San Jose Sharks forward Will Smith will join Team USA at the 2025 IIHF World Championship.
Smith did not confirm nor deny that he was headed to Worlds during his exit interview with Sharks media members. On Wednesday, Sheng Peng of SJHN confirmed that the 20-year-old is headed to Sweden.
Smith joins Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky, who was named the bench boss for Team USA.
Fellow Sharks teammates Macklin Celebrini, William Eklund, and Alexander Wennberg also play at the 2025 Worlds. Celebrini will play for Canada while Eklund and Wennberg will be teammates for the host nation of Sweden.
“Yeah, I am,” Smith said with a big smile, excited about potentially playing against the Celebrini.
Celebrini said he’s excited to play against his best friend and San Jose Sharks teammate.
Wennberg wasn’t asked about playing against Smith, but did have a big smile when asked about facing Celebrini.
“We’re going to have them in the group stage, so it’s going to be fun to play against him,” Wennberg said. “I’ve always played with him, [so I’m] excited to see how big of a pain he is on the ice.”
The full rosters for each country haven’t been revealed, but more names of NHL players joining the tournament are coming out. On Wednesday, Utah HC’s Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller announced they’d be headed to Sweden to play for Team USA.
The tournament will begin on May 9 and will primarily be played in Stockholm, Sweden. Herning, Denmark, will also host some tournament games.
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