World Junior Championship training camps will be in full effect a month from now, so time is ticking to make those big impressions.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, we\u2019ve already had a handful of international tournaments this year to draw information from. It started with the World Junior Summer Showcase in August, and continued with other late-summer tournaments. Last week, we saw various U-20 events across Europe, giving teams one last look at their potential lineups (minus players in North America). <\/p>\n
As always, there\u2019s going to be a big emphasis on how the latest draft prospects perform. The 2026 draft class looks to be a strong one, with many potential first-round picks expected to challenge for gold (or, in Latvia\u2019s case, tournament survival).<\/p>\n
Today, we\u2019re looking at eight 2026 NHL Draft prospects expected to play big roles for their respective nations. There will be many more draft-eligibles challenging for victories, but these eight have realistic chances of going in the first round in June:<\/p>\n
Gavin McKenna, LW (Canada<\/a>)<\/p>\n Many scouts have felt underwhelmed about McKenna \u2013 which, given he has more than a point per game, says a lot about the expectations levied his way. Still, there\u2019s little reason to be concerned. After a quiet showing as a 17-year-old a year ago, McKenna will be relied on much more this time around, likely on Canada\u2019s top line. He has been productive at just about every other international event to date, and his experience playing against older competition on a nightly basis should prepare him quite nicely for Minnesota. Not many projected No. 1 picks<\/a> get two cracks at the World Juniors before getting selected. We\u2019ll see if McKenna makes the most of it.<\/p>\n Keaton Verhoeff, RHD (Canada)<\/p>\n The projected top-three pick has already built himself quite a CV with Canada. He was named to the U-17 World Challenge all-star team after leading Canada White to a gold. Then, he capped the year off with an outstanding showing en route to the U-18 World Championship title. Verhoeff has had some growing pains at the University of North Dakota, but has overall adjusted to the higher-level competition quite well. Look for Verhoeff to play in a top-four role for Canada \u2013 and perhaps get leaned on more than expected if Zayne Parekh or Harrison Brunicke aren\u2019t loaned out.<\/a><\/p>\n Adam Novotny, LW (Czechia)<\/p>\n Novotny has been one of Czechia\u2019s best U-20 performers this season, although he wasn\u2019t part of the recent 5 Nations tournament in Slovakia. The projected first-round pick is producing at a point-per-game rate and has played some of his best hockey as of late with six points over his past four games. The Peterborough Petes don\u2019t have a ton of high-end weapons, but Novotny has consistently found ways to get high-volume opportunities on net. He\u2019s clearly comfortable playing in North America, and I\u2019d expect him to get better with more confidence. After playing a depth role in Ottawa last year, look for Novotny to be leaned upon significantly more in a top-six situation for the Czechs.<\/p>\n Juho Piiparinen, RHD (Finland)<\/p>\n Everyone \u2013\u00a0even your dog \u2013 is talking about Piiparinen right now. The 6-foot-1 defender isn\u2019t flashy by any means, but he does such a great job at handling quality competition in his own zone. He\u2019s smart, defensively responsible and can shut you down without getting himself into trouble. He was one of Finland\u2019s standouts at the U-18s last year and has thrust himself into the first-round conversation quickly this season thanks to his responsible play around the net. I wonder if the Finns will use him in a shutdown role, assuming he even makes the team. But if the recent U-20 tournament was anything to go by, he should be.<\/p>\n Olivers M\u016brnieks, C (Latvia)<\/p>\n M\u016brnieks\u2019 draft stock has fallen quite significantly after an underwhelming start to the season in the QMJHL. But the 6-foot-1 forward should still be a big part of Latvia\u2019s attack. He was one of their better players a year ago, serving as the No. 1 center as a double underager. He has been a workhorse for Latvia at various other tournaments, too \u2013 he has the size and hockey sense to make things happen. There haven\u2019t been many high-end offensive threats out of Latvia, and while M\u016brnieks might not fit the mold, he\u2019s the best option they have this year.<\/p>\n Alberts Smits, LHD (Latvia)<\/p>\n There might not be a single player more important to their team on this list than Smits. He\u2019s a big, 6-foot-3 defender, and he makes sure to use his size quite often. Projected to go in the first round, Smits already has 10 points in 20 games in the top Finnish league. Not only is he leading all U-19 players in scoring, but he\u2019s tracking to tie Sami Vatanen (30 points) for the best production ever recorded by a defenseman his age. He\u2019s playing upwards of 24 minutes a night with Jukurit, which is incredible given he started the season playing against junior competition. I loved Smits at the U-18s last year, and I can\u2019t wait to see him play on the top pairing in Minnesota.<\/p>\n Viggo Bj\u00f6rck, C (Sweden)<\/p>\n Bj\u00f6rck was listed as a B-rated prospect by NHL Central Scouting, suggesting he isn\u2019t a first-round caliber prospect. I get that he isn\u2019t strong, but he has been as good as anyone internationally this year. He had five points in his first two games last week in U-20 competition and has been generally effective throughout his whole international career. He\u2019s also tracking for a 20-point campaign with Djurgardens\u2019 SHL squad, which is no easy feat for a 17-year-old. There are still some consistency issues, but I expect him to be Sweden\u2019s No. 2 center with a chance to play alongside Ivar Stenberg and, maybe, U-18 World Championship standout Filip Ekberg.<\/p>\n Ivar Stenberg, LW (Sweden)<\/p>\n Between the World Junior Summer Showcase and his recent three-assist effort against Slovakia, Stenberg has been one of Sweden\u2019s most impressive wingers this year, as expected. There\u2019s also a real chance he goes No. 2<\/a> at the draft next summer, as well. Stenberg is tracking for 37 points this season in the SHL, which would mark one of the best outputs by a U-19 player in league history. After watching his brother, St. Louis Blues prospect Otto Stenberg<\/a>, put on a show the past two years, it\u2019s time for Stenberg to carry on the family name. I expect Ivar to play a top-six role, just as he has done at every other international tournament to date.<\/p>\n SPONSORED BY bet365<\/p>\n Recent posts from Steven Ellis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Junior Championship training camps will be in full effect a month from now, so time is ticking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-284236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}