What you need to know for the world juniors

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Yesterday's announcement that NHL players will not compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics was a real lump of coal. Luckily, the world junior championship is here to lift our spirits. Exhibition games are taking place today — including Canada vs. Russia at 7 p.m. ET — before the tournament begins on Boxing Day in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alta. Here are some things to know about it:

Canada is favoured to win its third title in six years.

After taking gold in 2018 and 2020 (and missing the podium in between), Canada lost to the United States in the 2021 final in Edmonton. That tournament's leading scorer, American Trevor Zegras, is now an NHL rookie-of-the-year candidate with Anaheim. Canada's top scorer, Dylan Cozens, is also now playing in the NHL, with Buffalo.

In the group stage, Canada will face Finland (last year's bronze medallist), the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. The other group includes the United States, Russia, Sweden, Slovakia and Switzerland.

The top four teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals, which are crossover matchups. The No. 1 seed in each group plays the fourth-place team from the other group, No. 2 faces No. 3, etc. The winners advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners play for gold, while the losers square off for bronze.

Canada has the projected No. 1 pick in the next two NHL drafts.

Centre Shane Wright is expected to go first overall this summer. He scored 38 goals in 58 games as an OHL rookie last season with Kingston, and was a late cut from the Canadian junior team a year ago. He isn't scoring at the same clip this season (11 goals in 22 games) but his assist rate is up and his draft stock hasn't really taken a hit. Wright turns 18 on Jan. 5 — the day of the gold-medal game.

Connor Bedard is the early favourite to go No. 1 in the 2023 NHL draft after doing what Wright couldn't — make the Canadian junior team as a 16-year-old. The Regina Pats centre is just the seventh player to accomplish this, joining Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros, Jason Spezza, Jay Bouwmeester, Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. Pretty good company. Bedard has 24 points (including 14 goals) in 24 games this season in the WHL.

Canada's team also features the No. 1 choice in this year's NHL draft: defenceman Owen Power. The Buffalo Sabres pick opted to return to the University of Michigan for another season rather than go pro. He's one of only two guys on the roster that play in the NCAA. Two others are from the AHL, and the rest from Canada's three major-junior leagues (the bulk from the WHL).

There are some pretty interesting international players too.

Probably the most intriguing among the top teams is Russian forward Matvei Michkov, a dazzling scorer who might challenge Bedard for the No. 1 spot in the 2023 draft. Despite having just turned 17, Michkov is already playing professionally for SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL. His NHL future, though, is complicated by the fact that he's under contract in the KHL until 2026.

Finland has a couple of players to watch in forward Joakim Kemell (expected to be among the top picks in the upcoming NHL draft) and defenceman Topi Niemela (a Toronto draft pick who was named the top blue-liner at the world juniors last year). The defending-champion Americans have a trio of recent top-five selections in forward Matty Beniers (taken second overall by Seattle this year) and defencemen Luke Hughes (fourth by New Jersey this year) and Jake Sanderson (fifth by Ottawa in 2020).

There will be fans — just not as many as hoped.