Guide to the 2026 World Junior Championship

NOTE: Final Roster and Players to Watch articles will be linked below as they are published

Features

Players Who Should Be Locks For Team Canada’s 2026 WJC Roster

World Junior Summer Showcase is All About the Process

World Junior Championships All-Time Biggest Blowouts

Daily Previews

will be published throughout the tournament

NHL Teams

2026 World Juniors Roster Breakdown by NHL Team

Buffalo Sabres

• Sabres Prospects Who Could Participate in the 2026 World Junior Championship

Calgary Flames

• Flames Prospects Who Could Play in 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship

Chicago Blackhawks

• Blackhawks Prospects Stand Out at World Junior Summer Showcase

Edmonton Oilers

• Could Oilers’ Prospect Aidan Park Play for Team USA at World Juniors?

Minnesota Wild

• Minnesota Wild Prospects’ Performances at World Junior Summer Showcase

Montreal Canadiens

• Canadiens Prospects Who Could Participate in the 2026 World Junior Championship
• Canadiens Prospect Aatos Koivu Opened Eyes at the World Junior Summer Showcase

Utah Mammoth

• Mammoth Prospects Who Could Play in 2026 World Junior Championship

Washington Capitals

• How Did Capitals Prospects Perform at the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase?

Winnipeg Jets

• Jets Prospects Who Could Play in 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship

2026 NHL Draft Rankings

• 2026 NHL Draft: Baracchini’s Top 32 Preseason Rankings
• 2026 NHL Draft: Preseason Top 10 WHL Players
• Top Performers From the 2025 CHL/ USA Prospects Challenge
• 5 Finnish Overagers Who Should Be Taken in the 2026 NHL Draft
• 5 Underrated Prospects on NHL Central Scouting’s 2026 Preliminary Watch List

Who Is Eligible to Play?

This is the U20 version of the tournament, meaning that players must be under the age of 20 to participate. If a player’s 20th birthday takes place in the year the tournament ends (Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2026), then they are eligible, even if they turn 20 while the tournament is still underway. If a player’s 20^th birthday takes place in the year the tournament begins (Jan. 1 – Dec. 26, 2025), they are not eligible. People usually talk about the upper limit for the age eligibility, but there is also a lower limit, as players must turn 15 years old in the year the tournament ends.

Minnesota’s Twin Cities to Host

Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, will share hosting responsibilities for the 2026 World Junior Championship. Minneapolis has long been connected with the tournament, first sharing hosting responsibilities in 1975 along with Bloomington, Fargo, North Dakota, and two cities in Winnipeg, Canada, Brandon and Winnipeg. Although it was the second year of the tournament, it was not yet an official IIHF competition. However, the USSR were still the team to beat, which no one could match as they claimed gold in the tournament.

Minneapolis returned as a shared host along with Bloomington and Winnipeg in 1982, but this time, they were joined by Duluth and Kenora, Ontario. While the 1982 World Juniors didn’t go well for the Americans, who only won two games, the Canadians went undefeated in five games and claimed their first gold medal in tournament history.

2026 marks the first time St. Paul will host the World Juniors. Pool A games will be played here at the Grand Casino Arena, as well as all elimination and medal games. Built in 2000, the 18,000-seat area has been home to the NHL’s Minnesota Wild for its entire franchise history. Two years ago, it added the Minnesota Frost of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), which won back-to-back Walter Cups in 2024 and 2025. Pool B will play in Minneapolis’ 3M Arena at Mariucci on the University of Minnesota campus, home to the men’s Golden Gophers team.

Participating Nations

As mentioned earlier, Group A consists of the United States, Sweden, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Germany, while Group B is made up of Finland, Czechia, Canada, Latvia, and Denmark.

All eyes will be on Team USA after defending their gold medal last year for the first time in the nation’s history. The Americans have emerged as the team to beat in recent years, relying on their strong goaltending and dangerous offence. They won’t have any of their goalies from last year, though, nor will they have top goal-scorers Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perrault, but there always seems to be another top prospect ready to take the reins for the U.S.A.

