Last year, John Gibson won tournament MVP leading Team USA to the U-18 WJC to gold. Who will step up this year?

Starting tomorrow, Team USA hosts National Junior Evaluation Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid. The defending IIHF U-18 World Junior Champs have invited 44 players to participate. It runs from Aug. 3 to Aug. 10 and includes games against participants Canada, Finland and Sweden.

USA has split the 44 players into two rosters. Team Blue features Devils’ prospect Stefan Matteau, the Rangers’ Brady Skjei and 2013 Sabres’ second round pick Justin Bailey. Washington prospect Riley Barber is also included from last year’s gold medal team. He posted three goals and three assists. They’re coached by Greg Brown and former Devils’ assistant Kurt Kleinendorst.

Buffalo ’13 second rounder J.T. Compher, New Jersey ’13 second round pick Steve Santini, 2013 Islanders’ third round pick Taylor Cammarata and Rangers’ 2012 second rounder Cristoval Nieves help comprise Team White. The roster also features Coyotes’ ’12 first round pick Henrik Samuelsson and Calgary goalie prospect Jon Gillies, who backed up John Gibson on last year’s championship roster. Defenseman Pat Sieloff also returns from last year’s gold medal club. They’re coached by Bob Motzko and Jon Cooper.

In an irony of sorts, Zach Stepan is also on Team White. The last name should be recognizable to Ranger fans who are still waiting for top center Derek Stepan to get re-signed. Zach is the younger cousin of Stepan. Nashville selected him in the fourth round of the ’12 Draft 112th overall. For those curious, he also plays center and is similar in stature (5-11, 175). Stepan is left-handed and completed his first season with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL tallying 78 points (32-46-78) in 56 games. Like his more famous older cousin, he’s from Hastings, Minnesota. The previous two years, he played for Shattuck-St. Mary’s which produced stars Sidney Crosby and Zach Parise along with Derek Stepan. At the very least, it’ll be interesting to follow the younger Stepan.

The 2014 World Junior Championship takes place in Malmo, Sweden. It begins on Dec. 26 and concludes on Jan. 5, 2014. Minnesota Golden Gophers coach Don Lucia will be in charge of Team USA taking over for former NHL defenseman Phil Housley.

“Looking at how Phil coached and his systems, I don’t think the way I like to play is a whole lot different from how the team played last year,” Lucia told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman after participating in last year’s camp. “We want to be aggressive, we want to recruit players that can skate and take away time and space. Hopefully you have good goaltending and specialty teams, because we all know how important that is in a short tournament.”

One change from last year could be the loss of Seth Jones, Alex Galchenyuk and Jacob Trouba to the NHL. All were instrumental in the Americans’ rise to the top in Ufa, Russia. Along with Gibson who was named tournament MVP, Team USA could have a different look.

“We’ll see how they do when the year begins,” Lucia said of Galchenyuk, Trouba and Jones. “It would be a lot easier to add one than to count on one and not have him.”

“I think it’s invaluable to have guys that have gone through the process and see what it takes to win at that level and win in a short tournament.”

Not in camp is Chicago number one pick Ryan Hartman, who’s recovering from a shoulder injury. Assuming he returns, the future power wing should have a more prominent role. He’s a straight line rugged player who can fly. Lucia is also considering 2014 draft eligible Thatcher Demko in net. He’s one of four netminders being looked at to replace Gibson. He doesn’t turn 18 until Dec. 8 and is entering his freshman year at Boston College. Sewell, New Jersey native Anthony DeAngelo is another ’14 Draft Eligible who could force his way on. The 17-year old defenseman posted 58 points (9-49-58) in his second year with the Sarnia Sting (OHL) ranking third best among blueliners in scoring.

“You try to do the best job of getting the players that you hope are candidates and for the most part will be there,” Lucia added. “And you come out with a little bit of a skeleton, a little bit of a rough draft of an idea of what you think the team may look like. And then it’s up to the players to continue to perform during the course of the fall. The players play themselves into a spot or play themselves out of a spot.”

The fun gets started this weekend.