Josi, O'Reilly, Annunen, Ivankovic Representing Predators At IIHF World Championship
From Roman Josi’s quest for home-ice gold to Ryan O’Reilly mentoring a rising teenage prospect, Nashville’s elite stars and future talents take center stage in Switzerland.
There will be no lack of Nashville Predators players and prospects at the 2026 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland, which kicks off on May 15. Captain Roman Josi will join Team Switzerland, goalie Justus Annunen will make his tournament debut with Finland, and Ryan O'Reilly will play for Canada. Predators 2026 second-rounder goalie Jack Ivankovic, who spent the past season with the University of Michigan, will reportedly join Team Canada.
This is the second time in three seasons that Josi will play for Switzerland at the World Championship, and the first time since 2009 that his home country will host the tournament. This will be Josi's ninth time playing in the World Championship and the 18th time he'll play for Switzerland. He represented Switzerland earlier this season at the 2026 Winter Olympics, recording four points in five games in the Swiss's fifth-place finish.
Josi and the Swiss continue to push for the country's first Gold Medal in the Championship division, having won five Silver and six bronze medals since 1930. Their most recent result was Silver at the 2025 Championship, where they lost to the United States. This season, Josi recorded 55 points (13 goals and 42 assists) in 68 games for the Predators.
Mar 29, 2026; Tampa, Florida, USA; Nashville Predators goaltender Justus Annunen (29) looks on during a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Annunen will be making his debut in the tournament, representing Finland for the first time since the 2020 World Junior Championship. After a slow start to the season, Annunen's game picked up in the final month, posting a .