2016 World Cup of Hockey Pool

This week, we saw the announcement for the final rosters for the World Cup of Hockey, which will take place in September, which will give a selection of the world's best players a chance to get up to game speed with a short tournament, featuring six individual countries, a continental mish-mash and the future of North American hockey players.

By no means, should this tournament be considered as a measuring stick of international hockey, but it will give us all an extra glimpse at our favourite players, in an exhibition tournament, where just about anything can happen.  Oh yeah, don't forget the money.  The NHL and NHLPA, the organizers of this tournament, are set to make a killing on this one.

So, if they're set to make a killing at this, why can't we, right?  At some point during the Summer, for those aching to get a little bit more hockey into their lives, I will put together a hockey pool, to which I am thinking an absolute free-for-all pool.

I am not expecting many of my poolies to be too interested in this sort of thing, but I do reckon that there are going to be a few.  With only eight teams of 23 players, 184 players in total, I am thinking of putting together a draft, likely taking all the players that are available, in a no holds barred, no position limit, depending on the number of people who decide to jump on.

If there is one great thing about this tournament, as we head into the Summer, we will get to see some good talent, before they hit the ice in the NHL, some of which will likely be picked out in this post, as we see the teams below.  There were some new signings from Europe already and let's not forget about the two draft eligible kids, they'll get good looks too.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Jamie Benn	89		Brent Burns	75		Braden Holtby	103
Sidney Crosby	85		Shea Weber	51		Corey Crawford	85
Joe Thornton	82		Drew Doughty	51		Carey Price	24
Tyler Seguin	73		Duncan Keith	43
John Tavares	70		Jake Muzzin	40
Patrice Bergeron	68		Marc-Edouard Vlasic	39
Claude Giroux	67		Alex Pietrangelo	37
Steven Stamkos	64
Ryan Getzlaf	63
Jeff Carter	62
Brad Marchand	61
Matt Duchene	59
Jonathan Toews	58

We'll kick off with Canada and of course, there are going to be plenty of names that one could argue, should be there, but isn't.  I'm not terribly interested in those arguments, because this tournament means nothing to my pride as a Canadian, since this team will be playing against other Canadians on the Under-23 North American team.

This is a straight-forward team, built to win this tournament and that doesn't necessarily mean throwing all the big guns onto the sheet and calling it a team.  No, the inclusion of a Muzzin or Vlasic to the back end, means that there are going to be some role players, who won't necessarily have to eat a bunch of minutes and play along as good soldiers.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Patrick Kane	106		Dustin Byfuglien	53		Jonathan Quick	93
Joe Pavelski	78		Ryan Suter	51		Ben Bishop	83
Blake Wheeler	78		John Carlson	39		Cory Schneider	62
Max Pacioretty	64		Ryan McDonagh	34
Zach Parise	53		Matt Niskanen	32
Derek Stepan	53		Erik Johnson	27
Ryan Kesler	53		Jack Johnson	14
T.J. Oshie	51
Brandon Dubinsky	48
David Backes	45
Justin Abdelkader	42
James Van Riemsdyk	29
Ryan Callahan	28

The Americans are aiming to be an exceptionally tough team to play against, when you stop to consider a lot of the size they have chosen, somewhat over a lot of the skill that they boast at an international level.  This side will boast quite a bit of speed and grit, two things that their brain trust believes will be an asset on the North American ice.

There are certainly some curious names on this list, especially at the bottom end of the forwards and defense, but a tweet I had seen on Saturday morning was suggesting that the Americans wanted to be a 'heavier' team, which they certainly get in Abdelkader, Callahan and the Johnson boys.  If there are holes among the skaters, they certainly have the goalies to back them up.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Johnny Gaudreau	78		Shayne Gostisbehere	46		John Gibson	51
Sean Monahan	63		Aaron Ekblad	36		Connor Hellebuyck	30
Mark Scheifele	61		Morgan Rielly	36		Matt Murray	20
Jack Eichel	56		Colton Parayko	33
Brandon Saad	53		Seth Jones	31
Nathan MacKinnon	52		Ryan Murray	25
Connor McDavid	48		Jacob Trouba	21
Dylan Larkin	45
J.T. Miller	43
Sean Couturier	39
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	34
Jonathan Drouin	10
Auston Matthews	0

Is there anyone who is not excited to see what this Under-23 team can do?

The future of the NHL is summed up in 23 players, give or take some talent that wasn't included, but this group is going to be exciting to watch.  There are 15 1st round picks on this roster today, including four 1st overall picks, and that doesn't include Matthews, who will certainly be in one or both of those categories by the end of June.

