2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey Preview/Projected Rosters

Sep 9, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Steven Stamkos and Evgeni Malkin and Drew Doughty and Zdeno Chara and Brandon Saad and Tuukka Rask and Ryan McDonagh and Henrik Lundqvist and Sidney Crosby and Anze Kopitar and Dave Pastrnak pose during a press conference and media event for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey will feature eight teams (Team Canada, Team USA, Team Russia, Team Sweden, Team Czech Republic, Team Finland, Team North America, Team Europe). The tournament will be held in September 2016, and is a group effort with the NHL and NHLPA, in association with International Ice Hockey Federation.

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The rules will differ from that of IIHF held tournaments, and will follow NHL rules, with games being played on NHL-sized rinks. Because of the league’s involvement, fans can expect to see far less European players than we’re used to seeing at World Championships or Olympics in the 2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey.

2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey – Rosters and Groupings

23 players, 20 skaters, 3 goalies

Group A: Team Canada, Team Czech Republic, Team Europe, Team USA
Group B: Team Finland, Team North America, Team Russia, Team Sweden

Via NHL.com, “The players for Team North America will be selected from a pool of the best young hockey players from Canada and the United States. Those players must be 23 or under as of Oct. 1, 2016 (i.e., must have a date of birth on or after Oct. 2, 1992) and will be available for selection exclusively by Team North America.” “Team Europe will be comprised of a pan-European roster of players from birth countries outside of the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden – in short, all of the other European countries who are developing world-class hockey players in ever-increasing numbers. Countries such as Austria, Belarus, Denmark, France, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland (among others) will all be eligible for representation on Team Europe.”

1st Roster Deadline: 16 players (at least two goaltenders) no later than March 1st, 2016
2nd Roster Deadline: Remaining roster no later than June, 1st, 2016

The 2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey will be held in Toronto at Air Canada Centre from September 17th to October 1st.

The projected rosters are not in any particular order.  They are set up to resemble lines and pairings for visual ease only.  These are not projected lines or pairings, simply selecting the 23 skaters for each team, with honorable mentions.

Any stats or information were obtained from Hockeydb.com or NHL.com

Next: Team Europe

Team North America

There’s a lot of buzz surrounding this “young stars” team, and for good reason.  Picking this squad is especially difficult for two reasons.  Firstly, there’s a lot of talent to pick from.  Secondly, these young guys are breaking out and evolving all the time.  With deadlines so far away, this could be the one roster that sees the most juggling and movement in public opinion.

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Coaching Staff

Peter Chiarelli, General Manager (Edmonton Oilers GM)

Stan Bowman, Associate General Manager (Chicago Blackhawks VP/GM)

Ryan Jankowski, Director of Operations (Hockey Canada)

Adam Graves, Special Assistant to the General Managers

Former Cup winner with NY Rangers, and also played for Detroit, Edmonton, and San Jose.  Appeared in 1152 career NHL games, tallying 616 points.

Pat Verbeek, Director of Player Personnel

Longtime NHL’er that appeared in 1424 career NHL games.  Spent most of his time with New Jersey and Hartford, while also spending time with NY Rangers, Dallas, and Detroit.  Verbeek is in the 1000-point club with 1063 career NHL points.

Paul Fenton, Director of Player Personnel (Nashville Predators Assistant GM)

Todd McLellan, Head Coach (Edmonton Oilers Head Coach)

Forwards

Defense

Goalies

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Honorable Mentions

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To attempt to grasp the struggles of predicting this roster, look no further than the bubble players that have been left off.  It’s difficult to imagine not including Larkin, Saad, Duclair, Bennett, Couturier, etc., but I’m not sure you could eliminate Matthews, Galchenyuk or Scheifele for one of those guys.  On the back-end, toughest cuts were Hutton, Ceci, Dumba, Severson, and Hanifin.  Again who do you eliminate out of Reilly, Parayko, or Murray?

Hellebuyck is the likely starter after his World Championships performance last spring with Team USA.  The pick for third goalie is up for debate as there’s a drop off beyond Gibson.  Matt Murray is the next best goaltender without NHL experience.  Aaron Ekblad or Connor McDavid seem like the front-runners to wear the captaincy for Team North America at 2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey.

