The holiday season is a time for families to come together to commemorate the year past and look forward to the year to come. For the hockey world that much is true, but in addition, it’s time for the annual IIHF World Junior Championship. Held annually since 1977, the tournament is used to crown the best under-20-year-old national team.
The tournament is usually a showcase for exceptional draft-aged talent, as well as drafted talent from the majority of the National Hockey League clubs. However, quite often hockey fans find themselves watching two teams play with no idea what allegiance they should have to either side. In an effort to provide clarity to hockey fans, here is The Hockey Writers’ annual breakdown of what prospects from what NHL teams are represented at the World Juniors.
ANAHEIM DUCKS (3)
F Julius Nattinen (Finland) – 2015 second round pick (59th overall)
D Jacob Larsson (Sweden) – 2015 first round pick (27th overall)
D Marcus Pettersson (Sweden) – 2014 second round pick (38th overall)
ARIZONA COYOTES (7)
F Brendan Perlini (Canada) – 2014 first round pick (12th overall)
F Dylan Strome (Canada) – 2015 first round pick (3rd overall)
G Erik Kallgren (Sweden) – 2015 seventh round pick (183rd overall)
F Anton Karlsson (Sweden) – 2014 third round pick (87th overall)
F Jens Looke (Sweden) – 2015 third round pick (83rd overall)
F Christian Dvorak (USA) – 2014 second round pick (58th overall)
F Ryan MacInnis (USA) – 2014 second round pick (43th overall)
BOSTON BRUINS (7)
G Daniel Vladnar (Czech Republic) – 2015 third round pick (75th overall)
D Jakub Zboril (Czech Republic) – 2015 first round pick (13th overall)
F David Pastrnak (Czech Republic) – 2014 first round pick (25th overall)
F Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (Sweden) – 2015 second round pick (45th overall)
D Brandon Carlo (USA) – 2015 second round pick (37th overall)
F Anders Bjork (USA) – 2014 fifth round pick (146th overall)
F Ryan Donato (USA) – 2014 second round pick (56th overall)
BUFFALO SABRES (1)
D William Borgen (USA) – 2015 fourth round pick (92nd overall)
CALGARY FLAMES (3)
G Mason McDonald (Canada) – 2014 second round pick (34th overall)
D Brandon Hickey (Canada) – 2014 third round pick (64th overall)
D Adam Ollas Mattsson (Sweden) – 2014 sixth round pick (175th overall)
CAROLINA HURRICANES (4)
D Haydn Fleury (Canada) – 2014 first round pick (7th overall)
D Roland McKeown (Canada) – acquired in trade with Los Angeles
F Sebastian Aho (Finland) – 2015 second round pick (35th overall)
G Alex Nedeljkovic (USA) – 2014 second round pick (37th overall)
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (4)
D Joni Tuulola (Finland) – 2015 sixth round pick (181st overall)
F Radovan Bondra (Slovakia) – 2015 fifth round pick (151st overall)
D Gustav Forsling (Sweden) – acquired in trade with Vancouver
F Nick Schmaltz (USA) – 2014 first round pick (20th overall)
COLORADO AVALANCHE (2)
F Mikko Rantanen (Finland) – 2015 first round pick (10th overall)
D Sergei Boikov (Russia) – 2015 sixth round pick (161st overall)
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (3)
D Gabriel Carlsson (Sweden) – 2015 second round pick (29th overall)
D Zach Werenski (USA) – 2015 first round pick (8th overall)
F Sonny Milano (USA) – 2014 first round pick (16th overall)
DALLAS STARS (2)
F Roope Hintz (Finland) – 2015 second round pick (49th overall)
F Denis Guryanov (Russia) – 2015 first round pick (12th overall)
DETROIT RED WINGS (6)
D Joe Hicketts (Canada) – signed as a free agent
D Vili Saarjijarvi (Finland) – 2015 third round pick (73rd overall)
F Evgeni Svechnikov (Russia) – 2015 first round pick (19th overall)
F Christoffer Ehn (Sweden) – 2014 fourth round pick (106th overall)
F Axel Holmstrom (Sweden) – 2014 seventh round pick (196th overall)
G Joren van Pottelberghe (Switzerland) – 2015 fourth round pick (110th overall)
EDMONTON OILERS (1)
D William Lagesson (Sweden) – 2014 fourth round pick (91st overall)
FLORIDA PANTHERS (4)
G Samuel Montembeault (Canada) – 2015 third round pick (77th overall)
F Lawson Crouse (Canada) – 2015 first round pick (11th overall)
F Juho Lammikko (Finland) – 2014 third round pick (65th overall)
F Denis Malgin (Switzerland) – 2015 fourth round pick (102nd overall)
