Day 4 at the 2025 World Juniors was the best slate of games yet, with the top eight seeds coming into the tournament all in action. Here are the day’s standouts and analysis from The Athletic’s prospects writers Scott Wheeler and Corey Pronman.
• Sweden defeated Switzerland 7-5 in a chippy game that saw 18 minor penalties assessed. Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Hurricanes prospect Felix Unger Sorum and Canucks prospect Tom Willander all had three points apiece for the Swedes. Capitals D prospect Leon Muggli had three assists for the Swiss.
• Finland defeated USA 4-3 in overtime. Golden Knights prospect Tuomas Uronen scored the overtime winner and the Finns outshot the Americans 44-33.
• Czechia defeated Slovakia 4-2 to improve to 3-0. Kraken prospect and Czechia captain Eduard Sale scored twice. The Czechs now have the best goal differential in the tournament (+18) heading into their New Year’s Eve matchup with Sweden.
• Canada beat Germany 3-0, playing a game close enough with the Germans that an empty-netter was scored for a second straight year. Kings goalie prospect Carter George stayed perfect, pitching his second shutout of the tournament and making 25 saves. Defensemen Oliver Bonk (Flyers) and Caden Price (Kraken) scored for Canada. Mathieu Cataford (Golden Knights) had the empty-netter.
Canada lays another egg
It took Canada 120 minutes to score a five-on-five goal against Latvia and Germany at the World Juniors. It bounced off the back boards and in off German goalie Nico Pertuch’s skate.
Read that again. One five-on-five goal in six periods. Five goals in total. Against Latvia and Germany.
And in both games, almost the entire team looked aimless and disorderly, like they didn’t know where to be or how they wanted to play. The shots have been perimeter and the selection has grown increasingly forced.
Their most talented players, the ones who had to make plays for them when they brought so few playmakers, don’t look like themselves. Sam Dickinson, who has dominated the OHL by playing a freewheeling style — sometimes to a fault — looks like a timid shell of himself and like he has been told not to be himself. They brought all of these mobile D and none of them are getting up in the play or killing plays early in the neutral zone, often retreating.
Bradly Nadeau is in a second unfamiliar spot on the power play now (moved from the bumper to the net-front) and didn’t make his first real skill play until a flash in the offensive zone to set up a Tanner Howe chance midway through the second period of their third game. If you’re an NHL club, after how poorly things went for Matt Poitras on last year’s team and now Nadeau on this year’s, why would you want to loan your kids to play for Hockey Canada instead of for you right now?
Two nights ago, head coach Dave Cameron talked about 6-8 goals worth of chances in a 3-2 overtime loss to a team they beat 10-0 a year prior. He gave “credit” and “full marks” to Latvia and their goalie. Do the Germans, who Team USA pumped 10 goals past on Boxing Day in a game they didn’t look good in themselves, also get “credit” and “full marks?” — Scott Wheeler
Group A wide open
We’re four days into the tournament and every team in Group A has now lost a game, leaving the door wide open for any seeding 1-3 into New Year’s Eve. Here’s where things stand:
T1. USA (3 GP, 2-0-1-0, 7 PTS)
T1. Canada (3 GP, 2-0-1-0, 7 PTS)
3. Finland (3 GP, 1-1-0-1, 5 PTS)
4. Latvia (2 GP, 0-1-0-1, 2 PTS)
5. Germany (3 GP, 0-0-0-3, 0 PTS)
And here’s the remaining schedule for the group:
Dec. 30: Latvia vs. Germany at 3:30 p.m. ET
Dec. 31: Finland vs. Latvia at 2:30 p.m. ET
Dec. 31: Canada vs. USA at 8 p.m. ET
Germany has to beat Latvia in regulation to give themselves a chance to avoid playing for relegation. And if a rested Finland beats a tired Latvia in regulation on New Year’s Eve, then the loser of Canada-USA could finish third in the group, setting up a quarterfinal matchup with the loser of Sweden-Czechia. The winner of Czechia-Sweden could also be the top seed for the semifinals if that game ends in regulation. — Scott Wheeler
Eklund raising draft stock
Sweden has plenty of high draft picks throughout their lineup, with the returning defensemen and forwards being top players for them as expected. But Victor Eklund’s boost to their top six and top power-play unit has been very important too. He’s an excellent skater and competitor with a high skill level. He’s not that big, but he’s shown he can win battles versus bigger players at this level, and create offense in the difficult parts of the ice. He looks like an easy top-15 pick in the upcoming NHL Draft and may be elevating his stock enough to go in the top 10 like his brother William did a few years ago. — Corey Pronman
Hutson in early conversation for top D award
The pre-tournament favourites for the top D award were undoubtedly Wild star prospect Zeev Buium and the award’s reigning winner, Swedish captain and Red Wings star prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka. Sandin-Pellikka has had a strong tournament and leads the Swedes in goals (four), points (seven), shots (22) and plus-minus (+6) through three games. But Capitals second-rounder Cole Hutson and not Buium has been Team USA’s best defenseman.
He has been outstanding with the puck on his stick all tournament long, making things happen with his feet and creating the inches of space he needs to execute. After scoring a beautiful bar-down goal surfing across the offensive zone against Finland on Sunday, he now has six points of his own through three games. But it’s his calm, steady play defensively that has most impressed me. He has defended at a high level and the results match the eye test, too: Team USA has outscored the opposition 9-0 at five-on-five through three games with Hutson on the ice. The only two goals against he’s been on the ice for came on the power play on Sunday after he’d just stepped onto the ice for a bad change as Trevor Connelly turned a puck over, and at three-on-three in overtime after he blew a tire. He was still named USA’s player of the game.
I know Hutson has talked, despite having 14 points in 16 games as an 18-year-old freshman at BU (tops among all under-19 D in college hockey and fifth among all under-19 skaters) about how he wants to be better than he has for the Terriers at points. But he has been good for them and excellent for Team USA here in Ottawa. He plays a more competitive style defensively than his older brother Lane does and while there are questions to ask about whether that will work against NHLers, he defends hard at this level. I’ve seen NHL upside this week. — Scott Wheeler
Czechia emerges as a contender
Coming into this tournament, Czechia was thought to be in the clear second tier of teams, and likely not to challenge Sweden for the top spot in Group B. We will find out how their game goes on New Year’s Eve, but all indications are it’s going to be very competitive. Czechia’s performances against Switzerland, and today against Slovakia, have been arguably more impressive than what Sweden did to those teams. Czechia isn’t a star-studded team, but they’ve shown they have quality depth. A blue line full of mobility, size and smarts, and three lines of forwards who can make plays. On top of that they have a top-tier goalie in Michael Hrbal (Utah). Fellow Utah prospect Vojtech Hradec and Blues prospect Jakub Stancl have been surprise top scorers in the tournament to date. Czechia looks like a legit medal contender. — Corey Pronman
(Photo of Canada’s Luca Pinelli and Germany’s Nico Pertuch: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)