Blues Prospect Jakub Stancl Shows Up at 2025 World Juniors – Hockey Writer – Blues Prospects

The St. Louis Blues have nine players heading into the 2025 World Junior Championship (WJC), the most of any NHL team, and one of the players who has impressed is Jakub Stancl . Stankel was drafted by the Blues in the third round (106th overall) in 2023 and returns for his final year of tournament eligibility with the Czech Republic.

Stancl ranks in top 3 in WJC points

Stankel is not expected to finish in the top three of the tournament through round robin play. While highly anticipated rising stars Dalibor Dvorsky, Theo Lindstein and Otto Stenberg are the organization's favorites to make a big splash in the game Rising stars shine, but only one makes the top three, and that's Dvorsky. In addition to Stank, the last Czech player to break out in points in the championship is Jiri Kulich, who played alongside Stank in last year's competition.

Stankel, on the other hand, has nine points from five games and is tied for third with Czech teammates Hradec and Dworski. Stankel also scored a hat trick in the Czech Republic's 14-2 victory over Kazakhstan. This is a big break for Stankel compared to six points in seven games last year.

Stankel made his debut with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League (WHL) this season, scoring 32 points in 29 games, showing off his potential offensive talent before reaching the international stage. The move from the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) to the WHL helped him improve his offensive game and compete with the Canadian and American talent that have been dominating the game recently. In his last two seasons with the SHL's Växjö Lakers, he scored just one point in each season and played just eight games in 2022-23 and seven games in 2023-24.

When the tank is on the ice, it's done

With his size, Stankel has proven to be a significant threat to the front line. The 6-foot-3, 198-pounder is not afraid of physical contact and is one of the top two-way forward prospects in the WJC this year. He also ranks in the top three in plus-minus, with a plus-minus of +8–with the Rockets, his plus-minus was +10.

Stankel took on a more physical role on the Czech team last year, playing alongside top prospects Kulic, Matthias Merovski and Ondrej Becher. This year, with all of those players gone, he has more responsibility as a returning player.

If Stancl continues to perform well, he may be worthy of consideration for being the tournament's top plus-minus and top-three player, This is an outstanding achievement for him and adds to the accolades he has received at the WJC. Stankel has yet to win any additional awards at the WJC and could earn top-three player honors in the tournament and be named to the WJC All-Star team.

Steil needs to be consistent in semi-finals

Stankel is expected to continue leading his team into Saturday's semifinals against the United States. He scored twice in the quarter-finals against Canada at last year's World Cup, which ended with a 3-2 victory. He also scored the equalizing goal against Finland (2-2) in the bronze medal match, helping the Czech team avoid relegation and eventually win the bronze medal.

In the Czech team's recent quarter-final victory over Canada, Stankel scored two points, was the biggest contributor in the Czech team's lineup, and will be the number one forward to watch in the semi-finals. Hopefully Stankel can make the subtle contribution he did last year to lead the Czech team to the gold medal.