We’re one step closer to the latest iteration of the World Cup of Hockey – to be held in September in Toronto – with the release of initial 16-man rosters for each team: USA, Canada, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Europe, and the North America Under 20’s, ahead of final additions by June 1.
Of course, selection in these sorts of teams is hotly-debated, and these squads will be debated and dissected, especially up in Canada, for days and weeks to come. Here are my five biggest roster shocks:
1. No Phil Kessel on Team USA
For mine, the biggest shock of them all. The Pittsburgh Penguins forward is not only one of the most prolific scorers in the history of United States hockey, but he scored his twentieth goal of the 2015-16 season on Thursday night against the New York Rangers. That makes it twenty goals and twenty two assists for forty points with almost a quarter of the regular season left.
On current pace, Kessel is going to easily surpass the fifty-point mark, which will mark the eighth straight season that he’s done that, dating back to 2008-09 with the Boston Bruins, so it’s not like you can make the case that Kessel is slowing down. Far from it. How the Team USA powers-that-be can consider leaving that sort of scoring potency in America during this tournament is beyond me.
Yes, I know they're trying to bring through the next generation of American stars, but it shouldn't happen at the expense of a guy who still has plenty left in the tank.
This story will get a lot bigger if Kessel isn’t amongst the additions on June 1.
2. No P.K. Subban for Team Canada
If we were playing a name recognition game, and I asked you to name a Canadian defenceman, you’re probably going to think of Subban in one of your first three or four goes. As polarising as he is talented, P.K. has made a great home for himself with the Montreal Canadiens, and despite what you may think of him, it’s hard to deny he has prodigious talent – and a heck of a cannon for a shot, too.
Yes, Canada is blessed with all sorts of riches in terms of defencemen, with the likes of Keith, Weber and Doughty pretty much automatic inclusions. That makes things tight, but leaving Subban out of the initial roster is an interesting move. It’s probably a good one if you’re playing on or supporting any other team at the tournament than the home one.
Considering Subban leads the Canadiens with fifty points (six goals and forty-four assists) scored so far, it’s an even more shocking roster snub. Forty-four assists is good for fifth-best in the entire National Hockey League, and the second-best amongst defencemen. Erik Karlsson, of Ottawa, has fifty-seven. Given that Karlsson is Swedish – and going to Toronto as basically an automatic selection – it means that Subban has significantly more points than the Canadian defencemen who were named: Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
3. Justin Abdelkader’s Inclusion on Team USA
Basically, you can make a case that Abdelkader, a gritty, serviceable player with the Detroit Red Wings for a long time, occupies the Team USA roster spot that should’ve gone to one Phil Kessel. The supposition here is that head coach John Tortorella, a no-nonsense guy who loves shot-blocking warriors, hand-picked Abdelkader for the team because Abdelkader is, by definition, a warrior.
Look, I’m not saying that Abdelkader flat-out doesn’t deserve his selection. He’s had a good season in Detroit. I’m merely suggesting that, perhaps, Tortorella should have looked at Kessel’s innate goal-scoring ability and included him first, ahead of a guy with fifteen goals and eighteen assists for thirty-three points on the season.
4. No Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for Team North America
Team North America’s general manager is Peter Chiarelli, who performs the same duty for the Edmonton Oilers, where, of course, RNH plays. Cue all sorts of awkwardness. “Difficult,” was how Chiarelli described leaving Nugent-Hopkins out of the initial roster. “Madness,” is another word I might use.
There’s only one way for these superstar kids to really take over the league, and that’s with big-game experience. Given Edmonton isn’t exactly a postseason regular, getting RNH into a tournament like this seems a no-brainer. Besides, the kid is ridiculously talented, and the World Cup could very well prove
5. Finland's Young Defence
The Finnish defensive unit features some impressive talent (and will doubtless be made better by having Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask between the pipes behind them) but they’re also incredibly short on experience. In fact, Anaheim’s Sami Vatanen, aged twenty-four, is the oldest guy on the roster. The other three are twenty-one years old, and one of them, Esa Lindell, isn’t even an NHL regular.
You can almost guarantee that the Finnish brains trust will add at least one experienced blue-liner by the June 1 deadline. You don’t want to go into a tournament featuring a cabal of the best offensive talent in the world with a defensive corps that don’t have a lot of time in the big leagues. It could be a recipe for disaster, even with the goaltending ability the Fins boast.
Showing posts with label World Cup of Hockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Cup of Hockey. Show all posts
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Sunday, January 25, 2015
A Layman’s Guide to the 2016 World Cup of Hockey
What: An NHL-managed international competition featuring most of the big hockey nations, plus some All Star-type teams.
