While things at the NHL level are pretty quiet these days, it’s a big month for some of the prospects around hockey. Rosters for the four teams competing in the World Junior Summer Showcase later this month are being released. The round-robin competition doesn’t quite have the pomp and circumstance of the U20 World Junior Championship held at the end of the year, but for a lot of younger players, it does give them some national exposure as they work to make the roster for the U20 tournament. One of those players is part of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization – goaltender Caleb Heil.
Heil, out of Victoria, Minnesota, was drafted in the seventh round (193rd overall) by the Lightning a couple of weeks ago. The 19-year-old will play for the Madison Capitals in the USHL next season before heading to the University of North Dakota in the fall of 2026. It’s not the first brush with Team USA for the 6’2″, 196 lbs. netminder as he was played in the U-18 World Championships where he appeared in one game, stopping all four shots he saw in just over 13 minutes of play in a win against Latvia.
It’s been a good month for Heil, who was one of the standouts at the Lightning’s Development camp that took place last week. He’ll look to parlay the strong summer into another campaign with the Capitals as he tries to improve on a season where he posted a 2.85 GAA and .896 SV% in 39 regular-season appearances.
Staying in the USHL isn’t a bad move for Heil, as UND already has three netminders on the roster, including Gibson Homer, a 21-year-old who transferred over from Arizona State. He joins fellow transfer Zachery Sandy (22-years-old) and newcomer Jan Spunar (21-years-old) in the crease for the Fighting Hawks. Waiting till the 2026-27 season to join the team gives Heil an opportunity to keep his eligibility and he should have a much clearer path to being a starter when he does join them.
In the “Hockey is a small world” department of connections, Heil was recruited to North Dakota by one of their former assistant coaches – Karl Goehring. That name should be familiar to Syracuse Crunch fans as he played for the team from 2001-05 and was part of their coaching staff following his playing career. Most recently, he was their goaltending coach from 2017-19.
The United States, Sweden, Finland, and Canada will be the four nations participating in the showcase. Finland and Canada have yet to release their rosters. There were no Lightning prospects on the Swedish roster, because, well, they don’t have any in the organization that are under 20 years old. The round-robin games will begin on July 27th and take place in Minneapolis, MN.