Next: Team Canada

Team Canada

A coaching staff that includes four NHL GM’s and five NHL coaches.  The words “excessive” and “unnecessary” come to mind when looking at the staff, but there’s a reason Team Canada goes in as a heavy favorite.  The selection process for this team will be closely watched as the bubble list for cuts is loaded with talent.  Realistically speaking, Team Canada and North America would have enough skill to dress two teams.

Coaching Staff

Tom Renney, President (Hockey Canada President & CEO)

Scott Salmond, Hockey Operations

Team Canada Manager at 2014-15 World Championships.  GM of World Juniors U20 and U18 teams over the past couple seasons.

Doug Armstrong, General Manager (St.Louis Blues GM)

Marc Bergevin, Assistant General Manager (Montreal Canadiens GM)

Rob Blake, Assistant General Manager

Assistant GM in Los Angeles, and retired all-star Defenseman that had 777 points in 1270 games.

Ken Holland, Assistant General Manager (Detroit Red Wings GM/Executive VP)

Bob Murray, Assistant General Manager (Anaheim Ducks GM)

Mike Babcock, Head Coach (Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach)

Claude Julien, Assistant Coach (Boston Bruins Head Coach)

Bill Peters, Assistant Coach (Carolina Hurricanes Head Coach)

Joel Quenneville, Assistant Coach (Chicago Blackhawks Head Coach)

Barry Trotz, Assistant Coach (Nashville Predators Head Coach)

Forwards

Defense

Goalies

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Honorable Mentions

Tough cuts with Bergeron, Carter, Marleau, Schwartz, Johansen, and E.Staal.  Some experts have excluded Getzlaf and Perry.  A slow-start isn’t enough to merit holding them off the list.  They’ve had international success and chemistry.  If you wanted to swap out any players, Mark Stone and Joe Thornton are closest to the bubble.  The captaincy should be between Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby.  Toews numerous Stanley Cup’s are truly impressive, but Sidney has been the face of Canadian hockey on the biggest international stage, so I’d expect Sid be named captain.

The only tough cut on the back-end was Brent Burns, who could be interchangeable with Mark Giordano.  Patrick Weircioch had success at the World Championships this past spring, but he’ll be hard pressed to beat out anyone ahead of him.  Carey Price is the obvious starter for Canada, since he is the best goalie in the world right now.  Holtby is the next best Canadian goaltender, while Fleury has played well and has international success.  Corey Crawford is just barely on the outside looking in because he didn’t exactly steal playoff rounds during Chicago’s Cup runs.

Next: Team USA

Team USA

Seems to always be an underrated team, but make no mistake, the United States will head into the 2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey as the second-favorite behind Canada.  The overall scoring talent doesn’t match equally with Canada, but no team will play a meaner grittier style of hockey than Team USA.  Their top-end talent is loaded with players who love to play with that edge, and it’ll make them a difficult team to play against.

Blue Line Station

Coaching Staff

Dean Lombardi, General Manager (Los Angeles Kings GM)

Paul Holmgren, Assistant General Manager (Philadelphia Flyers President)

Brian Burke, Senior Advisor (Calgary Flames President of Hockey Operations)

Jim Johannson, Hockey Operations (USA Hockey Executive)

John Tortorella, Head Coach (Columbus Blue Jackets Head Coach)
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Forwards

Defense

Goalies

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Honorable Mentions

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There’s a few borderline decisions that could be argued up front as there’s roughly 10 players fighting for three spots at most.  You could make an argument for 75 percent of the honorably mentioned forwards to be on the team, the problem is figuring who to cut from the current projection.  The selection for this team could be particularly interesting to watch.

It would be shocking if Shattenkirk, Byfuglien, Suter, Faulk, and Carlson weren’t locks for this team.  Krug and Greene might be the only debatable players on the back-end.  Although Greene brings intangibles with his leadership, while Krug has stepped up in a big way to replace Dougie Hamilton in Boston.  Wisniewski, Orpik, Fowler, McDonagh, E.Johnson, or J.Johnson are guys that may also be considered.