Why: The NHL and the owners – well, most, anyway – have long been unhappy about their players participating in the Olympics. This despite players and fans loving the tournament, and despite the incredible exposure for the game that an Olympic tournament, and particularly a successful one for America, brings to a sport that, let’s face it, isn’t the most visible across most of the United States.
A cynical views is this: the World Cup of Hockey is a way for the NHL to control revenue, which they cannot do at the Olympics, where the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) runs the show and gets the cash. It’s also a golden way for the NHL to force their way into European markets, and if the tournament is even halfway successful, you’re going to see some big cities over on the continent throwing squillions at the NHL for the right to host the event.
When: The tournament will run through September and October of 2016
Who: The NHL announced that Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States will all field national teams. There will also be a Team Europe squad, made up of the best players outside of the European nations who will have their own teams, and a North American ‘Young Stars’ team, featuring only players 23 and under.
Each team will be made up of twenty-three players: twenty skaters and three goalies. Teams must announce at least sixteen of their roster selections before March 1, 2016, and the rest before June 1, 2016.
The League also confirmed that, yes, non-NHL players will be eligible to play in this tournament, so you can expect to see a bunch of KHL players on the Russian squad, which has been the Russian Federation’s want – for better or worse – during the last few Olympic tournaments. Other counties, such as the Czechs, have been known to dip into some local league talent, too.
Even so, the NHL estimate that somewhere around 90% of players will be NHL regulars.
Where: Despite early talk about playing games in a number of Canadian cities, it was announced today that Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, home of the country’s most scrutinised franchise, the Maple Leafs, will host the entire tournament. We can only hope that the atmosphere in the building will be far more raucous than it is for your regular Leafs games.
Format: Eight teams will be divided into two groups of four. A round-robin format sees each team play three games within their group. Then, we’ll see the top two from each group earn head into the semi-finals, where they’ll meet an opponent from the other group.
How does the Young Stars concept work? As I detailed above, this is an intriguing squad, to be made up of players 23 and under at the cut-off date, which is rumoured – but not yet confirmed – to be 1 September 2016. The NHL indicated that players in this team don’t necessarily have to be playing in the NHL, as long as they are North American-born.
As far as off-the-ice operations, Hockey Canada and Hockey USA will combine talent for coaches, general managers and those other important front-office gigs. That’s right, the US and Canada combining. That will be an interesting mix of talent, without even touching on the playing roster.
How does the European team concept work? This team will be stocked by players who aren’t born in either the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia or Sweden. That means we’re likely to see (mostly) NHLers from Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Denmark, Norway, Latvia, Belarus…and pretty much any other European nation who breeds hockey players.
It’s an intriguing idea, which will allow players from smaller nations to play in this tournament, on what strikes me as being a pretty good team, but you wonder how much emotion these guys would have, playing for an All-Star outfit, as opposed to actually representing your country. We shall see.
What About the NHL season? Well, there’s bound to be some sort of overlap, given that the new Collective Bargaining Agreement says that camps need to run 20 days, and the season generally opens in early October. Some players will likely miss out on some days at training camp, but if they’ve played nigh on a month’s worth of top-flight hockey, they’re going to be coming into camp late, yes, but definitely raring to go, and fitter than perhaps they would normally be at that time of the year.
All in all, it might be more of a blessing than a disguise for teams.
What Does This Mean for NHL Olympic participation? Well, whilst nothing has been announced, it can’t be good. There’s been persistent rumour since the middle of the Sochi 2014 tournament that the NHL is frustrated by the situation – as I said above – and owners don’t like their star players going to play, fearing that an injury in the Olympic will wreck their franchise’s season.
My guess is that the owners’ concerns about that are secondary as far as the NHL is concerned. The League wants the cash that the IIHF get hold of at the moment, and they want to do things on their terms. Which, of course, is exactly what’s going on here with the World Cup of Hockey.
Whether the NHL’s television deal with NBC, who also paid a fortune to televise the Olympics for a long time to come, will figure into Olympic participation, who knows? I’d like to see both. Some players world, too, I’m sure – especially those who won’t be representing their country, but a Euro All-Star squad. The Olympics are about the only chance these pros get to play for their birth nation, given that the yearly IIHF World Championships falls during NHL playoffs.
My Verdict: I’m still not sold on the concept. I’d prefer the Olympics. I don’t like the idea of these All-Star teams – Euro and Young Stars – against guys actually playing for the country. I wonder if the guys not wearing their flag or national colours on the ice will be as motivated as, say, the Russians or Canadians?
Lots of water to flow under the bridge yet. I guess we’ll see.
