While the Stanley Cup playoffs rage on across North America, another prominent tournament kicks off in Europe on Friday in the form of the IIHF men’s World Championship.

The event pits 16 countries against each other for international hockey supremacy, and is a pretty wacky tournament in that every national team is fairly cobbled together based on which players from around the world are available and/or healthy at the end of their club team’s season. This year’s edition takes on a bit of additional importance because it’s the final IIHF men’s tournament before the 2026 Olympic hockey tournament in Italy this coming February.

The Calgary Flames may have missed out on the NHL’s post-season, but there are several Flames players representing their countries at this year’s Worlds.

Here’s what you need to know about this year’s event, unfolding in Stockholm, Sweden and Herning, Denmark over the next few weeks.

The teams

Group A

Austria

IIHF Ranking: 13th
2024 Worlds: 10th
NHLers: F Marco Kasper (DET)
Prospects: D Gregor Biber (UTM), F Vinzenz Rohrer (MTL)

Canada

IIHF Ranking: 1st
2024 Worlds: 4th
NHLers: basically everyone
Prospects: G Dylan Garard (NYR)

Finland

IIHF Ranking: 3rd
2024 Worlds: 8th
NHLers: G Justus Annunen (NSH), G Juuse Saros (NSH), D Nikolas Matinpalo (OTT), F Juuso Parssinen (NYR), F Teuvo Teravainen (CHI), F Eeli Tolvanen (SEA)
Prospects: D Atro Leppainen (EDM), F Waltteri Merela (TBL/RFA)

France

IIHF Ranking: 14th
2024 Worlds: 14th
NHLers: F Alexandre Texier (STL)
Prospects: G Antoine Keller (WSH)

Latvia

IIHF Ranking: 10th
2024 Worlds: 9th
NHLers: none
Prospects: F Dans Locmelis (BOS), F Eduards Tralmaks (DET), F Martins Dzierkals (VGK)

Slovakia

IIHF Ranking: 9th
2024 Worlds: 7th
NHLers: none
Prospects: G Samuel Hlavaj (MIN), D Samuel Knazko (CBJ), D Patrik Koch (UTM), F Martin Chromiak (LAK), F Dalibor Dvorsky (STL), F Samuel Honzek (CGY), F Pavol Regenda (SJS), F Adam Sykora (NYR)

Slovenia

IIHF Ranking: 19th
2024 Worlds: finished 1st in Division 1A, earned promotion to Championship division
NHLers: none
Prospects: D Jan Golicic (TBL)

Sweden

IIHF Ranking: 7th
2024 Worlds: bronze medal
NHLers: almost everyone
Prospects: none

Group B

Czechia

IIHF Ranking: 4th
2024 Worlds: gold medal
NHLers: G Dan Vladar (CGY), D Filip Hronzek (VAN), F Jakub Lauko (BOS), F Martin Necas (COL), F David Pastrnak (BOS)
Prospects: D David Spacek (MIN), F Adam Klapka (CGY)

Denmark

IIHF Ranking: 11th
2024 Worlds: 13th
NHLers: none
Prospects: F Oscar Fisker Molgaard (SEA)

Germany

IIHF Ranking: 8th
2024 Worlds: 6th
NHLers: G Philipp Grubauer (SEA), D Moritz Seider (DET), F Lukas Reichel (CHI)
Prospects: G Arno Tiefensee (DAL), D Maksymillian Szuber (UTM), F Josh Samamski (EDM)

Hungary

IIHF Ranking: 18th
2024 Worlds: finished 2nd in Division 1A, earned promotion to Championship division
NHLers: none
Prospects: none

Kazakhstan

IIHF Ranking: 15th
2024 Worlds: 12th
NHLers: none
Prospects: none

Norway

IIHF Ranking: 12th
2024 Worlds: 11th
NHLers: none
Prospects: D Stian Solberg (ANA), F Noah Steen (TBL)

Switzerland

IIHF Ranking: 5th
2024 Worlds: silver medal
NHLers: D Janis Moser (TBL), D Jonas Siegenthaler (NJD), F Nico Hischier (NJD), F Timo Meier (NJD)
Prospects: D Tim Berni (CBJ), F Simon Knak (NSH)

United States

IIHF Ranking: 6th
2024 Worlds: 5th
NHLers: almost everyone
Prospects: D Zeev Buium (MIN), D Cole Hutson (WSH), F Brett Berard (NYR), F Isaac Howard (TBL)

The Flames

Six Flames players are playing in the tournament!

