What Rangers want to see from EJ Emery, Malcolm Spence at 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase
Though much of hockey’s day-to-day business has slowed considerably by this point of the summer, there’s still a very important event that the New York Rangers and other teams will keep an eye on this week in Minneapolis.
The 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase features many top prospects from the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland. Each of the four countries is getting an early look at roster and lineup options for the 2026 World Junior Championship, which will be held in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
The week-long showcase features practices every day and at least four games for each county. The United States, the two-time defending champion at the World Juniors, has 42 players at the showcase this week. They began by splitting up into two teams — White and Blue — each of which will play two games, before a combined U.S. squad plays three games later in the week.
The Rangers have two very important prospects taking part in the showcase — defenseman E.J. Emery of the United States and forward Malcolm Spence of Canada.
Let’s examine what the Rangers are looking from each of their youngsters.
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E.J. Emery
This is Emery’s second appearance at the World Junior Summer Showcase. He took part a year ago and was later among the final cuts when the 25-man roster was finalized in December. Though a disappointment that he didn’t make the team, it was an excellent experience for Emery, who nearly landed a spot on an absolutely stacked roster. The U.S., with Rangers prospects Gabe Perreault and Drew Fortescue playing major roles, went on to repeat as WJC champion.
There are nine players returning from the 2025 gold medal-winning team, including three defensemen. They are Team USA’s leaders at this showcase, but Emery is considered to be a part of that leadership group, as well, now that he’s 19, heading into his sophomore season at North Dakota and came so close to being on last year’s team.
“Coming in as a bit of an older guy to the ’07s (players born in 2007) here — younger guys, new guys — just try to show them that we’re all one team and we’re all trying to do the same thing,” the Rangers first-round pick (No. 30 overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft explained. “Obviously, there’s a final team everyone wants to make, but we’re all here to win Gold at the end of the day.”
The Rangers want to see Emery not only make the U.S. squad this year, but they’d love for him to stand out and be a clear-cut top-six defenseman. There’s an important role for him to strive for, that of a dependable shutdown defenseman, which is what Fortescue did for Team USA the previous two World Juniors.
A year after being one of the youngest players at the showcase for the United States, Emery is now considered more of a veteran. So, the Rangers will also watch closely to see what type of leader Emery is among his peers.
Lastly, is there more to Emery’s offensive game than what he showed as a North Dakota freshman last season? Emery had one point (an assist) in 31 games last season. As much as the Rangers love his defensive play, they want to see him show more on the other side of the puck this week.
Malcolm Spence
New York’s top pick in this year’s draft, second round (No. 43 overall), Spence is one of 36 players present at the showcase for Canada, and one of 20 forwards. Those odds weigh somewhat in Spence’s favor of making the team if he has a good showing in Minneapolis and a strong start to his freshman season at the University of Michigan.
However, these numbers are deceiving because there are eight forwards — each a first-round draft pick — who were invited to the showcase by Hockey Canada but couldn’t or didn’t attend. Among those are 2024 draft standouts Tij Iginla and and Beckett Sennecke, and 2025 first-rounders Caleb Desnoyers and Roger McQueen.
So, the Rangers want to see Spence stand out this week and put himself solidly in the middle-six conversation. That means playing to his strengths — committed to a 200-foot game, standing out on special teams when/if given that opportunity, putting up points and using his ample size (6-foot-1, 203 pounds) to be a physical force.
A solid first impression this week should keep Spence in the mix even if some of those big names are available to play for Canada in the tournament. But this week feels like a crucial one for Spence, as far as the WJC is concerned.
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