photo: Andre Ringuette/IIHF
There will be no shortage of talent on display in Fribourg over the next two weeks as eight teams in Group B fight variously to qualify for the playoffs (top four) and avoid relegation (last-place team). This group has three legitimate gold-medal contenders in Canada, Czechia, and Sweden, but as we learned last year when the Danes beat a stacked Team Canada, nothing is guaranteed.
Canada
There are some young players on Team Canada this year, but for fans of hockey the first name that leaps off the page is Sidney Crosby. He went a long time without playing for Canada, but this will now be his fourth major event in the last 15 months (4 Nations Faceoff, 2025 Worlds, Olympics, 2026 Worlds). He’ll be joined by Olympics teammate Macklin Celebrini and 2024 captain John Tavares. Mark Schiefele and Morgan Rielly add to the star power.
Meanwhile, coach Misha Donskov will also have some young stars like goalie Jack Ivankovic, who won a gold medal at the 2025 U18. As well, 20-year-old Emmitt Finnie had a solid season with Detroit, and Dawson Mercer won gold at the 2020 World Juniors as well as silver at the 2022 senior World Championship. There is no doubt Canada is the early favourite in Group B.
Czechia
The Czechs placed a disappointing 8th in Milan with their best available roster, and eight players from that team will play in Fribourg. Leading the charge is 40-year-old captain Roman Cervenka. He is the only active player with more than 100 WM games to his credit (103), and he was named the IIHF’s Player of the Year in 2023-24. Filip Hronek, who led the team with five assists at the Olympics, will anchor the blue line. The Vancouver Canucks defender led the Czechs with 25:06 ice time in Milan. Michal Kempny and Jiri Tichacek are also back.
Coach Radim Rulik returns for a third year, trying to replicate that gold medal on home ice in 2024. His forwards will come mostly from the Czech league, notably Lukas Sedlak and Jakub Flek. But his goalies are all inexperienced. Dominik Pavlat is making his debut with the national team while Petr Kvaca was a backup in 2021. Josef Korenar, who played at the 2016 U18 and 2018 World Juniors, will also be making his WM debut at age 28.
Denmark
Some 13 players from Milan will be in Switzerland for the Danes, who finished 9th. But they can also look back to their incredible tournament in 2025 when they stunned Crosby’s Canadians 2-1 in the quarter-finals and advanced to the bronze-medal game for the first time. Key to the offence will be Nick Olesen. The 28-year-old will be playing his sixth WM. He scored that winning goal against Canada, with only 49 seconds left in regulation, and he also led the team with four goals and five points in four games at the Olympics.
Frederik Dichow will be back in goal, and he will have an experienced group of defenders in front of him—Markus Lauridsen, Anders Koch, Phillip Bruggisser, and Jesper Jensen Aabo, who will be in his 15th WM. In all, eight forwards from the Olympics will be in the lineup for coach Mikael Gath, who is back behind the bench for a third World Championship.
Italy
The Italians last played in the top level of the World Championships in 2022. They finished 15th and were demoted, but they did play at the Olympics this past February at home, in Milan. Although they finished last of 12 teams, that experience will be invaluable for players in Fribourg now. Importantly, Finnish coach Jukka Jalonen is back. He has three Men’s Worlds golds and an Olympic gold to his credit, so it’s impossible to overstate his importance to the program.
The only goalie returning from Milan is Davide Fadani, who played parts of three games. Four defenders are back, but on a team that scored just four goals at the Olympics, none of the defenders counted even one. Phil Pietroniro tied for the team lead with two assists, and up front Matt Bradley, a Canadian transplant who scored two of those four goals, is, indeed, back. Jalonen’s big worry is offence, and trying to figure out how to generate more goals.
Norway
Petter Thoresen is back behind the bench for Norway, which failed to qualify for the Olympics and finished 12th at last year’s World Championship. Thoresen was the national team coach from 2017 to 2022, after which Tobias Johansson took over. Most of this 2026 roster comes from the domestic league, and Thoresen has a nice blend of old and new. Goalie Henrik Haukeland, 31, will be in his eighth WM, while forward Andreas Martinsen, the oldest player on the team at 35, will be dressing for his 14th.
Mikkel Erisksen is only 18 and playing in Sweden. He has two U18s and two U20s under his belt and will be making his senior debut. Tinus Luc Koblar is another 18-year-old who has pretty much the same resume as Eriksen. They are dynamic stars of Norway’s future. Norway managed only 13 goals last year in seven games, so Thoresen’s biggest challenge will be trying to figure out how to get a few more pucks over the goal line.