LOS ANGELES KINGS (5)
F Spencer Watson (Canada) – 2014 seventh round pick (209th overall)
F Alexander Dergachyov (Russia) – 2015 third round pick (74th overall)
D Damir Sharipzyanov (Russia) – signed as free agent
D Erik Cernak (Slovakia) – 2015 second round pick (43rd overall)
F Adrian Kempe (Sweden) – 2014 first round pick (29th overall)
MINNESOTA WILD (5)
G Alex Stezka (Czech Republic) – 2015 fourth round pick (111th overall)
G Kaapo Kahkonen (Finland) – 2014 fourth round pick (109th overall)
F Kirill Kaprizov (Russia) – 2015 fifth round pick (135th overall)
F Joel Eriksson Ek (Sweden) – 2015 first round pick (20th overall)
D Louis Belpedio (USA) – 2014 third round pick (80th overall)
MONTREAL CANADIENS (1)
F Lukas Vejdemo (Sweden) – 2015 third round pick (87th overall)
NASHVILLE PREDATORS (2)
G Karel Vejmelka (Czech Republic) – 2015 fifth round pick (145th overall)
F Vladislav Kamenev (Russia) – 2014 second round pick (42nd overall)
NEW JERSEY DEVILS (3)
G Mackenzie Blackwood (Canada) – 2015 second round pick (42nd overall)
F John Quenneville (Canada) – 2014 first round pick (30th overall)
F Pavel Zacha (Czech Republic) – 2015 first round pick (6th overall)
NEW YORK ISLANDERS (3)
F Matt Barzal (Canada) – 2015 first round pick (16th overall)
F Anthony Beauvillier (Canada) – 2015 first round pick (28th overall)
G Linus Soderstrom (Sweden) – 2014 fourth round pick (95th overall)
NEW YORK RANGERS (4)
F Aleksi Saarela (Finland) – 2015 third round pick (89th overall)
D Sergei Zborovski (Russia) – 2015 third round pick (79th overall)
G Adam Huska (Slovakia) – 2015 seventh round pick (184th overall)
G Brandon Halverson (USA) – 2014 second round pick (59th overall)
OTTAWA SENATORS (5)
D Thomas Chabot (Canada) – 2015 first round pick (18th overall)
F Filip Chlapik (Czech Republic) – 2015 second round pick (48th overall)
D Christian Jaros (Slovakia) – 2015 fifth round pick (139th overall)
D Andreas Englund (Sweden) – 2014 second round pick (40th overall)
F Colin White (USA) – 2015 first round pick (21st overall)
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (7)
D Travis Sanheim (Canada) – 2014 first round pick (17th overall)
F Travis Konecny (Canada) – 2015 first round pick (24th overall)
F David Kase (Czech Republic) – 2o15 fifth round pick (128th overall)
D Ivan Provorov (Russia) – 2015 first round pick (7th overall)
F Radel Fazleev (Russia) – 2014 sixth round pick (168th overall)
G Felix Sandstrom (Sweden) – 2015 third round pick (70th overall)
F Oskar Lindblom (Sweden) – 2014 fifth round pick (138th overall)
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (0)
No representatives
SAN JOSE SHARKS (2)
F Rourke Chartier (Canada) – 2014 fifth round pick (149th overall)
F Timo Meier (Switzerland) – 2015 first round pick (9th overall)
ST. LOUIS BLUES (3)
D Vince Dunn (Canada) – 2015 second round pick (56th overall)
D Niko Mikkola (Finland) – 2015 fifth round pick (127th overall)
D Dmitri Sergeev (Russia) – signed as free agent
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (4)
F Brayden Point (Canada) – 2014 third round pick (79th overall)
F Mitchell Stephens (Canada) – 2015 second round pick (33rd overall)
D Dominik Masin (Czech Republic) – 2014 second round pick (35th overall)
F Jonne Tammela (Finland) – 2015 fourth round pick (118th overall)
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (4)
D Travis Dermott (Canada) – 2015 second round pick (34th overall)
F Mitch Marner (Canada) – 2015 first round pick (4th overall)
F William Nylander (Sweden) – 2014 first round pick (8th overall)
F Dmytro Timashov (Sweden) – 2015 fifth round pick (125th overall)
VANCOUVER CANUCKS (1)
F Jake Virtanen (Canada) – 2014 first round pick (6th overall)
F Brock Boeser (USA) – 2015 first round pick (23rd overall)
WASHINGTON CAPITALS (3)
G Vitek Vanecek (Czech Republic) – 2014 second round pick (39th overall)
G Ilya Samsonov (Russia) – 2015 first round pick (22nd overall)
D Jonas Siegenthaler (Switzerland) – 2015 second round pick (57th overall)
WINNIPEG JETS (3)
F Michael Spacek (Czech Republic) – 2015 fourth round pick (108th overall)
D Sami Niku (Finland) – 2015 seventh round pick (198th overall)
F Pavel Kraskovsky (Russia) – 2014 sixth round pick (164th overall)