Jonathan Quick should be the unanimous starter, although Ben Bishop and Cory Schneider give Team USA arguably the best three goaltenders in the tournament.  The nominations for captaincy should fall to Max Pacioretty, David Backes, Dustin Brown, and Joe Pavelski.  All four could be wearing letters at 2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey.

Next: Team Sweden

Team Sweden

The additions of Lidstrom, Alfredsson, Forsberg and Sundin to Sweden’s coaching staff is an excellent choice, and would be nice to see all four in future coaching/management roles for Sweden on the international stage.  The Swedes are starting to develop high-end talent from the blue-line in bunches, while they also continue to be one of the leaders in quality goaltending.

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Coaching Staff

Tommy Boustedt, General Secretary (Swedish Ice Hockey Association Development Chief)

Rickard Gronborg, Head Coach (Swedish Men’s National Team Head Coach)

Johan Garpenlov, Assistant Coach

Former NHL’er played for Detroit, Florida, San Jose, and Atlanta, but is likely best remembered for his time with Florida Panthers.  He had 311 points in 609 career NHL games.

Peter Popovic, Assistant Coach (Tre Konor Assistant Coach)

Daniel Alfredsson, Advisory Board

Long-time Ottawa captain and Senators legend now helps out with the club after spending a couple years in Detroit before retiring.

Nicklas Lidstrom, Advisory Board

One of the best defenseman of all-time, Lidstrom is a 7-time Norris Trophy winner, Conn Smythe winner, Stanley Cup champion who had 1142 points in 1564 career NHL games.

Mats Sundin, Advisory Board

Long-time Maple Leafs captain who was the face of the franchise over his NHL career.  He didn’t see many successes with Toronto, but did have an incredible international resume playing for Sweden.

Peter Forsberg, Vice President/Team Leader

Ex NHL’er who’s career was unfortunately cut far too short.  Forsberg had 885 points in 708 games played, and had he played a full career, he’d probably be in an elite class of players.

Forwards

Defense

Goalies

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Honorable Mentions

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Up front, Steen and Lindberg are likely the last couple picks and could be replaceable with players such as Lindholm, Wennberg, Burakovsky, Soderberg, Hagelin, Backlund, Johansson, and Larsson.  Sweden has a couple options for captain, depending on whether they want to go younger or older.  Zetterberg or Landeskog are the best candidates, and Gabriel might be the better choice as he could be representing this team for many more years to come.

Nicklas Lidstrom opened the door for a swarm of young Swedish defenseman that are starting to dominate the NHL from the back-end.  Karlsson, Ekman-Larsson, Hedman, Lindholm, and Klingberg are stars on the blue-line.  The starting goaltender will be Henrik Lundqvist, although the backup goaltenders could be interesting.  Lack and Lehner seem like the obvious other two options.

Next: Team Finland

Team Finland

Now we enter the teams that see a combination of NHL and European hockey players.  With international rules and ice-size, those European players are usually at a large advantage.  Being an NHL held tournament, the representation from players playing internationally will be significantly lower.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see 1 or 2 Euro players at most on the next few teams.

Coaching Staff

Kale Kummola, President (IIHF Vice President)

Matti Nurminen, Executive Director (IIHF General Secretary)

Jere Lehtinen, General Manager

14-year veteran who spent his entire career with Dallas Stars.  He played 875 games, scoring 514 points over his NHL career.  Had a ton of international experience with Finland during his playing years.

Jarmo Kekalainen, Assistant General Manager (Columbus Blue Jackets GM)

Lauri Marjamaki, Head Coach (SM-Liiga Head Coach)

Forwards

Defense

Goalies

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Honorable Mentions

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10 of the 13 forwards selected should be virtual locks.  The debatable forwards might be Donskoi, Haula, Puljujarvi.  Jesse Puljujarvi is an interesting one being a highly ranked European skater going into the 2016 NHL Draft.  He has World Championship experience and could be playing in the NHL at the beginning of 2016-17.  Don’t be surprised if management leans to some international players with success such as Janne Pesonen or Teemu Hartikainen.  Not a ton of NHL leadership on this squad, making Barkov and Koivu the possible choices for captain.

