Canada/USA Team Previews & 2024 Draft Prospects to Watch at the World Juniors

THW Prospect Corner crew discusses how the rosters are shaping up, and we dive into some players to watch

The Hockey Writers' prospects experts Logan Horn, Matthew Zator, and Peter Baracchini get together to preview the upcoming 2024 World Junior Championship with another set of team previews. This time they discuss Canada and the USA.

In this week’s episode, the Prospect Corner crew talks about the roles Macklin Celebrini and Matt Poitras will play for Canada, the reasons Hunter Brzustewicz didn’t make Team USA, both team’s goaltending situations, and much more!

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2024 Draft Eligibles To Watch at the World Juniors

The World Juniors are always filled to the brim with much of the best young talent that the hockey world has to offer. Since it is a U20 tournament, most of the players competing are 18 or 19 simply because they’ve had more time to physically mature and to develop their skills.

Macklin Celebrini Team Canada (HOCKEY CANADA IMAGES / MATTHEW MURNAGHAN)

However, each year there is a small handful of prospects who crack the lineups of their respective nations despite being young enough to have never been eligible for the NHL Draft. Today we’re going to be taking a look at the very best prospects competing at this year’s tournament who will be eligible to be drafted for the first next June at the 2024 Draft.

note: I’m only including first-year draft eligible prospects, and even then I’ll be avoiding a handful who have incredibly minor chances of being selected in the upcoming draft.

Team USA

Zeev Buium, LD, University of Denver (NCAA)

Few prospects have increased their draft stock as much as Zeev Buium through the first half of the 2024 season. Once viewed as an undersized defenseman without significant enough offense to offset his physical weakness, Buium has grown closer to 6-feet tall and has proved that his offensive game is more than good enough to tear up the NCAA.

At the time he left the NCAA to join Team USA, Buium was third in scoring among all players, leading all defensemen, even high-end NHL prospects like Scott Morrow, Sean Behrens, and Lane Hutson, not to mention fellow 2024 Draft eligible prospect Artyom Levshunov. While he has caught up in the size and offensive departments, Buium’s defensive game has remained solid this season, making him look like the most complete defender at the top of this year’s draft.

Buium may not have the highest ceiling or the biggest role for Team USA at this year’s tournament, but I expect he will make himself a valuable piece for this American team that lacks a true number one defender. Buium appears to be playing as a consistent top-four defender at this point and I think there’s a real chance he’s trusted with tougher minutes than either of Hutson or Seamus Casey.

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