WJC Group A Preview: We Are A Week Away From The Start Of The World Juniors, And Canada Is Bringing Another Future 1st Overall Pick To The Party

Jordie12/19/2023 10:20 PM

Eurasia Sport Images. Getty Images.

We are just a week away from the start of the 2024 World Junior Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. Every year we get the best U20 hockey players the world has to offer all battling it out for international supremacy over the holiday break. It's the first chance you really get to see the future stars of the NHL make a name for themselves on a massive stage.

Every great hockey player you can think of has left their mark on the World Junior Championships. Gretzky, Lemieux, Forsberg, Lindros, Bure, Ovechkin, Crosby, all the way up to Connor Bedard last year who led team Canada to a gold medal and reached 4th on the all-time list of career points at the WJC. Just imagine if March Madness was an international tournament, and that's what you get out of the World Juniors.

It all gets going on December 26th. And thanks to being held in Sweden this year, the first puck drops at 6am Eastern with Czechia vs Slovakia. Personally, I always think there's always a little extra special something to the tournament when it's held in Europe and we get to wake up on the 26th to morning hockey. Most people aren't doing any actual work that week between Christmas and New Years, and it's great to have these games on all morning. We'll have games at 6am, 8:30am, 11am, and 1:30pm all week long.

Now unfortunately because the way the world works, this will be yet another installation of this tournament without Russia competing. And I'll be honest, that takes a ton of the buzz out of the tournament. This Russian team would be loaded with kids like Matvei Michkov, Daniil But, Ivan Demidov, and Anton Silayev. They'd be a lock to play for either gold or bronze at this tournament, so obviously it the tournament is a little watered down this year with teams like Latvia and Norway taking their place.

With that being said…the World Juniors always finds a way to deliver, and most of the fireworks this year are going to come in Group A. So let's get started with the preview.

2024 WJC Group A Preview

Teams:

Canada (2023 WJC Gold)
Sweden (2023 WJC 4th Place)
Finland (2023 WJC 5th Place)
Germany (2023 WJC 8th Place)
Latvia (2023 WJC 9th Place)

host country

Games To Watch:

Finland vs Canada // 12/26 @ 8:30am
Canada vs Sweden // 12/29 @ 1:30pm
Sweden vs Finland // 12/31 @ 8:30am

Top Players To Watch:

Matt Poitras // Canada // Boston '22, 2nd round
Axel Sandin Pellikka // Sweden // Detroit '23, 1st round
Jani Nyman // Finland // Seattle '22, 2nd round
Macklin Celebrini // Canada // #1 prospect for '24 Draft
Liam Öhgren // Sweden // Minnesota '22, 1st round
Konsta Helenius // Finland // Top 10 prospect for '24 Draft
Julian Lutz // Germany // Arizona '22, 2nd round
Dans Locmelis // Latvia // Boston '22, 4th round

Team Canada

When Hockey Canada first submitted their roster for the 2024 WJC, they only had 22 players committed to the team. Roster sizes are 23 players, so clearly something was going on there. The team was missing the overwhelming amount of star power you'd typically see out of Canada at this tournament. Heck, there's only one player returning from last year's gold medal winning team and that's Owen Beck (MTL '22, 2nd rd). I mean it makes sense when you look at that lineup from last year. Most of them were all '03 birth years, and then guys like Bedard, Fantilli, and Korchinski are all every night players in the NHL. So other than Beck, it's a whole new team showing up to Sweden. But again, there was still that one open roster space available for them to do something with. And yesterday they made their move.

The Boston Bruins are loaning Matthew Poitras (BOS '22, 2nd rd) to Team Canada for the World Juniors, and he'll easily be the player with the most NHL experience in this tournament. He's spent the entire year with the Bruins so far this year, and has put up 5 goals and 13 points in 27 games. He's playing in the best hockey league in the world, and now he gets to play a tournament against kids his own age. There are definitely more talented players in this tournament, but nobody else has that level of experience. A few guys have made their NHL debuts and have played games here and there, but nothing to the extent of 27 games.

Now even though there aren't a ton of returning players from last year's gold medal team, there are a couple of big pieces from last year's team that won the bronze medal at the U18 World Championships with Matthew Wood (NSH '23, 1st rd) and Macklin Celebrini ('24 Draft). Celebrini is the top prospect coming into the 2024 NHL Draft. The World Juniors is always a great coming out party for whoever ends up being the 1st overall pick in that summer's draft. You just go down the list of 1st overall picks, plug in their World Juniors highlights on YouTube, and pretty much all of them have dominated. And that'll be what we can expect out of Macklin Celebrini next week.

He's currently in the top 5 in points in the NCAA with 25 points in 15 games playing for BU. He was the USHL Player of the Year last year with the Chicago Steel, and was one of the top 5 point scorer in last year's U18 World Championship. Keep in mind that he's still just 17-years-old and won't turn 18 until June.

And just because there aren't as many familiar faces on this team doesn't mean that Canada is lacking in weapons. Obviously I already mentioned Matt Poitras at the top here. But Matthew Savoie (BUF '22, 1st rd) is another guy who has already made his NHL debut, albeit a 1-game stint with the Sabres. He then had 5 points in 6 games playing for the Rochester Americans in the AHL, and is now on pace to have a 90+ point season in the WHL. He's got a set of mitts on him.

Carson Rehkopf (SEA '23, 2nd rd) currently leads the OHL in points with 55 pts in 31 games playing for the Kitchener Rangers.

So this team might not be as lethal on paper as you're used to seeing from Team Canada, but they have more than enough talent to be playing on that final day of the tournament.

