Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Drew Doughty were among a dozen Olympic returnees on Team Canada’s first 16 World Cup roster, which included few surprises Wednesday.
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Team Canada has won four of the past six “best-on-best” worldwide hockey tournaments dating back to when the NHL first began participating in the Olympics, winning in Salt Lake City in 2002, the World Cup in 2004, the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 and at Sochi in 2014.
The NHL has shutdown mid-season since the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, freeing players to represent their countries but recently owners have lost some enthusiasm for the Olympics because many players have returned injured or exhausted, thereby hurting their teams in the push towards the Stanley Cup playoffs.
They’re two of the four newcomers along with Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos and Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin.
Of course, given that Chiarelli’s Oilers had just defeated Eichel’s Sabres, 2-1, minutes earlier thanks to a pair of McDavid goals, Eichel’s mind was elsewhere.
Just like in Sochi, both John Carlson and T.J. “You realize when you do miss it that the opportunities to play for your country is not as often”.
The Russian roster here is a work in progress because, by design, all of the first 16 players are players now on National Hockey League rosters. So was Danish forward Nikolaj Ehlers of the Winnipeg Jets.
However, Faulk will nearly undoubtedly be on the final roster, so it’s a small thing in the end. As well as players not already on World Cup rosters like Jarome Iginla.
Phil Kessel has to wait to find out if he plays for the United States at the World Cup of Hockey, and P.K. Subban will have to remain in a holding pattern on getting the call about representing Canada.
“The plan was to establish an ongoing event, establish the brand, establish the identity and go forward with it”, he said.
The eight teams that will compete this year are the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic, plus Team Europe and Under-23 Team North America.
Additionally, USA Hockey announced the support staff for its 2016 World Cup of Hockey team, including trainers Ray Barile (Massapequa, N.Y./St. Louis Blues) and Chris Kingsley (Greenfield, Mass./Los Angeles Kings); team doctor Dr. Michael Stuart (Rochester, Minn.); equipment managers Bert Godin (Lewiston, Maine/St. Louis Blues) and Derek Settlemyre (High Point, N.C./Philadelphia Flyers); and massage therapist Chris Pikosky (Estero, Fla).
Again, they say the experiences from the upcoming tournament will determine the path they take for 2020. They will have a scrimmage against Team Canada on September 9; Canada’s star lineup includes Crosby, goalies Corey Crawford, Braden Holtby and Carey Price, and Islanders center John Tavares.
“It’s a two-week, best-on-best global tournament that promises to be one of the best competitions in hockey history”, said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. “People are going to now start speculating and debating and discussing”.
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