What would you change about the World Juniors?
Now partway through its elimination rounds, the 2026 World Junior Championship will soon come to an end. It’s a tournament that inspires wildly different feelings and levels of enthusiasm depending on the nation, and it hasn’t gotten a ton of airtime in the DFO Roundtable space.
Today, we fix that. If you could change anything about the World Juniors, what would it be?
MATT LARKIN: I would stage it in Canada every year. I don’t say that as a homer. I say that as a pragmatist with eyes. In Europe, the World Championship is a bigger deal than the World Juniors. In the United States, this year’s tourney has answered the question of how well American fans can sustain the attendance in a political climate that has Canadians more hesitant to cross the border. The crowds in the round-robin were cringeworthy at times. And if you chart the annual attendance, with Canada hosting every second year, the bar graph looks like a mountain range, spiking every time it’s here. Call it a tourney manufactured by TSN or whatever you want it to – but there’s no denying Canadians embrace the event more. So why not just let the WJC live there? You’d give Canada a permanent hometown crowd advantage, I know, but maybe it’s offset by the additional pressure Canada feels. Don’t like the idea, other nations? Then show up when you host the tourney.
STEVEN ELLIS: The one thing I’ll say about hosting it only in Canada is that the lack of attendance has been a talking point plenty of times when it’s been in Canada – even in Ottawa for non-Canada games. It’s a hard thing to fix, because there’s a ton of games during the work day, so shelling out $50+ to watch two teams you aren’t invested in doesn’t make a ton of sense. That being said, ticket prices are way too wild – tickets need to be $30 max. That might force tournaments to play in smaller rinks, but I can’t imagine having 70% empty arenas is a profitable adventure. Start partnering with schools – I saw how impactful that was at the 2024 U-18 World Championship. Non-Finnish games were close to sellouts, and they were incredible. It’s too unaffordable for the average fan. You can get cheaper tickets on resale markets – I’ve seen as low as $7 for Canadian games in Minnesota – but if you want people to care, the price can’t match NHL tickets. Also, time to start selling jerseys from other teams at the rink.
PAUL PIDUTTI: One thing I’d love to change is having it be a true best-on-best. Playing an event without star NHL teens Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer feels like an Olympics without Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon. But the holiday timing of the event is perfect, so let’s not go there. So, I’ll suggest the tournament drops from 10 to eight teams. Yes, I know Canada has shockingly had a hard time with Latvia the last two years. But including a couple of teams that have almost no chance of winning a game always feels pointless. Are any of Denmark, Germany, Norway, Kazakhstan, Austria, etc. really seeing their programs advance by going 0-4 and getting waxed annually in the event? I’m not so sure. Wouldn’t they be better served as part of a stronger field in the annual ‘Division I’ event with the second tier of junior hockey powers? There are always a half-dozen games that are barely watchable 9-1 snoozefests that pad stat sheets and that no one pays to watch. I think the event would be more interesting and played at a higher intensity in a slightly shorter, more competitive eight-team tournament where every game is must-watch.
SCOTT MAXWELL: I’ll be honest, I treat the World Juniors the same way I do Star Wars these days: it is very fun to watch and shut my brain off to, but ultimately I don’t take it too seriously and it’s not all that relevant in the grand scope of things. Because of that, I don’t really have any strong takes on the tournament from a business or operations perspective. But if there’s one thing I hate about the World Juniors (and is also something the tournament shares with Star Wars), it’s the fans. The number of people who take this tournament too seriously and lose their minds when their team disappoints is embarrassing, especially from Canadians and how they attack teenagers and young adults over a bad game. So I’d put in place a social media screening at ticket purchase and deny access to fans who are toxic to players online. Let these anonymous hacks face the consequences of their own actions! You want to berate a teenager for a bad game on his Instagram or Twitter? All the power to ya! Just know the next time you get tickets to the World Juniors, you’re not going to get in. It doesn’t have to be an outright ban, but perhaps it’s a tiered system depending on how often they do it, going from a warning to a ban from one tournament to several years to a lifetime ban depending on how much of a problem they are. It’s ultimately a silly idea that will never happen and is counterproductive to the ticket sale concerns, but I think it would do wonders to the toxicity surrounding this tournament and hold people accountable for their actions.
MIKE GOULD: My suggestion works in concert with Matt’s, but it’s a little different: I’d add two more host cities from different regions of Canada. I would try to stage the tournament across the country each year. Picture this: Three groups of three teams, all playing in three different regions of Canada. Put one group in Calgary at their brand-new rink, another in Winnipeg, and a third in Halifax. The next year, put the groups in Victoria, Saskatoon, and Quebec City. Decentralize it — that way, you’ll get the whole country involved, and due to scarcity, more fans at each game. Then, for the medal rounds, have everyone descend upon one of the three cities and hold each game there. Is it stupid? Sure. Would it be prohibitively expensive? Yes. Would you need to shave the pool of teams from 10 to 9? OK, why not. Am I coming up with this while all drugged up on cough and cold medication? You’ve got that right. But even for just one year, it’d be cool.
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