The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship will be held in Ottawa from Dec. 26-Jan. 5. Today, we preview the Group A preliminary-round bracket.
Ryan Leonard and Zeev Buium are two of six first-round NHL draft picks hoping to bring the United States a second straight championship for the first time at the IIHF World Junior Championship.
They’ll get that chance when the 2025 WJC is held in Ottawa from Dec. 26-Jan. 5.
The U.S. won the 2024 WJC with a 6-2 victory against host Sweden in the gold-medal game. It was the sixth tournament title and second in the past four years for the U.S., which never has celebrated back-to-back WJC titles.
“[Having a chance to repeat] is probably the most important thing in the world, and we definitely have the team to do it,” Buium said. “We obviously have the talent, and we got a lot of guys that are willing to work hard and lot of guys who have won before too.”
Leonard, a sophomore forward at Boston College who will serve as U.S. captain, was selected No. 8 by the Washington Capitals in the 2023 NHL Draft. He leads the Eagles with 12 goals in 16 games. Buium, a sophomore defenseman at the University of Denver who will be an alternate captain, was selected No. 12 by the Minnesota Wild in the 2024 NHL Draft. He has 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) and a plus-6 rating in 16 games.
“At the end of the day, it’s hockey, it’s all the best players in the world, and it’s extremely fun,” Leonard said. “But you can’t really make mistakes that’ll cost you because it’s just a short tournament. You really got to be ready for every single shift in every single period.”
Other first-round selections on the United States roster include forwards Trevor Connelly (Vegas Golden Knights, No. 19, 2024), Cole Eiserman (New York Islanders, No. 20, 2024), Oliver Moore (Chicago Blackhawks, No. 19, 2023) and Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers, No. 23, 2023).
The United States will play in Group A at the 2025 WJC, along with Canada, Finland, Latvia and Germany, with preliminary-round games played at Canadian Tire Centre. Group B consists of Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, with preliminary-round games at TD Place.
The United States opens the WJC against Germany on Dec. 26 (2:30 p.m. ET). Canada also opens on Dec. 26 against Finland (7:30 p.m. ET). The U.S. and Canada will play Dec. 31 (8 p.m. ET), the final night of the preliminary round. All games will be broadcast live on NHL Network in the United States and TSN in Canada.
Here’s a look at each Group A team, in predicted order of finish:
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