Daily Faceoff outlines how Leafs prospects Ben Danford, Victor Johansson fared at World Juniors
The 2026 World Juniors in Minnesota wrapped up Monday evening in thrilling fashion, with Sweden holding off a mad dash comeback attempt by Czechia for a 4-2 win. Sweden claimed gold for the first time since 2012, when Mika Zibanejad scored the golden goal in overtime to beat Russia.
Danford skated in all seven games for the Canadians, playing alongside New York Islanders 2025 first-round pick Kashawn Aitcheson on Canada’s third defensive pairing. Through the seven games, the 31st overall selection in 2024 recorded one assist and was a plus-one. Daily Faceoff’s prospect analyst Steven Ellis wrote about what he saw from Danford through the World Junior tournament:
This was a mixed bag for Danford. He seemed a bit more offensively inclined than I expected, but he also had issues with giveaways and getting pressured into mistakes. What I did like was his skating – he was mobile, competitive and used that to close gaps and pressure others into errors. Danford isn’t overly creative and is best when he fades into the background, but he can also kill penalties and block shots, which is why Leafs fans like him as a future Chris Tanev. But it felt like he couldn’t keep up with the pace at this tournament.
Johansson, selected in the fourth round of the 2024 NHL Draft, appeared in five of the seven games for Sweden, going without a point and was minus-one. The minimal ice-time wasn’t great for the 19-year-old, who appeared to take a step back from the play he displayed in the summer.
On one hand, Johansson was excellent at the World Junior Summer Showcase. On the other hand, that was half a year ago. He didn’t play much in this tournament, and I felt like he was actually overwhelmed in his own zone throughout the pre-tournament and round-robin.
Johansson is heading back to Sweden to play with Oskarshamn IK of the HockeyAllsvenskan League, where the defenceman has skated in 13 games, posting one goal, four assists and a plus-four rating. Johansson has played across three leagues during the 2025-26 season: Leksands IF Under-20, Leksands IF of the Swedish Hockey League and Oskarshamn IK. Over 17 games, across three leagues, Johansson has totalled three goals and four assists and is a plus-six.