The start of December marks the preparation of a particular winter sporting event near and dear to hockey fans’ hearts — the IIHF World Junior Championship. Last year, the Vancouver Canucks had three representatives playing for their respective countries during the tournament; Sweden’s Tom Willander, Canada’s Sawyer Mynio, and Switzerland’s Basile Sansonnens. This year, it looks as though three more players could don their country’s colours while representing the Canucks organization. Here are the three Canucks prospects who could make their respective countries’ teams. 

Braeden Cootes, Canada 

Vancouver’s first-round selection in the 2025 NHL Draft, Cootes has already put together an impressive list of accomplishments since being drafted. After an extremely strong training camp and pre-season, the Seattle Thunderbirds’ captain made his NHL debut on October 9 of this season, sticking on Vancouver’s roster for two more games before being re-assigned to the WHL. Since returning to his WHL club, Cootes has exploded offensively, scoring nine goals and 21 assists in 14 games played. 

Team Canada is expected to announce their complete 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship roster on Monday, December 8, preceded by training camp and eventually the tournament itself. Canada’s forward depth is stacked, with names like Gavin McKenna, Berkly Catton, and Porter Martone expected to headline the roster (depending on NHL club approval). Because of Canada’s roster depth, Cootes may fall to the third or fourth line of his team’s roster — but as it stands, as a player who can provide solid performances on both ends of the ice, it’s unlikely he isn’t named to the team. 

Wilson Björck, Sweden 

Since 2018, there have only been two years in which the Canucks did not have at least one prospect on Team Sweden — 2019 and 2022 (though former Canuck Erik Brännström and a pre-draft Jonathan Lekkerimäki took part in each of these respective tournaments). Björck, Vancouver’s 2025 fifth-round draft pick, will look to continue this tradition by suiting up for his home country alongside his brother and top 2026-draft prospect Viggo Björck. 

The 2025–26 season is Björck’s first in the NCAA, as he’s currently playing with Colorado College. Prior to this, he’d spent most of his hockey career with Djurgårdens IF in J18 and J20 Nationell. With Colorado, he currently has three goals and three assists in 13 games played. He was named to Team Sweden during the World Junior Summer Showcase and made a great impression by scoring a goal and five assists while on a line with his brother. Because of this, expect Björck to get another shot at World Junior competition. 

Basile Sansonnens, Switzerland 

Sansonnens is the lone Canucks representative from last year’s tournament who is eligible to play, as Willander and Mynio have both aged-out. Still only 19 years old, Sansonnens was drafted in the seventh round of the 2024 NHL Draft by Vancouver. While he spent last season on loan to Rimouski-Océanic of the QMJHL, Sansonnens has since returned to NL in Switzerland to play for Lausanne HC. He has three assists in 30 games played so far this year.  

As it stands, Sansonnens is very likely to make Switzerland’s roster, if not guaranteed. 2025 was the defender’s first experience at the tournament, during which he played in five games and averaged a little less than 15 minutes per game. Now that he has taken some time to develop his game a little more, expect him to be relied on a little more by Switzerland throughout the competition. 

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