It’s all about building. 

That’s the message for the Americans heading into the World Junior Summer Showcase that kicks off Friday at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan. 

“It’s truly a build,” general manager John Vanbiesbrouck said. “We have our returners, so we get to see what we have in the scope of guys who are both going back to college and entering college. So, with the build we have to see where everybody’s going, put them in a depth chart and then kind of cast into that depth chart who is L1, C1, R1 and then see how far the list can go down from there.”

The summer showcase will take place July 26 through Aug. 3, and the Americans will have two teams, a blue and white squad, that will play separate games the first two days before narrowing down the U.S. roster for games against Finland, Sweden, and Canada. All games will be available to watch on USAHockeyTV.com.

For the United States, the Showcase is also about building toward potential history. 

The U.S. will enter the 2025 World Juniors in Ottawa as the defending champion and no doubt a medal contender. The Americans, who along with 10 potential returning players as well as their entire coaching staff, have never won back-to-back titles.

“I would say we have a foundation that has to be tweaked over the next four or five months,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “I think we are blessed with such great depth that the people that help us, our scouts and our coaching staff, has a really good beat on the heartbeat of this team from this point on when we start the Summer Showcase.”

While Will Smith likely won’t be back to defend a medal after signing with the San Jose Sharks, the Americans could have a leadership core built around Ryan Leonard, Oliver Moore, Gabe Perrault, Zeev Buium and Trey Augustine.

“We kind of want to see them grow as leaders. You aren’t going to learn much about them as players, we know all of that, but we get to see how this age group, the 2005s, steps in and leads the team,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “And then we get to see some of the other competitions coming up as well from the 2006s and 2007s.”

One particularly intriguing younger name will be James Hagens, who was invited to last year’s Summer Showcase but was ultimately not selected for the U.S. National Junior Team. Hagens is the presumptive No. 1 pick for the 2026 NHL Draft and is going to play at Boston College this fall as a 17-year-old (he turns 18 on Nov. 3). 

Cole Eiserman, who set the NTDP career goal record back in May, is going to be a point of focus as well after the New York Islanders took him with the 20th pick at the 2024 NHL Draft. Vanbiesbrouck also had high praise for Cole Hutson and Teddy Stiga as potential additions to the team this year. 

In goal there’s some certainty that it’ll be Augustine’s net throughout the tournament. Augustine has been the No. 1 goalie for the Americans at the Under-20 level the past two years, and even made his senior debut this past spring at the IIHF World Championship. 

Sam Hillebrandt was the third-string goalie on the gold medal-winning team and could be the backup, and Vanbiesbrouck noted he’s also looking forward to see the three other netminders who have been invited, including Hampton Slukynsky, Carsen Musser and Nick Kempf.

It doesn’t change the mentality or the approach for the U.S., but there will be more of test at this Showcase with Canada entering the event for the first time since 2019. 

“It’s great to have them back,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “We work fairly well together, and it’s just the highest of challenges. We want to put ourselves under the greatest of tests in order to find out more about ourselves, and I think that’s my view of it. You have to be put under the greatest test to find out more about your players.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.