Slovakia
The Slovaks lost the bronze-medal game in Milan but finished a distant 11th at last year’s World Championship. Coach Vladimir Orszagh will have only one defender from Milan, Patrik Koch, who will be playing in his fourth successive WM. And only three forwards are back—Oliver Okuliar, Adam Liska, and Martin Pospisil. We will get a good sense of Slovakia’s depth, or lack thereof, in the coming two weeks.
Two of the three goalies will be back, however. Adam Gajan and Samuel Hlavaj both have experience with the national team and will carry the load. Forward Filip Mesar was drafted 26th overall by Montreal in 2022, and he is currently with the Habs’ farm team, the Laval Rocket. He has yet to get a call to the Show, but he played in three World Juniors for Slovakia (2023-25). Adam Sykora, another 2022 draftee, got into his first NHL games this past season with the New York Rangers after spending most of the last three years in the AHL.
Slovenia
The Slovenes didn’t qualify for Milan, and last year they finished 13th and stayed in the top pool principally because of a key 3-1 win over France. All three goalscorers from that game will be back this year—Zan Jezovsek, Nik Simsic, and Matic Torok. The winning goalie, Lukas Horak, who stopped 28 of 29 shots, is also back. One young player to watch is Jan Golicic, a 19-year-old defender with Gatineau in the QMJHL. He was drafted 118th overall by Tampa Bay in 2024 and has been progressing well in the Q. Now, after playing in the U18 and U20 in the lower divisions, he gets his first chance to prove himself at the highest level.
Of course, when you think of Slovenia, the name Blaz Gregorc must come to mind first. He has played for the national team continuously since 2006, junior then senior, top level and lower divisions. The 36-year-old defender who plays domestically for HK Olimpija will be in his seventh top-level WM and his 12th overall.
Sweden
Tre Kronor won bronze a year ago thanks to a 6-2 victory over Denmark for third place, but they followed that with a 7th-place finish in Milan after losing to the Americans, 2-1 in overtime, in the quarter-finals. And, as always, they have more NHLers than any European team (ten this year). On defence, they can boast two world-class players in Oliver Ekman Larsson (Toronto) and Mattias Ekholm (Edmonton). Anton Frondell (Chicago) played his first NHL games recently after helping Sweden win gold at the World Juniors for the first time since 2012.
And although Lucas Raymond is only 24, it seems as though he’s been around forever. He has won medals at U18, U20, and WM, and he led Tre Kronor in assists (8) and points (9) in Milan. Ivar Stenberg is another top prospect. He is draft eligible this summer. He also won World Junior gold this past January, leading the team in scoring with ten points. That medal joins a U18 silver from the previous year.
Canada
There are some young players on Team Canada this year, but for fans of hockey the first name that leaps off the page is Sidney Crosby. He went a long time without playing for Canada, but this will now be his fourth major event in the last 15 months (4 Nations Faceoff, 2025 Worlds, Olympics, 2026 Worlds). He’ll be joined by Olympics teammate Macklin Celebrini and 2024 captain John Tavares. Mark Schiefele and Morgan Rielly add to the star power.
Meanwhile, coach Misha Donskov will also have some young stars like goalie Jack Ivankovic, who won a gold medal at the 2025 U18. As well, 20-year-old Emmitt Finnie had a solid season with Detroit, and Dawson Mercer won gold at the 2020 World Juniors as well as silver at the 2022 senior World Championship. There is no doubt Canada is the early favourite in Group B.
Czechia
The Czechs placed a disappointing 8th in Milan with their best available roster, and eight players from that team will play in Fribourg. Leading the charge is 40-year-old captain Roman Cervenka. He is the only active player with more than 100 WM games to his credit (103), and he was named the IIHF’s Player of the Year in 2023-24. Filip Hronek, who led the team with five assists at the Olympics, will anchor the blue line. The Vancouver Canucks defender led the Czechs with 25:06 ice time in Milan. Michal Kempny and Jiri Tichacek are also back.
Coach Radim Rulik returns for a third year, trying to replicate that gold medal on home ice in 2024. His forwards will come mostly from the Czech league, notably Lukas Sedlak and Jakub Flek. But his goalies are all inexperienced. Dominik Pavlat is making his debut with the national team while Petr Kvaca was a backup in 2021. Josef Korenar, who played at the 2016 U18 and 2018 World Juniors, will also be making his WM debut at age 28.
Denmark
Some 13 players from Milan will be in Switzerland for the Danes, who finished 9th. But they can also look back to their incredible tournament in 2025 when they stunned Crosby’s Canadians 2-1 in the quarter-finals and advanced to the bronze-medal game for the first time. Key to the offence will be Nick Olesen. The 28-year-old will be playing his sixth WM. He scored that winning goal against Canada, with only 49 seconds left in regulation, and he also led the team with four goals and five points in four games at the Olympics.
