If you’re given a chance to make an impression, it helps to make a good one. That seems to be the approach taken by Calgary Flames prospect Theo Stockselius, who suited up for Sweden at the recent under-20 5 Nations event in Chomutov, Czechia.

In terms of precursor events for the 2026 World Junior Championship tournament, there are only a handful on the calendar.

Back in July, in the first precursor event, USA Hockey’s Summer Showcase, Canada and the United States sent big groups – basically two teams apiece – and tried to evaluate everyone that way. Finland and Sweden, knowing that they would have a couple in-season opportunities at a pair of 5 Nations tournaments to try out different looks, sent their “A” teams to the Summer Showcase.

Last week, Stockselius was included in Sweden’s “B” team at the 5 Nations. By all accounts, he played pretty well.

In three games – the fourth game against Slovakia was cancelled after everyone on the Slovak team caught a virus – Stockselius had two goals and two assists for four points. He started the tournament centring the second line and finished up playing wing on the first line alongside Vegas prospect Jakob Ihs-Wozniak and Washington prospect Milton Gastrin.

Of the Swedish players at the 5 Nations, only Ihs-Wozniak had more goals than Stockselius. And the duo both tied for the team lead in points. Sweden sent their big guns to the Summer Showcase, and so the group they sent to Chomutov had less star power. The challenge likely laid to the handful of NHL draftees at the event was “Hey, find a way to stand out.”

Well, Stockselius found a way to stand out. Yeah, his offensive production was skewed towards special teams more than five-on-five, but that’s to be expected in an environment where everyone is bringing pretty good teams – Finland’s second-tier U20 group is still pretty good.

Sweden brought 14 forwards to last year’s World Juniors. Only two of them are eligible to return to this year’s event, but competition will be fierce for the dozen spots that might be available. As someone that wasn’t in the Summer Showcase grouping, Stockselius was probably on the outside looking in. With the November 5 Nations event still to come, he’s done a really nice job making sure he remains on the national team’s radar for the World Juniors.

Stockselius worked his way onto the under-18 national team a year ago. Perhaps he can do it again with their World Junior squad.

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