Jett Luchanko and James Hagens among five reasons Flyers fans should watch the 2025 World Juniors

While everyone is still getting presents, one more gift will be given out to the world on Boxing Day — the start of the 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship.

The tournament showcases the top under-20 year old talent globally, with the United States looking to win back-to-back titles for the first time. The Americans will get a chance to do it in Canada’s capital.

Held annually from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, this year’s edition will be in Ottawa, Ontario, which just happens to be the hometown of Flyers prospect and Hockey Canada defenseman Oliver Bonk. The hometown Canadians are expected to give USA Hockey a stiff test, beginning in the preliminary round when the Battle of North America goes down on New Year’s Eve (8 p.m., NHL Network).

» READ MORE: Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk headline five Flyers to watch at 2025 World Juniors

There’s plenty to see from the NHL’s next generation and fans can watch all the games on NHL Network. Aside from the U.S. going for gold, here are four more reasons Flyers fans should tune in to this year’s tournament:

While USA Hockey is vying to bring back gold , the Canadians have a talented team that includes three prospects from the Orange and Black. Along with Bonk, Jett Luchanko and Carson Bjarnason will don the maple leaf. One player who will not be there is Denver Barkey. The Flyers prospect was one of the final cuts for the second straight year.

Bonk, 19, is surely focused on not only building off a strong performance from 2024 but ending this tournament on a better note than when he redirected Czechia’s game-winning goal into his own net in the quarterfinals last season.

The blueliner, who Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr told The Inquirer is “obviously very intelligent, plays a pro-style game,” has six goals and 21 points in 24 games for London of the Ontario Hockey League this season. He is slotted in the Canadian squad’s second pairing with 2025 draft prospect Matthew Schaefer, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like “Bumper Bonk” will make an appearance. Instead, Bonk, who has 10 of his 21 points on the power play, will quarterback Canada’s top unit according to TSN,

Coming off a four-game NHL stint, Luchanko is set to debut at the U20 tournament. The 18-year-old speedster left Guelph of the OHL with 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) and three game-winners in 16 games. He is set to center the Canadians’ third line with Utah prospect Cole Beaudoin and Ethan Gauthier, a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect.

“He plays right, he doesn’t cheat the game,” Flahr told The Inquirer about Luchanko. “He competes, brings speed, brings energy, creates chances, and also his defensive details are pretty elite for a young player. … So it’ll be an exciting tournament for him. I know they’re excited to have him. They’ll use him in a bunch of different roles and he’ll be playing in key situations against top players in the world. So it’ll be a great experience for him.”

Bjarnason, 19, is the third Flyer with Canada but it’s too early to tell how much time he will get at the tournament as the team has three goalies. He didn’t have the best numbers playing for Canada last season, going 4-2 with a 3.51 goals-against average and .849 save percentage at the 2023 U18s but, that was more than a year ago. Bjarnason left Brandon of the Western Hockey League with the WHL’s top save percentage (. 913) and sixth-best goals-against average (2.90).

There was no stopping Heikki Ruohonen from booking a ticket to Ottawa.

Two weeks ago, the Flyers’ 2024 fourth-round pick suffered a broken jaw during warm-ups. He was cleared to play and will sport a full cage and Finland’s jersey on Thursday against Canada (7:30 p.m., NHL Network).

Skating for Dubuque of the United States Hockey League before he heads to Harvard University in 2026, Ruohonen has five goals and 12 points in 19 games this season.

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Jack Berglund, a 2024 second-round pick of the Flyers, was expected to play for Sweden, but the center suffered an injury in a pretournament game against Germany on Dec. 23. The 18-year-old split time this season between Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League and its junior club. He put up 18 points in 28 games across the two levels before recently being loaned to BIK Karlskoga where he has skated in two games for the second-division club.

“[He’s] had a good year over there, bouncing between the Swedish Elite League, which is a hard league for young guys,” said Flahr who frequently dealt with Färjestad during his tenure with Minnesota. “But he’s played his role well there and they sent him down to the junior league to get ice time minutes and he managed it pretty well. He played a couple of games in the Allsvenskan as well. They’ve got a good program.”

General manager Danny Brière, Flahr, and their staff will be in Ottawa for the World Juniors. While they will watch the players already in their system, their focus will be on the players who could join them in next year’s draft.

According to Flahr, the 2025 NHL draft has some quality players at the top end but isn’t quite as deep as this past June’s draft. Several top-tier prospects will be vying for gold. American James Hagens is expected to have a big tournament and is in a three-horse race for the No. 1 spot in the 2025 draft with Canada’s Porter Martone and Schaefer.

Hagens has long been projected as the No. 1 guy. The Boston College freshman has 20 points in 16 games for the Eagles this season. Schaefer has 22 points in 17 games for Erie of the OHL.

Martone ranks No. 2 in the OHL with 54 points (21 goals, 33 assists) in 26 games for Brampton. He trails Michael Misa of Saginaw who has 61 points (30 goals, 31 assists) in 30 games. Misa’s name in the No. 1 overall conversation as well but he was not selected for Canada’s team.

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“Obviously there’s different levels of kids. Canada has two top-end guys in the draft in Schaefer and Martone, and we’ve seen them a lot,” Flahr said. “I think both guys should have significant roles and it will be interesting. And then the U.S. team, Hagens and [Logan] Hensler will be guys who will be interesting and they should have solid roles as well.

“But there’s some other players on other countries that we’ll be keying in on more for — not all of them are first-rounders or high first-round picks — but players that we will focus on and slot properly, but it’s a great environment. … It’s a great environment to evaluate, especially in Canada, because the crowds are hostile, it’s a crazy environment, and some of these kids have never played in front of more than parents, agents, and family members. So it’s a big jump for some of these kids from other countries.”

One intriguing guy to keep an eye on for the 2026 draft is Canadian Gavin McKenna. The recently turned 17-year-old winger for Medicine Hat leads the WHL in points (60) and assists (41) in 30 games. He is the favorite to go No. 1 overall in 2026.

As always, there are a few local kids to cheer on.

USA Hockey’s Max Plante, a forward, is the son of former Flyers forward Derek Plante. The elder Plante had three points in 12 regular-season games and one assist in five playoff games for the Orange and Black after signing as a free agent in 2000. A member of the 1999 Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars and a longtime Buffalo Sabre, Plante also played 57 games for the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League in 2000-01, registering 53 points.

Derek Plante, who is now an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks, previously coached at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where Max now plays. The Detroit Red Wings prospect has six points in five games.

Gauthier, who is skating on a line with Luchanko, is the son of Denis Gauthier. The former Flyers defenseman skated in 60 regular-season games across two seasons and had four assists. He played in six playoff games in 2006 and spent the 2007-08 season with the Phantoms, notching 18 points before being traded to the Los Angeles Kings.

Ethan Gauthier plays for Drummondville of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League and has 35 points in 24 games.

Kazakhstan returns to the top division after winning the Division I Group A of the World Junior Championship last season. The country has played in the top division six times since 2000 and will be in the weaker Pool B beginning on Thursday.

And while you’re probably wondering why we’re mentioning Kazakhstan, the Philly area should cheer on Abzal Alibek.

The Kazakhstan-born forward plays for the Philadelphia Rebels of the North American Hockey League. The 18-year-old has five points in 17 games, including three in his last two games, for the Rebels. He wore the “C” for Kazakhstan at the 2024 U18 tournament and had five points in five games.

One local kid who we won’t be able to watch this year is forward Chris Pelosi. The Sewell native, who played at Gloucester Catholic in 2019-20, was a final cut for USA Hockey. He has five points in 15 games for Quinnipiac University this season.