Frederik Dichow will be back in goal, and he will have an experienced group of defenders in front of him—Markus Lauridsen, Anders Koch, Phillip Bruggisser, and Jesper Jensen Aabo, who will be in his 15th WM. In all, eight forwards from the Olympics will be in the lineup for coach Mikael Gath, who is back behind the bench for a third World Championship.
Italy
The Italians last played in the top level of the World Championships in 2022. They finished 15th and were demoted, but they did play at the Olympics this past February at home, in Milan. Although they finished last of 12 teams, that experience will be invaluable for players in Fribourg now. Importantly, Finnish coach Jukka Jalonen is back. He has three Men’s Worlds golds and an Olympic gold to his credit, so it’s impossible to overstate his importance to the program.
The only goalie returning from Milan is Davide Fadani, who played parts of three games. Four defenders are back, but on a team that scored just four goals at the Olympics, none of the defenders counted even one. Phil Pietroniro tied for the team lead with two assists, and up front Matt Bradley, a Canadian transplant who scored two of those four goals, is, indeed, back. Jalonen’s big worry is offence, and trying to figure out how to generate more goals.
Norway
Petter Thoresen is back behind the bench for Norway, which failed to qualify for the Olympics and finished 12th at last year’s World Championship. Thoresen was the national team coach from 2017 to 2022, after which Tobias Johansson took over. Most of this 2026 roster comes from the domestic league, and Thoresen has a nice blend of old and new. Goalie Henrik Haukeland, 31, will be in his eighth WM, while forward Andreas Martinsen, the oldest player on the team at 35, will be dressing for his 14th.
Mikkel Erisksen is only 18 and playing in Sweden. He has two U18s and two U20s under his belt and will be making his senior debut. Tinus Luc Koblar is another 18-year-old who has pretty much the same resume as Eriksen. They are dynamic stars of Norway’s future. Norway managed only 13 goals last year in seven games, so Thoresen’s biggest challenge will be trying to figure out how to get a few more pucks over the goal line.
Slovakia
The Slovaks lost the bronze-medal game in Milan but finished a distant 11th at last year’s World Championship. Coach Vladimir Orszagh will have only one defender from Milan, Patrik Koch, who will be playing in his fourth successive WM. And only three forwards are back—Oliver Okuliar, Adam Liska, and Martin Pospisil. We will get a good sense of Slovakia’s depth, or lack thereof, in the coming two weeks.
Two of the three goalies will be back, however. Adam Gajan and Samuel Hlavaj both have experience with the national team and will carry the load. Forward Filip Mesar was drafted 26th overall by Montreal in 2022, and he is currently with the Habs’ farm team, the Laval Rocket. He has yet to get a call to the Show, but he played in three World Juniors for Slovakia (2023-25). Adam Sykora, another 2022 draftee, got into his first NHL games this past season with the New York Rangers after spending most of the last three years in the AHL.
Slovenia
The Slovenes didn’t qualify for Milan, and last year they finished 13th and stayed in the top pool principally because of a key 3-1 win over France. All three goalscorers from that game will be back this year—Zan Jezovsek, Nik Simsic, and Matic Torok. The winning goalie, Lukas Horak, who stopped 28 of 29 shots, is also back. One young player to watch is Jan Golicic, a 19-year-old defender with Gatineau in the QMJHL. He was drafted 118th overall by Tampa Bay in 2024 and has been progressing well in the Q. Now, after playing in the U18 and U20 in the lower divisions, he gets his first chance to prove himself at the highest level.
Of course, when you think of Slovenia, the name Blaz Gregorc must come to mind first. He has played for the national team continuously since 2006, junior then senior, top level and lower divisions. The 36-year-old defender who plays domestically for HK Olimpija will be in his seventh top-level WM and his 12th overall.
Sweden
Tre Kronor won bronze a year ago thanks to a 6-2 victory over Denmark for third place, but they followed that with a 7th-place finish in Milan after losing to the Americans, 2-1 in overtime, in the quarter-finals. And, as always, they have more NHLers than any European team (ten this year). On defence, they can boast two world-class players in Oliver Ekman Larsson (Toronto) and Mattias Ekholm (Edmonton). Anton Frondell (Chicago) played his first NHL games recently after helping Sweden win gold at the World Juniors for the first time since 2012.
And although Lucas Raymond is only 24, it seems as though he’s been around forever. He has won medals at U18, U20, and WM, and he led Tre Kronor in assists (8) and points (9) in Milan. Ivar Stenberg is another top prospect. He is draft eligible this summer. He also won World Junior gold this past January, leading the team in scoring with ten points. That medal joins a U18 silver from the previous year.