The St. Louis Blues have nine players at the 2025 World Junior Championship (WJC), the most of any NHL team, and one player who has made a big impression is Jakub Stancl. Stancl was drafted in 2023 in the third round (106th overall) by the Blues and is back for his final year of eligibility in the tournament with Team Czechia.
Stancl Ranks Top 3 in Points in the WJC
Stancl wasn’t expected to put up the top three points in the tournament through the round-robin. While highly anticipated prospects Dalibor Dvorsky, Theo Lindstein, and Otto Stenberg were the organization’s top prospects expected to blow up the tournament, only one ranks in the top three, and that’s Dvorsky. The most recent Czech player besides Stancl who blew up in points in the tournament was Jiri Kulich, who played alongside Stancl in last year’s tournament.
Stancl, on the other hand, is tied for third with Czechia teammate Vojtech Hradec and Dvorsky, with nine points in five games. Stancl also posted a hat trick in Czechia’s 14-2 victory over Kazakhstan. This is a significant breakthrough for Stancl compared to last year’s tournament when he scored six points in seven games.
Stancl debuted with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League (WHL) this season, with 32 points in 29 games before the tournament, showing his potential offensive talent well before reaching the international stage. Moving from the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) to the WHL has helped him improve his offensive game and compete with the red-hot Canadian and American talent that has dominated the game lately. In his last two seasons with the Växjö Lakers of the SHL, he scored one point each season and only played eight games in 2022-23 and seven in 2023-24.
Things Get Done When Stancl Is on the Ice
With his size, Stancl has proven to be a significant threat on the forecheck. At 6-foot-3 and 198 pounds, he isn’t afraid to play physical and is one of the most promising two-way forwards in the WJC this year. He also ranks in the top three in plus/minus with a plus-8 – he’s a plus-10 with the Rockets.
In last year’s tournament, Stancl took on a more physical role for Team Czechia, playing alongside top prospects Kulich, Matyas Melovsky, and Ondrej Becher. This year, he’s taken on more responsibility as a returning player, with all those players now gone.
If Stancl keeps up his excellent performance, he could be worth considering for the best plus/minus and top three players of the tournament, which would be an outstanding achievement for him to add to his WJC accolades. Stancl has yet to win any extra awards at the WJC and could potentially win the honor of Top Three Player of the Tournament and make the WJC All-Star Team.
Stancl Needs to Remain Consistent in the Semifinals
Stancl will be expected to continue leading his team as they enter their semifinal match against the United States on Saturday. In last year’s tournament, he scored two goals in the quarterfinal against Canada, leading to a 3-2 victory. He also scored the tying goal in the bronze medal game against Finland (2-2) to help Czechia stay in the game and eventually win the bronze.
In Czechia’s recent victory over Canada in the quarterfinal, Stancl earned two points, was a top contributor to Czechia’s roster, and will be the number-one forward to watch out for in the semifinal. Hopefully, contributing subtly like he did last year, Stancl will lead Czechia to a potential gold medal victory.
