The IIHF World Championships are often looked at as a lesser international tournament that doesn’t rise anywhere close to the same quality and prestige of the Winter Olympic tourneys when it comes to the sport of hockey, or even to events like the World Cup and highly entertaining 4 Nations Faceoff that the NHL has concocted over the years.
It’s looked at more as the tournament for NHL players not in the Stanley Cup playoffs, young up-and-coming prospects and for guys that tread the line between AHL star players and established NHL roster guys.
But it can still be an extremely useful experience for the players involved and ultimately provides a proving and development ground for young players still looking to cement their reputations at the highest levels of hockey.
And even this season, the World Championships have players like Sidney Crosby, Mack Celebrini, Aleksander Barkov, Roman Josi, and Matthew Tkachuk suiting up for their countries, so it’s high-level hockey.
It worked last spring as a place where Jeremy Swayman could leave behind his struggles of a couple of years ago when he helped lead Team USA to its first World Championship gold medal in 92 years. That golden experience fed directly into this past season in Boston, where he played his way into being a Vezina Trophy finalist while leading the Bruins back into the Stanley Cup playoffs after a one-year hiatus.
“To finally do it, to win a gold medal, it was unbelievable,” said Swayman. “That tournament for me, personally, was a great cap to a year I wanted better from. To just let it go and just play my game again, I found a lot.
“As soon as it gets to that [world championship] playoff atmosphere, a different breed comes out. You just let everything go. You play your game. Because you know there’s a reward at the end of it all.”
There’s a new group of Bruins players at the world championships this season, of course, looking to use that experience as a springboard for next season, but thus far it’s led to some very mixed results for the Black and Gold contingent.
At the top of the list is 21-year-old Fraser Minten, who has absolutely shone as a fourth-line center for Team Canada, with a goal and three points in three games, along with a plus-2 rating. He was Canada’s player of the game in their opening win over Team Sweden, and it’s a credit to him that he was chosen to play center on a Canadian roster packed with center-types at the forward spot.
Fraser Minten on the board for Team Canada as his line continues to dominate at World Championships pic.twitter.com/Wp3t5x0FvG
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) May 16, 2026
Everybody even got a little peek into his personality on the ice, with this interaction with the ref crew, letting them know he’s getting cross-checked without any calls.
Fraser Minten talking to refs like this is a side of him I didn’t know existed https://t.co/r0NwBWeh3r pic.twitter.com/fqzod3uyIP
— Robert Chalmers (@IvanIvanlvan) May 19, 2026
Alex Steeves ended his Bruins season getting back into the Black and Gold lineup at the end of the playoffs, and he’s been excellent for a Team USA group that has struggled without the talent in their lineup of last season’s American team. Steeves has a goal and two points in four games for Team USA and he’s consistently been playing the wing on one of their top two lines to this point in the tournament while being one of their more effective players.
The weekend at Worlds 🌍 pic.twitter.com/KPH1ezBXDr
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) May 18, 2026
Similarly, Mason Lohrei has played a top defensive pairing role for Team USA and has a plus-1 in four games while shouldering a big load for the Americans.
One player that has struggled for Team USA, however, has been 19-year-old James Hagens, as he went scoreless in the first three games while playing the wing on the fourth line, and he was the player bumped out of the lineup when Matthew Tkachuk arrived in Switzerland and helped lead the inconsistent Americans to a desperately-needed shootout win over Team Germany.
Clearly, Hagens was not in a position where it would be easy to be an impactful player for Team USA, and in that way, it was similar to the role he was given with the Bruins during his appearances in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But it also feels very clear, having watched those games, that Hagens is