The dog days of summer have finally been relieved by the start of the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase. It\u2019s one of the top junior tournaments of the year, bringing together the top players from USA, Canada, Sweden, and Finland for a four-game face-off. The group features two squads from both North American countries, and is often the first chance for top 18-year-olds to play after being drafted into the NHL.<\/p>\n
That sentiment is truer than ever in this year\u2019s tournament as it will mark the first games of the calendar year for reigning first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer<\/strong><\/a>. He\u2019ll be joined by a heap of NHL talent of both present and future. Let\u2019s break down the players currently in NHL pipelines, or on top of the 2026 draft class, participating in this year\u2019s showcase.<\/p>\n 2026 NHL Draft<\/p>\n Gavin McKenna<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada); Viggo Bjorck<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden); Ivar Stenberg<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden)<\/p>\n Anaheim Ducks<\/p>\n Lucas Pettersson<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2024 #35); Eric Nilson<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2025 #45); Lasse Boelius<\/strong><\/a> (D, Finland, 2025 #60); Tarin Smith<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2024 #79)<\/p>\n Boston Bruins<\/p>\n James Hagens <\/strong><\/a>(F, USA, 2025 #7); William Moore<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #51); Elliott Groenewold<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2024 #110); Kristian Kostadinski<\/strong><\/a> (D, Sweden, 2023 #220)<\/p>\n Buffalo Sabres<\/p>\n Adam Kleber<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2024 #42); Brodie Ziemer<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2024 #71); Luke Osburn<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2024 #108)<\/p>\n Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n Filip Ekberg<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2025 #221); Viggo Nordlund<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2025 #183)<\/p>\n Calgary Flames<\/p>\n Cole Reschny<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2025 #18); Cullen Potter<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #32); Henry Mews<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2024 #74)<\/p>\n Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n Sacha Boisvert<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #18); Marek Vanacker<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #27); A.J. Spellacy<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2024 #72)<\/p>\n Colorado Avalanche<\/p>\n Will Zellers<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2024 #76)<\/p>\n Columbus Blue Jackets<\/p>\n Cayden Lindstrom<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #4); Charlie Elick<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2024 #36); Evan Gardner<\/strong><\/a> (G, Canada, 2024 #60); Tanner Henricks<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2024 #101)<\/p>\n Dallas Stars<\/p>\n Emil Hemming<\/strong><\/a> (F, Finland, 2024 #29); Atte Joki<\/strong><\/a> (F, Finland, 2025 #146)<\/p>\n Detroit Red Wings<\/p>\n Eddie Genborg<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2025 #44); Max Plante<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2024 #47); John Whipple<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2024 #144)<\/p>\n Edmonton Oilers<\/p>\n Aidan Park<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #223)<\/p>\n Florida Panthers<\/p>\n Linus Eriksson<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2024 #58)<\/p>\n Los Angeles Kings<\/p>\n Henry Brzustewicz<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2025 #31); Carter George<\/strong><\/a> (G, Canada, 2024 #57); Kristian Epperson<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #88); Caeden Herrington<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2025 #120)<\/p>\n Montreal Canadiens<\/p>\n Michael Hage<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #21); Aatos Koivu<\/strong><\/a> (F, Finland, 2024 #70); Owen Protz<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2024 #102); L.J. Mooney<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #113)<\/p>\n Minnesota Wild<\/p>\n Ryder Ritchie<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #45); Aron Kiviharju<\/strong><\/a> (D, Finland, 2024 #122); Sebastian Soini<\/strong><\/a> (D, Finland, 2024 #140)<\/p>\n Nashville Predators<\/p>\n Brady Martin<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2025 #5); Cameron Reid<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2025 #21); Ryker Lee<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #26); Jacob Rombach<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2025 #35); Teddy Stiga<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2024 #55); Jack Ivankovic<\/strong><\/a> (G, Canada, 2025 #58); Viggo Gustafsson<\/strong><\/a> (D, Sweden, 2024 #77)<\/p>\n New Jersey Devils<\/p>\n Benjamin Kevan<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #63); Kasper Pikkarainen<\/strong><\/a> (F, Finland, 2024 #85); Mason Moe<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #90); Daniel Nieminen<\/strong><\/a> (D, Finland, 2025 #163)<\/p>\n New York Islanders<\/p>\n Matthew Schaefer<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2025 #1); Kashawn Aitcheson<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2025 #17); Cole Eiserman<\/a><\/strong> (F, USA, 2024 #20); Kamil Bednarik<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2024 #61); Jacob Kvasnicka<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #202)<\/p>\n New York Rangers<\/p>\n E.J. Emery<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2024 #30); Malcolm Spence<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2025 #43)<\/p>\n Ottawa Senators<\/p>\n Logan Hensler<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2025 #23); Gabriel Eliasson<\/strong><\/a> (D, Sweden, 2024 #39)<\/p>\n Philadelphia Flyers<\/p>\n Porter Martone<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2025 #6); Jack Murtagh<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #40); Shane Vansaghi<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #48); Jack Berglund<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2024 #51); Spencer Gill<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2024 #59); Heikki Ruohonen<\/strong><\/a> (F, Finland, 2024 #107); Max Westerg\u00e5rd <\/strong><\/a>(F, Finland, 2025 #132)<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n Benjamin Kindel<\/a><\/strong> (F, Canada, 2025 #11); William Horcoff<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #24); Harrison Brunicke<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2024 #44); Mac Swanson<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2024 #207)<\/p>\n Tampa Bay Lightning<\/p>\n Joona Saarelainen<\/strong><\/a> (F, Finland, 2024 #149); Caleb Heil<\/strong><\/a> (G, USA, 2025 #193)<\/p>\n Toronto Maple Leafs<\/p>\n Victor Johansson<\/strong><\/a> (D, Sweden, 2024 #120)<\/p>\n San Jose Sharks<\/p>\n Michael Misa<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2025 #2); Sam Dickinson<\/strong><\/a> (D, Canada, 2024 #11); Joshua Ravensbergen<\/strong><\/a> (G, Canada, 2025 #30); Leo Sahlin Wallenius<\/strong><\/a> (D, Sweden, 2024 #53); Cole McKinney<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2025 #53); Carson Wetsch<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #82)<\/p>\n Seattle Kraken<\/p>\n Berkly Catton<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #8); Jake O\u2019Brien<\/a><\/strong> (F, Canada, 2025 #8); Blake Fiddler<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2025 #36); Kim Saarinen<\/strong><\/a> (G, Finland, 2024 #88); Ollie Josephson<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #105)<\/p>\n St. Louis Blues<\/p>\n Justin Carbonneau<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2025 #19); Love H\u00e4renstam<\/strong><\/a> (G, Sweden, 2025 #179)<\/p>\n Utah Mammoth<\/p>\n Cole Beaudoin<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2024 #24); Will Skahan<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2024 #65)<\/p>\n Vancouver Canucks<\/p>\n Braeden Cootes<\/strong><\/a> (F, Canada, 2025 #15); Melvin Fernstrom<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2024 #93); Wilson Bj\u00f6rck<\/strong><\/a> (F, Sweden, 2025 #143)<\/p>\n Vegas Golden Knights<\/p>\n Trevor Connelly<\/strong><\/a> (F, USA, 2024 #19)<\/p>\n Washington Capitals<\/p>\n Cole Hutson<\/strong><\/a> (D, USA, 2024 #43); Nick Kempf<\/strong><\/a> (G, USA, 2024 #114)<\/p>\n Winnipeg Jets<\/p>\n Sascha Boumedienne<\/strong><\/a> (D, Sweden, 2025 #28); Alfons Freij<\/strong><\/a> (D, Sweden, 2024 #37)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dog days of summer have finally been relieved by the start of the 2025 World Junior Summer…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":100921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[65747,10489,65748,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-100920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-2024-nhl-draft","9":"tag-2025-nhl-draft","10":"tag-iihf","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114934154667614168","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}