The Finnish back-end is a bit thin due to limited options.  They’re more likely to go with the seven NHL’ers listed above, although again international success could propel players such as Esa Lindell or Sami Lepisto onto this roster.  One thing Finland consistently produces is high-quality goaltenders.  Rinne, Niemi, and Rask should be locks for this team, but if Rask continues to fall off the rails, Lehtonen or Raanta could make a case for themselves.

Next: Team Czech Republic

Team Czech Republic

Assumptions are that Jaromir Jagr will stick around a little longer to represent his country for what could be one of the last times.  Making another assumption that Patrik Elias will retire at the end of 2015-16.  It’s an international coaching staff, and the Czech’s have had success with some of their KHL players on the international stage.  It wouldn’t be shocking to see a couple European players on this team.

Coaching Staff

Tomas Kral, President (Czech Ice Hockey Federation President)

Martin Urban, General Secretary (Czech Ice Hockey Federation General Secretary)

Slavomir Lener, General Manager (Czech Men’s National Team GM)

Jan Cerny, Director of Operations (2014 Czech Olympic Team Manager)

Forwards

Defense

Goalies

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Honorable Mentions

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If Czech management decides to include some international players, the likely names will be Roman Cervenka (ex-Calgary Flames player), Jan Kovar, or Ondrej Nemec.  If Elias doesn’t retire, he could swap spots with one of Fleischmann or Michalek.  The captaincy could be between Jakub Voracek or David Krejci.

On the blue-line, it’s worth keeping an eye on Jakub Zboril.  He’s admittedly a long-shot to make this team, but with some question marks on defense, the 2015 first rounder should garner consideration.  You could see Michal Jordan or Jakub Nakladal sneak into one of the last spots to replace a Smid or Sustr potentially.  Picking the three goaltenders here is simple, although picking a starter proves a tad difficult.  Neuvirth got off to a hot-start in 2015-16 but is a career backup.  Mrazek and Pavelec and more likely to fight for the starter role, so it could be a matter of who has the hot hand heading into the tournament.

Next: Team Russia

Team Russia

There’s a couple international options, although team Russia is loaded with enough talent upfront that they could bypass KHL stars Mozyakin, Dadanov, and Radulov.  The Russians continue to struggle developing top-end defensive talent.  They’ve got one of the deepest top six’s in the tournament, but a weak defense has plagued this team internationally for a long time.  It doesn’t matter how good your goaltending is when your defense is too weak.

Coaching Staff

Vladislav Tretiak, President

A hockey legend for the former Soviet Union, Tretiak was considered by some the best goaltender in the world.  He’s the current president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation.

Roman Rotenberg, First Vice President (KHL Executive Board Member)

Dmitry Kurbatov, Executive Director (KHL Hockey Operations Vice President)

Oleg Znarok, Head Coach (Russia Men’s National Team Head Coach)

Harijs Vitolins, Assistant Coach (Russia Men’s World Championship Head Coach)

Forwards

Defense

Goalies

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Honorable Mentions

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There’s a few wild-cards up front in Burmistrov, Svechnikov, Nichuschkin, and Kulemin.  The choice to include Svechnikov is based on his World Junior Summer Showcase where he looked like a man among boys.  Don’t expect him to be an initial choice, but he could make a case for the 13th forward.  Mozyakin is the highest-scoring Russian outside of the NHL, but there’s a ton of better talent in Khokhlachev, Grigorenko, Tikhonov, and Goldobin.  The Russians have options for captain with Ovechkin, Datsyuk, Malkin, and Tarasenko.

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Beyond Markov and Kulikov on the blue-line, the Russian defense core is somewhat thin, making the next five somewhat debatable.  The choice to include Provorov is simply because he’s got NHL size, and could end up being the best Russian defenseman in the NHL sooner rather than later.   Another guy that could make the roster is Nikita Nesterov, possibly replacing Orlov. The goaltenders are pretty self-explanatory considering the drop-off after Bobrovsky, Varlamov, and Vasilevskiy.