Will Team Canada end its medal drought? Can the Americans win three straight golds? Some of The Hockey News' digital contributors bravely guess the medallists and top players at the 2026 world juniors.
The World Junior Championship is a marquee event on the hockey calendar, with NHL fans turning their attention to the future of the game and their favorite team's prospects while rooting for their national team.
Predicting the world juniors is a fun but often futile exercise. In our annual tradition at TheHockeyNews.com, we assemble a collection of our writers and editors to make their predictions.
From top players and the MVP to which teams will end the tournament with medals around their necks, we have predictions for what we think will happen from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 in Minnesota.
Here are the contributors who made some predictions:
- Tony Ferrari (NHL Draft/Prospect Analyst)
- Ryan Kennedy (Editor in Chief)
- Jonathan Tovell (Deputy Managing Editor, Digital Media)
- Adam Proteau (Senior Digital Correspondent)
- Andre Leal (Digital Correspondent)
- Eric Cruikshank (Digital Correspondent)
- Julian Gaudio (Digital Correspondent)
Without further ado, let’s get to the predictions.
Top Forward
Unsurprisingly, Gavin McKenna is garnering plenty of love as the top forward at the World Junior Championship.
His pure skill and his track record of bludgeoning junior competition in the WHL make him an easy pick. Anton Frondell, James Hagens, Porter Martone and Michael Misa could also easily be justified by their high-end talent.
Ferrari: Anton Frondell, Sweden
Kennedy: Gavin McKenna, Canada
Tovell: Gavin McKenna, Canada
Proteau: James Hagens, USA
Leal: Gavin McKenna, Canada
Cruikshank: Porter Martone, Canada
Gaudio: Michael Misa, Canada
Top Defenseman
Cole Hutson and Zayne Parekh were the only two players to receive votes for top defenseman. Huston was the clear-cut favorite, though, with five of the seven votes.
Parekh and Huston have some of the most incredible offensive upside we've seen from defenders at the world juniors. Either one of them could be the top defender, but it's a bit of a wide-open class beyond those two.
Ferrari: Cole Hutson, USA
Kennedy: Cole Hutson, USA
Tovell: Cole Hutson, USA
Proteau: Cole Hutson, USA
Leal: Zayne Parekh, Canada
Cruikshank: Cole Hutson, USA
Gaudio: Zayne Parekh, Canada
Top Goalie
The runaway top goalie pick was Carter George, receiving six of the seven votes.
George was phenomenal last year for Canada. He was their lone bright spot. Despite Finnish netminder Petteri Rimpinen's unreal run last year, he received no votes. The only other goalie to get a vote was American Nick Kempf, who isn't the surefire starter.
Ferrari: Carter George, Canada
Kennedy: Carter George, Canada
Tovell: Carter George, Canada
Proteau: Nick Kempf, USA
Leal: Carter George, Canada
Cruikshank: Carter George, Canada
Gaudio: Carter George, Canada
World Juniors 2026: McKenna, Stenberg Headline NHL Draft Eligibles
The potential top three picks of the 2026 NHL draft will be on display for Canada and Sweden at the world juniors. But there are more draft-eligible prospects beyond them at the U-20 tournament.
MVP
The MVP race is wide open as McKenna is the only player to receive two votes.
Misa, Frondell, Hagens, Martone and Parekh all received one vote apiece. Parekh was the only defenseman to get a vote despite Hutson outpacing him in the top defenseman conversation.
Ferrari: Anton Frondell, Sweden
Kennedy: Gavin McKenna, Canada
Tovell: Gavin McKenna, Canada
Proteau: James Hagens, USA
Leal: Zayne Parekh, Canada
Cruikshank: Porter Martone, Canada
Gaudio: Michael Misa, Canada
Tournament All-Stars
The tournament all-stars are all over the place.
Frondell and Hagens are tied with five votes each, while McKenna comes in with 4. The forward group is pretty wide open with a couple of favorites up top.
The defense group is led by Hutson and Parekh, which wasn't a shock, but Adam Jiricek, Sascha Boumedienne and Harrison Brunicke getting involved showed there is a bit more depth to the top-end defenders than you'd expect.
Ferrari: F Anton Frondell, F Michael Misa, F James Hagens, D Cole Hutson, D Sascha Boumedienne, G Carter George
Kennedy: F Gavin McKenna, F Anton Frondell, F Will Horcoff, D Cole Hutson, D Adam Jiricek, G Carter George
Tovell: F Gavin McKenna, F Victor Eklund, F James Hagens, D Cole Hutson, D Harrison Brunicke, G Carter George
Proteau: F James Hagens, F Tij Iginla, F Gavin McKenna, D Cole Hutson, D Zayne Parekh, G Nick Kempf
Leal: F Gavin McKenna, F Anton Frondell, F James Hagens, D Zayne Parekh, D Cole Hutson, G Carter George
Cruikshank: F Porter Martone, F James Hagens, F Anton Frondell, D Zayne Parekh, D Cole Hutson, G Carter George
Gaudio: F Michael Misa, F Anton Frondell, F Porter Martone, D Zayne Parekh, D Adam Jiricek, G Carter George
Total Votes:
F: Frondell (5), Hagens (5), McKenna (4), Misa (2), Martone (2), Iginla, Eklund, Horcoff
D: Hutson (6), Parekh (4), Jiricek (2), Boumedienne, Brunicke
G: George (6), Kempf
Bronze Medal Game
Czechia is the popular pick for bronze, defeating the Americans in the bronze medal match three of the four times they were picked.
USA got the nod twice for bronze while Sweden got the one extra vote. Czechia's strong play over the last few years has made them a team people associate with the medal rounds much more regularly.
Ferrari: Czechia over USA
Kennedy: Czechia over USA
Tovell: Sweden over Czechia
Proteau: Czechia over Sweden
Leal: USA over Finland
Cruikshank: USA over Czechia
Gaudio: Czechia over USA
World Juniors 2026: Canada Comes Close To Finalizing Roster
As the Canadians cut three players from their world junior roster, they had mixed results in their first pre-tournament game against Sweden.
Gold Medal Game
Every person has Canada in the gold medal game with five votes as the winner. One voter selected Sweden, and the other chose USA over Canada for the two times they were picked to lose.
Canada's strong roster has everyone believing they will be back in the medals. They're poised to get back to their strong play at the world juniors.
Ferrari: Sweden over Canada
Kennedy: Canada over Sweden
Tovell: Canada over USA
Proteau: USA over Canada
Leal: Canada over Sweden
Cruikshank: Canada over Sweden
Gaudio: Canada over Sweden
Top photo by Allison Kennedy Davies
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