D MacKenzie Weegar, Canada	2nd Worlds (won gold in 2023) Other experience: 2011 WJAC
F Sam Honzek, Slovakia	1st Worlds Senior international debut Other experience: 2021 Hlinka, 2022 D1 U18s, 2022, 2023 & 2024 WJC
F Mikael Backlund, Sweden	6th Worlds (won gold in 2018) Other experience: 2006 Hlinka, 2006 & 2008 U18s, 2008 & 2009 WJC, 2006 World Cup
D Rasmus Andersson, Sweden	1st Worlds Other experience: 2013 Hlinka, 2013 & 2014 U18s, 2024 4 Nations Face-Off
F Adam Klapka, Czechia	1st Worlds Senior international debut Other experience: 2019 WJAC
G Dan Vladar, Czechia	1st Worlds Senior international debut Other experience: 2013 U17s, 2014 Hlinka, 2014 & 2015 U18s, 2015, 2016 & 2017 WJC

The schedule

All times MT. Games with Flames players bolded.

May 9: Austria/Finland (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Switzerland/Czechia (8:20 a.m., TSN4), Sweden/Slovakia (12:20 p.m., TSN1), Denmark/United States (12:20 p.m., TSN4)

May 10: Slovenia/Canada (4:20 a.m., TSN1/4), Norway/Kazakhstan (4:20 a.m., TSN2), Sweden/Austria (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Germany/Hungary (8:20 a.m., TSN4), France/Latvia (12:20 p.m., TSN+), Denmark/Switzerland (12:20 p.m., TSN2)

May 11: Slovakia/Slovenia (4:20 a.m., TSN1), United States/Hungary (4:20 a.m., TSN4), Latvia/Canada (8:20 a.m., TSN1/4), Germany/Kazakhstan (8:20 a.m., TSN+), Finland/France (12:20 p.m., TSN4), Norway/Czechia (12:20 p.m., TSN2)

May 12: Austria/Slovakia (8:20 a.m., TSN1), United States/Switzerland (8:20 a.m., TSN4), Finland/Sweden (12:20 p.m., TSN1), Czechia/Denmark (12:20 p.m., TSN4)

May 13: Slovenia/Latvia (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Norway/Germany (8:20 a.m., TSN4), Canada/France (12:20 p.m., TSN1/4), Kazakhstan/Hungary (12:20 p.m., TSN3)

May 14: Slovakia/France (8:20 a.m., TSN1), United States/Norway (8:20 a.m., TSN4), Latvia/Sweden (12:20 p.m., TSN1), Kazakhstan/Denmark (12:20 p.m., TSN4)

May 15: Finland/Slovenia (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Switzerland/Germany (8:20 a.m., TSN3), Canada/Austria (12:20 p.m., TSN1/3), Czechia/Hungary (12:20 p.m., TSN+)

May 16: Austria/France (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Hungary/Denmark (8:20 a.m., TSN3), Sweden/Slovenia (12:20 p.m., TSN1), Switzerland/Norway (12:20 p.m., TSN3)

May 17: Finland/Latvia (4:20 a.m., TSN1), United States/Germany (4:20 a.m., TSN3), France/Sweden (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Czechia/Kazakhstan (8:20 a.m., TSN3), Canada/Slovakia (12:20 p.m., TSN1/3), Denmark/Norway (12:20 p.m., TSN2)

May 18: Slovenia/Austria (8:20 a.m., TSN3), Kazakhstan/United States (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Slovakia/Latvia (12:20 p.m., TSN3), Hungary/Switzerland (12:20 p.m., TSN+)

May 19: France/Slovenia (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Germany/Czechia (8:20 a.m., TSN4), Canada/Finland (12:20 p.m., TSN1/4), Hungary/Norway (12:20 p.m., TSN2)

May 20: Latvia/Austria (4:20 a.m., TSN1), Switzerland/Kazakhstan (4:20 a.m., TSN4), Slovakia/Finland (8:20 a.m., TSN1), Czechia/United States (8:20 a.m., TSN4), Sweden/Canada (12:20 p.m., TSN1/4), Germany/Denmark (12:20 p.m., TSN2)

The top 4 teams in each group advance to the quarterfinal round. The next three teams don’t make the medal round but remain in the tournament. The last-place team in each group is relegated to Division 1A for next year’s tournament.

May 22: quarterfinals

May 24: semi-finals

May 25: medal games

(We’ll update with the schedule for the medal around when it becomes available.)

Who are you excited to see at the World Championship? Let us know in the comments!

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