While the Americans will look to a new core to lead them to glory, the Finns will be relying on their young core that took home silver in 2025. With a potential of 14 returning players and a strong showing at the World Junior Summer Showcase, they will be a team to watch at the 2026 tournament.

The Swedes and Czechs will turn to a younger roster this year; Czechia only brought nine underage prospects to the tournament last year, while Sweden only brought five. However, both nations remain medal favourites thanks to the strength of their development programs. Sweden has several top 2026 draft-eligible prospects who could join the team, and the Czechs had several strong draft classes in 2024 and 2025, giving them plenty of top 18 and 19-year-olds to draw from.

That could be a problem for Canada, which suffered back-to-back fifth-place finishes in 2024 and 2025, the worst result in over 40 years. That led to significant changes behind the scenes for Hockey Canada, including a smaller training camp roster, a longer camp schedule, and a dedicated management group that has been hard at work since June 2025. Whether that will be enough to reverse Canada’s recent fortunes will have to wait until the puck drops on the 26th.

Outside the Big Five, Slovakia is always one to watch, but Germany, Latvia, and Switzerland have all made significant strides in recent years, and all will have a strong returning cohort to rely on in Minnesota. Denmark rounds out the group of 10 after winning the Division 1-A tournament last season after defeating Austria, and they’ll have a tough time sticking around with just one NHL-drafted prospect, but after six years of trying to get back to the top division, they won’t go down without a fight.

Award Winners From the 2025 WJC

After leading the Americans to a gold medal as their captain, Leonard took home both the MVP and Best Forward at the 2025 World Junior Championship. The Washington Capitals prospect finished his final tournament with five goals and 10 points, tying him for second in tournament scoring, but his leadership was a big reason why his team was able to make history on Canadian soil.

Axel Sandin Pellikka repeated as the best defenceman of the tournament. After leading Sweden to the 2024 Semifinal, he not only led the Swedes but all defencemen at the tournament in scoring with four goals and 10 points. While it may have been a bittersweet consolation prize for finishing fourth once again, he was a big reason the Swedes were able to do as well as they did.

The tournament’s Top Goalie was awarded to Finland’s Petteri Rimpinen, who finished with a .933 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.34 goals-against average (GAA) over seven games. While those are already impressive numbers that put him within the top-five goalies at the 2025 World Juniors, he set a tournament record with 436:45 minutes played. Michal Hrabel, the next-busiest goalie, was nearly 100 minutes behind him. To play that much and still come away with a silver medal is a testament to his incredible skill.

The Media All-Star team voted on at the tournament selected Leonard, Gabe Perrault, and Jakub Stancl as the top forwards, Cole Hutson and Sandin Pellikka as the top defencemen, and Rimpinen as the top goalie at the 2025 World Junior Championship.

2026 WJC Schedule

If you want to follow a specific team or game, here is a full schedule of the games in the tournament, including all medal-round games.

All start times are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Dec. 26

1:00 – Sweden vs. Slovakia
3:30 – Denmark vs. Finland
6:00 – Germany vs. USA
8:30 – Czechia vs. Canada

Dec. 27

2:00 – Slovakia vs. Germany
4:30 – Latvia vs. Canada
6:00 – USA vs. Finland
8:30 – Denmark vs. Czechia

Dec. 28

2:00 – Sweden vs. Switzerland
4:30 – Finland vs. Latvia

Dec. 29

1:00 – Germany vs. Sweden
3:30 – Finland vs. Czechia
6:00 – Slovakia vs. USA
8:30 – Canada vs. Denmark

Dec. 30

2:00 – Switzerland vs. Germany
4:30 – Latvia vs. Denmark

Dec. 31

1:00 – Switzerland vs. Slovakia
3:30 – Czechia vs. Latvia
6:00 – USA vs. Sweden
8:30 – Canada vs. Finland

Jan. 2 – Quarterfinals

12:30 – Relegation
2:00 – Quarterfinal 1
4:30 – Quarterfinal 2
6:00 – Quarterfinal 3

Jan. 4 – Semifinals

4:30 – Semifinal 1
8:30 – Semifinal 2

Jan. 5
4:30 – Bronze Medal Game
8:30 – Gold Medal Game