looks like a bubble case despite being perhaps the most dynamic power-play option at forward, and I have him on the outside looking in here due to the mass of strong flank options, with more present five-on-five impact, for Team USA. I also really wanted to find a spot for Cole Knuble, who I thought had an excellent week. He scored gritty goals around the net, has a high work rate, and could easily slot into a bottom-six penalty kill roll for the Americans. But with a defense corps that’s going to skew small, I instead opted for Gavin Hayes, who also had a nice week in Plymouth, but brings more heaviness to the fold.

And the U.S. is going to need it, because this blue line looks worrisome. Lane Hutson is of course dynamic, and he and Ryan Chesley will be counted on for big minutes. The same is true for Seamus Casey, who should drive offense for the Americans and laid a particularly memorable open-ice hit during one of the exhibitions as well.

But beyond those three, there are a lot of question marks, and it made filling out the bottom portion of the blue line tough. Eric Pohlkamp is another smaller defender, but I liked his showing in Plymouth, and his big shot from the point and physical willingness give him important qualities this group otherwise lacks — enough to slot him here on his off-hand. I also went with Schulz for a true defensive option, and took Sam Rinzel for his length and skating, although he’ll need to show he can be trusted through the early part of the NCAA season.

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The forward corps was always going to be the strength of this group, but Team USA is going to really need some defenders to step up between now and December, or the blue line could become a fatal flaw. — Max Bultman

Team Sweden

There will be three things about this Swedish roster that will be able to go toe-to-toe on home ice with any team in this year’s tournament: Their top-six forward group (assuming they get Leo Carlsson, which isn’t a guarantee but I have penciled in here), their defense (the strength of this year’s team), and Hugo Havelid, their excellent presumptive starting goaltender. If Carlsson comes and plays center instead of the wing (I’ve only got him on the wing here because I’d like for him to play with Filip Bystedt and he’s the more comfortable of the two there), you can add their depth down the middle to that list too, likely moving Fabian Wagner (a returnee) to the wing.

That top line is a familiar one. They’re all teammates with Djurgarden, they’ve played together internationally for Sweden in the past, and they, along with the Havelid brothers, are three of the five biggest reasons Sweden won gold at the 2022 U18 Worlds.

I like the hardworking, determined, shot-first game of returnee Oskar Pettersson to complement Carlsson and Bystedt to round out that top-six, too. Where this forward group is weakest is at right-wing in the bottom six. I think there’s only room for one of the right-shooting Felix(es) to make the team, and I’ve given Felix Unger Sorum the edge over Predators second-rounder Felix Nilsson here because I thought he played better at the World Junior Summer Showcase last week, and he was excellent on Sweden’s top line with Otto Stenberg and David Edstrom at the u18 worlds, so I like the idea of keeping them together for chemistry’s sake.

Though I’ve got 19-year-old Alexander Suzdalev on the fourth line here, he’d be my second-line left-winger if Carlsson plays the middle because he’s more of a skill guy than a role player. The toughest calls up front for me were the 12th and 13th forward jobs. I went with 19-year-old Isac Born for the 12th job for his versatility (he can play center or the wing, and penalty kill), even though he’s a left-handed shot being asked to play the right. I like Anton Wahlberg, a Sabres second-rounder, as the 13th guy because it always pays to have an extra center and he could play up and down the lineup while adding size if need be, plus it would be a good experience for him to help him get ready for a more prominent role at the 2025 tournament (he’d be the second-youngest player on the 2024 team to Unger Sorum because of his July birthday).

Five of the seven jobs on defense, including Sweden’s top four, feel pretty well determined already. Calle Odelius, Axel Sandin Pellikka and Jakob Noren are returnees. And Mattias Havelid and Elias Salomonsson both would have been on last year’s team if not for injury and have been leaders of this 2004 age group for Sweden.

After that, although Tom Willander wasn’t at the World Junior Summer Showcase with Team Sweden last week (he was invited, though), I expect him to be on the team, with Salomonsson as the most likely of their plethora of righties to move to the left (they’ve already experimented with it). Each of the Red Wings’ Anton Johansson (another righty), Blues’ Theo Lindstein (a lefty) and the Canucks’ Elias Pettersson (a lefty) are also in the mix, but two or three of those players aren’t going to make the team. I’ve given the last spot to Johansson for now after he outperformed Lindstein and Pettersson in Plymouth last week. — Scott Wheeler

Team Finland

The Finns played to a disappointing quarterfinals finish last year and this age group is going to be in tough against USA, Canada and Sweden as well. Joakim Kemell is the star, if he’s not lighting it up in Milwaukee or Nashville, the Predators are OK lending him, and he’s interested in going to a third world juniors. The Devils’ Lenni Hameenaho should be their other difference-maker up front at this level. They’ll be joined by returnees Jani Nyman, Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, and Topi Ronni up front, but the latter two of those played very limited roles last year. The expectation is that Kasper Halttunen, Jesse Nurmi, Rasmus Kumpulainen and Jesse Kiiskinen (who was injured on a huge hit from Seamus Casey in Plymouth last week and didn’t play the rest of the way), the four players who’ve really carried the load offensively for their 2005s internationally, will round out the group.

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That would, in theory, leave four openings up front. I like Konsta Helenius, a potential top-10 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, to play his way onto the team, whether at his natural center position or in a move to the wing to shelter him a little. They played him down the middle at the World Junior Summer Showcase and they’re going to need his skill.

These Finns are going to be thinnest at left wing, for sure. I’ve given a depth role to Michigan State University freshman Tommi Mannisto, who I thought outperformed the alternatives in Plymouth. And I like the idea of a big-boy line with the 6-foot-2 Ronni, 6-foot-3 Halttunen and 6-foot-5 Sam Bau, who can also play center (it never hurts to have two centers on a bottom-six line).

I gave the 13th forward job to Max Koskipirtti, another college-committed undrafted 19-year-old who they had playing left wing last week (I think they’re going to need a fifth left-winger in case their depth falters) but center Jere Lassila is a favorite of the Finnish federation and I could see him making the team in a depth role.

On defense, their top four is made up of two pairings they put together for the World Junior Summer Showcase. Aron Kiviharju, another potential top-10 pick in the 2024 class, is going to have to be a star if they want to play in a medal game. The talented Otto Salin, their only returnee on the back end, is going to have to run the other power play unit and drive offense as well. Emil Pieniniemi and Kasper Kulonummi are probably going to be asked to play hard minutes.

To round out their back end, I’ve got two players who weren’t with the national team in Plymouth last week in Golden Knights third-rounder Arttu Karki and the highly talented twice-undrafted Liiga standout Elmeri Laakso. I think that group of six is pretty clearly the best six they have to choose from, even if Karki and Laakso are both lefties. If that’s true, 19-year-old righty Joona Vaisanen makes sense as their seventh.

I think it’s Niklas Kokko’s net to lose. He’s widely viewed as the top goalie in this age group around Finland even though Topias Leinonen was their guy at the U18 worlds two years ago. — Scott Wheeler

(Top photo of Cutter Gauthier: Samppa Toivonen / Apollo Photo / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

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