Defensively, Maveric Lamoureux (ARI '22, 1st rd) has to be one of the biggest mutants in this tournament. He's 6'7" without skates, has a sick name, and his parents are definitely going to be bringing the energy over there in Sweden.

And as a Flyers homer, you have to imagine Oliver Bonk (PHI '23 1st rd) is going to be a game changer on that Canadian blue line. 6'2", great vision, can be a shutdown defender but can also get out there with a top powerplay unit.

I'd say in net is probably where Canada has their biggest question marks. But they have more than enough in front of the net to make up for it enough to get to a medal game.

Team Sweden

This will be a big tournament for Sweden as the host nation. Sweden has hosted the World Juniors 6 times before this year. They've never won the tournament on home soil, but have lost in the gold medal game in 2 of those years. This is a team that could absolutely make it back to a gold medal game this year. They lost to Team USA in the bronze medal game at last year's WJC, and they lost to Team USA at the 2023 U18 World Championships. So this age group for the Swedes have been knocking at the door, and maybe getting a chance to play this tournament at home is what will help them finally get in that door.

And if Team Sweden has a successful tournament, Axel Sandin Pellikka (DET '23, 1st rd) is going to be a huge reason why. It's always tough to judge the European teams because so many of these players are 18 and 19 year old kids playing in pro leagues like the SHL. You've got Team Canada with kids putting up 95 points per season in the OHL. You've got Team USA with kids putting up 40-50 points in the NCAA. But then when you're dealing with Swedish kids playing in the SHL or Finnish kids playing in the Liiga, you don't always get a good gauge of how dominant they can be because they're going up against full grown men. Most of the time these kids go into the World Juniors having just scored a handful of points in 20 some games.

Axel Sandin Pellikka is just 18-years-old, playing in the top Swedish league, and he has 9 goals and 13 points in 25 games as a defenseman. He's following right in the path of Nicklas Lidstrom, Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman, and all the other great Swedish defensemen over the years. He was named the top defenseman at 2023 U18 Worlds, and could definitely be the best defenseman at this tournament.

Filip Bystedt (SJS '22, 1st rd) had a good tournament last year. He finished top 10 in points with 10 points in Sweden's 7 games. He hasn't necessarily lit the SHL on fire this year or anything, but clearly he's comfortable in this tournament. Speaking of guys who are comfortable at this tournament…

Liam Öhgren (MIN '22, 1st rd) is making his 3rd trip to the World Juniors this year, and was named captain for Team Sweden. He was also the captain of the Swedish U18 team in 2022 that won gold at Worlds. But it looks like he's only played in 5 games so far this year for Färjestad in the SHL, so you'd probably have to ask Murls more about how he looks this year.

Also, it's just worth noting how hilarious it is that the Vancouver Canucks drafted another Elias Pettersson (VAN '22, 3rd rd) who will be on this Swedish team.

But back to the main point here. This group won gold at the 2022 U18 Worlds. They lost in the gold medal game in last year's U18 Worlds. Just missed out on medaling at last year's WJC. Have a ton of NHL talent on the roster, and will be playing in front of the home crowd. Sweden is DANGEROUS for this tournament.

Team Finland

Over the past few years, Finland has always been the hardest team to figure out at the World Juniors. One year they are playing for gold, the next year they are fighting to just not get relegated. They've won 3 out of the last 11 tournaments, but have played in the relegation round in 3 out of the last 12 as well. Just a really weird trend with this team. And while I don't think they'll be in jeopardy of relegation this year because of teams like Latvia and Norway, it's hard to see this as being a year where they are really contending for gold. This is a team that finished 5th at last year's WJC, and 5th at the 2023 U18 Worlds.

Right off the bat, the biggest name missing on this roster is Joakim Kemell. He's the best '04 birth player Finland has, but he'll be staying with the Milwaukee Admirals in the AHL this week where he has 13 points in 14 games. And with that being the case, Konsta Helenius ('24 Draft) is now the most intriguing player on this team.

He's 17-years-old and playing in the top league in Finland. He has 8 goals and 12 assists in 28 games so far this year for Jukurit. He's projected to be a top 10 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and this is the exact type of tournament that takes a guy from going top 10 into the top 5. And considering he doesn't have too much to work with around him, he can really show out this whole tournament.

The one way that Finland can really do some damage in this tournament is if you put Helenius and Jani Nyman (SEA '22, 2nd rd) on the same line.

He was on the U18 team that won bronze at the 2022 U18 worlds, had a couple of goals in last year's tournament, and is now playing close to a point-per-game in the Liiga this year for Ilves.

On the blue line, having a kid like Arttu Karki (VGK '23, 3rd rd) should help considering he plays in the OHL and will know a thing or two about some of the better players on Team Canada. Also, I just hope people call him Arttu Detoo.

And between the pipes, Niklas Kokko (SEA '22, 2nd rd) has had a pretty solid season splitting time with Kärpät. He's played in 10 games so far this year and is top 10 in the league in sv% with a .906. So he's seeing big shots, making a bunch of saves, isn't picking up a ton of wins, but should at least help out for a team that might not have enough fire power to keep up with teams like USA and Canada and Sweden.

Germany and Latvia

Germany finished in 8th place at least year's World Juniors, and were relegated at the 2023 U18 Worlds. So their U20's weren't very good last year, and their U18's were even worse. So the biggest goal for Germany this year just needs to beat Latvia and try to avoid relegation.

Latvia was able to beat Austria last year to avoid getting relegated for this year's tournament. So the biggest goal for Latvia this year just needs to beat Germany and try to avoid relegation again.

See everybody tomorrow for the Group B preview, featuring the future 2024 World Junior Champions…USA.

@JordieBarstool

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Jordie12/19/2023 10:20 PM