The World Junior Summer Showcase begins Thursday, with games starting on Saturday. What does it mean for Finland, Sweden and the USA that are taking part? What about Canada that isn't?
When it comes to player evaluation, nothing beats game situations. Scouts and management groups can judge a player based on his real-time behavior, both in terms of his skills and his hockey sense.
That's the purpose of the World Junior Summer Showcase, which is back in Plymouth, Mich., after a one-year absence due to last summer's rescheduled World Junior Championship in Edmonton. It's an opportunity for coaches and managers to get a good look at the potential candidates for their squads at the 2024 world juniors, which will run from Dec. 26, 2023, to Jan. 5, 2024, in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The summer showcase runs from July 27 to Aug. 4, with games starting on July 29 and occurring every two days. That will allow for practice time and off-ice activities and could also reduce the risk of potential injury. No one wants to see a top prospect get hurt at a summer event.
In the three years immediately before the pandemic, the showcase was a four-team affair with the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden taking part. When the event returned in 2021, the Canadians opted not to send a team. The same is true this year.
Instead, the two-time defending World Junior Champs invited 45 potential prospects for the 2024 tournament to a series of virtual meetings this month, covering "a variety of topics, including education on the Program of Excellence, sport safety presentations, short-term international competition preparation and meetings with the Hockey Canada management group."
The list of invitees included three players who were part of Canada's gold medal-winning team in Halifax — defenseman Kevin Korchinski and forwards Owen Beck and Adam Fantilli. Fantilli, who was unable to participate, was also one of 12 invitees who was selected in the 2023 draft in Nashville last month and one of seven first-rounders who were invited to participate, along with fellow forwards Nate Danielson, Zach Benson, Brayden Yager, Matthew Wood, Colby Barlow and Calum Ritchie.
The youngest forward invited was 17-year-old Macklin Celebrini, regarded as one of the top prospects for the 2024 draft.
The 14 defensemen invited to participate were mostly a veteran group of 2004-born players. The only 2023 draftee invited was fourth-rounder Luca Cagnoni — and because he was born on Dec. 21, 2004, the upcoming tournament in Sweden will be his final eligibility opportunity for world juniors.
Of the three nations participating at the summer showcase, the U.S. hosts have 45 invitees split into two rosters, while Sweden and Finland have brought 25 players each.
Earlier this week, Tony Ferrari spotlighted 12 players to watch at the event.
It's interesting that 2006-born forwards Cole Eiserman and James Hagens both opted for the summer showcase rather than joining Team USA for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which starts next Monday in Czechia and Slovakia. Though they're both just 16, they've already shown enough that they could crack the American world junior roster this winter. They also already played in the 2023 World Men's Under-18 tournament, an official IIHF event and a higher priority for USA Hockey than the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
It's also interesting that Logan Cooley will not be at the showcase. Chris Peters of FloHockey reported that Cooley was invited to the showcase but chose not to attend: it may simply be a case of been there, done that.
Cooley is already a two-time world juniors participant. In Halifax, his 14 points ranked him second in tournament scoring behind Connor Bedard. He was also named to the tournament all-star team and picked up a bronze medal with the U.S. team.
The Americans will have 10 returnees from Halifax in the showcase mix in Plymouth.
Sweden's squad is also missing some notable star power. Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Noah Ostlund and Liam Ohgren, the three first-round picks who shone during the Swedes' gold-medal win at the 2022 World U-18 tournament, are all absent from the showcase roster. That leaves 27th overall pick Filip Bystedt as the lone first-rounder from 2022 who will be wearing the three crowns in Plymouth.
Like Cooley, Lekkerimaki and Ohgren also skated in both World Junior Championships in the last year. They won bronze medals in Edmonton last summer. Ostlund only took part in the Halifax tournament, where the Swedes finished fourth.
As mentioned, Sweden will be serving as host for the next tournament. That hasn't happened in nearly a decade – in Malmo in 2014, captain Filip Forsberg was named tournament MVP, but Teuvo Teravainen's Finns beat out the Swedes for the gold medal, with Rasmus Ristolainen scoring the overtime-winner.
After picking up a gold, four silvers and a bronze in a seven-year span between 2008 and 2014, the Swedes' fortunes have now slipped a bit. In the last nine tournaments, they have just one silver, two bronzes and four fourth-place finishes.
It's a trend they'd dearly love to reverse on home soil this winter. If they're available in their final year of eligibility, 19-year-olds Lekkerimaki, Ohgren and Ostlund would most likely be warmly welcomed onto the roster.
As for the Finns, they were the overtime losers in the gold medal game against Canada last summer in Edmonton, then settled for a fifth-place finish in Halifax. The Finns struggled to score in the tournament, with Joakim Kemell and Sami Paivarinta leading the way with four points each in five games played.
Stop me if you've heard this before: Kemell's a 19-year-old who was a first-round pick in 2022, already has two world juniors to his name, and isn't on the summer showcase roster. He made a solid North American debut this spring after his Finnish season ended, putting up 13 points in 14 regular-season games with the Milwaukee Admirals, then adding another eight goals in 14 playoff contests as the Admirals advanced to the AHL's Western Conference final.
No Finns were selected in the first round this year, so Finland's top prospects at the showcase are 2022 second-round pick Jani Nyman and 2023 second-rounder Kasper Halttunnen — both big forwards who stand well over six-foot. Meanwhile, undersized 17-year-old defender Aron Kiviharju will be doing his best to show that he deserves to make his world juniors debut this year — another eligible player forgoing the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
In this environment, expect the U.S. stars to shine brightest in Plymouth. Returnees like Jimmy Snuggerud and Cutter Gauthier should look very strong against the competition they're facing, while fellow 2022 first-rounders such as Frank Nazar and Isaac Howard will be trying to make their case for the first world juniors opportunity against the precocious 2023 draftees, including Will Smith and Ryan Leonard.
The games begin Saturday, with USA Blue taking on Sweden at 1 p.m. ET, followed by USA White against Finland at 4 p.m. ET. All games will be streamed on USAHockeyTV, with a one-month all-access pass available for $29.99.