If you’re a prospect fan, this is your favorite time of the year. The 2025 World Juniors are officially underway.
The Flyers will have four prospects playing in the tournament, though they had five named to their respective countries’ rosters.
Jack Berglund, named to Sweden’s roster, suffered an injury in the final preliminary round game and will not be able to participate in the tournament. It was revealed that he suffered a double hand fracture after being hit with a puck in an awkward spot.
Berglund was expected to be a valuable depth center for Sweden so this is a decent loss for the team. This could also cost him some significant time when he returns to either his SHL or J20 team.
The other Flyers’ prospects at the tournament are Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, and Carson Bjarnason for Canada. Heikki Ruohonen was named to Finland’s roster.
Four Flyers’ prospects to participate in World Juniors
The World Juniors will get underway on Dec. 26, starting with Slovakia and Sweden at noon. All four of Philadelphia’s prospects will play in the final game of the day at 7:30 p.m.
Bonk is the only returning member from last year’s team. He will have a sour taste in his month from how things went in the tournament previously. Bonk has been on the second pair with Matthew Schaefer.
Luchanko most recently centered the third line in Canada’s final preliminary game. Bjarnason will start as a scratch in the tournament as he has not been registered on Canada’s roster. He was expected to have a shot to be the team’s starting goaltender.
Ruohonen is in his first season with the Dubuque Fighting Saints. The Harvard commit is off to a solid start in the USHL. He has five goals and 12 points in 19 games. This won’t be the first time Ruohonen plays internationally for Finland. In the WJC-18 last season, he had five points in five games.