Why: The NHL and the owners – well, most, anyway – have long been unhappy about their players participating in the Olympics. This despite players and fans loving the tournament, and despite the incredible exposure for the game that an Olympic tournament, and particularly a successful one for America, brings to a sport that, let’s face it, isn’t the most visible across most of the United States.
A cynical views is this: the World Cup of Hockey is a way for the NHL to control revenue, which they cannot do at the Olympics, where the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) runs the show and gets the cash. It’s also a golden way for the NHL to force their way into European markets, and if the tournament is even halfway successful, you’re going to see some big cities over on the continent throwing squillions at the NHL for the right to host the event.
When: The tournament will run through September and October of 2016
Who: The NHL announced that Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States will all field national teams. There will also be a Team Europe squad, made up of the best players outside of the European nations who will have their own teams, and a North American ‘Young Stars’ team, featuring only players 23 and under.
Each team will be made up of twenty-three players: twenty skaters and three goalies. Teams must announce at least sixteen of their roster selections before March 1, 2016, and the rest before June 1, 2016.
The League also confirmed that, yes, non-NHL players will be eligible to play in this tournament, so you can expect to see a bunch of KHL players on the Russian squad, which has been the Russian Federation’s want – for better or worse – during the last few Olympic tournaments. Other counties, such as the Czechs, have been known to dip into some local league talent, too.
Even so, the NHL estimate that somewhere around 90% of players will be NHL regulars.
Where: Despite early talk about playing games in a number of Canadian cities, it was announced today that Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, home of the country’s most scrutinised franchise, the Maple Leafs, will host the entire tournament. We can only hope that the atmosphere in the building will be far more raucous than it is for your regular Leafs games.
Format: Eight teams will be divided into two groups of four. A round-robin format sees each team play three games within their group. Then, we’ll see the top two from each group earn head into the semi-finals, where they’ll meet an opponent from the other group.
How does the Young Stars concept work? As I detailed above, this is an intriguing squad, to be made up of players 23 and under at the cut-off date, which is rumoured – but not yet confirmed – to be 1 September 2016. The NHL indicated that players in this team don’t necessarily have to be playing in the NHL, as long as they are North American-born.
As far as off-the-ice operations, Hockey Canada and Hockey USA will combine talent for coaches, general managers and those other important front-office gigs. That’s right, the US and Canada combining. That will be an interesting mix of talent, without even touching on the playing roster.
How does the European team concept work? This team will be stocked by players who aren’t born in either the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia or Sweden. That means we’re likely to see (mostly) NHLers from Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France, Denmark, Norway, Latvia, Belarus…and pretty much any other European nation who breeds hockey players.
It’s an intriguing idea, which will allow players from smaller nations to play in this tournament, on what strikes me as being a pretty good team, but you wonder how much emotion these guys would have, playing for an All-Star outfit, as opposed to actually representing your country. We shall see.
What About the NHL season? Well, there’s bound to be some sort of overlap, given that the new Collective Bargaining Agreement says that camps need to run 20 days, and the season generally opens in early October. Some players will likely miss out on some days at training camp, but if they’ve played nigh on a month’s worth of top-flight hockey, they’re going to be coming into camp late, yes, but definitely raring to go, and fitter than perhaps they would normally be at that time of the year.
All in all, it might be more of a blessing than a disguise for teams.
What Does This Mean for NHL Olympic participation? Well, whilst nothing has been announced, it can’t be good. There’s been persistent rumour since the middle of the Sochi 2014 tournament that the NHL is frustrated by the situation – as I said above – and owners don’t like their star players going to play, fearing that an injury in the Olympic will wreck their franchise’s season.
My guess is that the owners’ concerns about that are secondary as far as the NHL is concerned. The League wants the cash that the IIHF get hold of at the moment, and they want to do things on their terms. Which, of course, is exactly what’s going on here with the World Cup of Hockey.
Whether the NHL’s television deal with NBC, who also paid a fortune to televise the Olympics for a long time to come, will figure into Olympic participation, who knows? I’d like to see both. Some players world, too, I’m sure – especially those who won’t be representing their country, but a Euro All-Star squad. The Olympics are about the only chance these pros get to play for their birth nation, given that the yearly IIHF World Championships falls during NHL playoffs.
My Verdict: I’m still not sold on the concept. I’d prefer the Olympics. I don’t like the idea of these All-Star teams – Euro and Young Stars – against guys actually playing for the country. I wonder if the guys not wearing their flag or national colours on the ice will be as motivated as, say, the Russians or Canadians?
Lots of water to flow under the bridge yet. I guess we’ll see.
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