This tournament will undoubtedly tell you where Matthews should be picked in this year's hockey pool draft, especially given that he will be playing against some of the league's best players and there is an expectation that he will shine.  This tournament will certainly help a few players improve their draft position as well, so it will be the one to watch.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Artemi Panarin	77		Andrei Markov	44		Semyon Varlamov	58
Evgeny Kuznetsov	77		Dmitry Orlov	29		Sergei Bobrovsky	34
Vladimir Tarasenko	74		Dmitry Kulikov	17		Andrei Vasilevskiy	24
Alex Ovechkin	71		Alexei Emelin	12
Nikita Kucherov	66		Alexey Marchenko	11
Evgeni Malkin	58		Vyacheslav Voynov	0
Pavel Datsyuk	49		Nikita Zaitsev	0
Artem Anisimov	42
Vladislav Namestnikov	35
Nikolay Kulemin	22
Evgeny Dadonov	0
Vadim Shipachev	0
Ivan Telegin	0

Definitely, one of the more intriguing teams other than the young stars will be the Russians, who are bringing a few from the KHL.  First and foremost, this is an NHL tournament, which likely means that they will have to replace Vyacheslav Voynov from their side, since he isn't quite welcome, due to his legal issues and it could even draw more into immigration at the Canadian border as well.

Still, between Dadonov, Shipachev, Telegin and Zaitsev, there are a number of wild cards on this Russian team that some of us won't necessarily be too familiar with.  Nikita Zaitsev is already signed on with the Maple Leafs for next season, so he will definitely be one to watch.

From their NHL talent, the Russians are looking fairly stacked up front, reasonable in goal, but their defense leaves something to be desired.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Jussi Jokinen	60		Rasmus Ristolainen	41		Pekka Rinne	78
Aleksander Barkov	59		Sami Vatanen	38		Tuukka Rask	71
Mikko Koivu	56		Olli Maatta	19		Mikko Koskinen	0
Mikael Granlund	44		Jyrki Jokipakka	12
Joonas Donskoi	36		Sami Lepisto	0
Leo Komarov	36		Esa Lindell	0
Teuvo Teravainen	35		Ville Pokka	0
Erik Haula	34
Jori Lehtera	34
Valtteri Filppula	31
Lauri Korpikoski	22
Sebastian Aho	0
Patrick Laine	0

The Finnish hockey program has been on one hell of a run over the last year or two, taking all kinds of international hockey titles at various levels and they'll be out to impress at this exhibition, no doubt.

On the surface, it's an interesting mix of talent on this roster, which includes some NHL-ready talent and the projected 2nd overall pick in this year's draft, Patrick Laine.  We shouldn't be overlooking a kid like Sebastian Aho or Ville Pokka and if it came down to it, their World Championship number one goalie, Mikko Koskinen.

This roster may not be out to win many track meets, but the Finns have done a great job in assembling teams that compete hard and have that element of an offensive upside that scores those clutch goals in tight games.  Don't be too quick to count them out, if they don't meet the first impression test.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Nicklas Backstrom	70		Erik Karlsson	82		Henrik Lundqvist	82
Filip Forsberg	64		Oliver Ekman-Larsson	55		Jacob Markstrom	28
Loui Eriksson	63		Victor Hedman	47		Robin Lehner	13
Daniel Sedin	61		Mattias Ekholm	35
Henrik Sedin	55		Anton Stralman	34
Gabriel Landeskog	53		Niklas Kronwall	26
Alexander Steen	52		Niklas Hjalmarsson	24
Patric Hornqvist	51
Carl Soderberg	51
Henrik Zetterberg	50
Jakob Silfverberg	39
Carl Hagelin	39
Marcus Kruger	4

There are plenty of reasons to like the Swedish program in this exhibition tournament and a lot of that has to do with their defensemen.  Karlsson, Ekman-Larsson and Hedman and three of the best defensemen in the game right now and they are going to help form a very balanced attack through this country's lineup.

In the forward position, the Swedes are very strong in their two-way game and plenty of talent to get the job done offensively, so goal production shouldn't be much of an issue for this side, and then their goaltending does stand out, as they have three keepers that belong to underachieving teams, which don't highlight how good they are or can be.

You would certainly be wise to keep a close eye on the Swedes, when you're building your team in the pool.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
David Krejci	63		Andrej Sustr	21		Petr Mrazek	64
Jakub Voracek	55		Roman Polak	16		Michal Neuvirth	43
Tomas Plekanec	54		Radko Gudas	14		Ondrej Pavelec	28
Tomas Hertl	46		Zbynek Michalek	7
Martin Hanzal	41		Jakub Nakladal	5
Ondrej Palat	40		Michal Jordan	1
Ales Hemsky	39		Michal Kempny	0
Michael Frolik	32
David Pastrnak	26
Milan Michalek	16
Dmitrij Jaskin	13
Radek Faksa	12
Vladimir Sobotka	0

The Czechs are certainly a diverse bunch, which won't have the likes of Jaromir Jagr, who is getting a little too old for all of these extra competitions.  There were some curious selections on this team, but when you look at the Czech participation in the NHL these days, it isn't quite what it used to be and this team's management hands were somewhat tied.

Nevertheless, us poolies will get to have another look at forward Vladimir Sobotka, who is possibly going to come back to the NHL with the Blues next season, honouring his salary arbitration deal to play and the Blackhawks had recently signed defenseman Michal Kempny, so we'll get a look at him before the real hockey pool draft happens.

Goaltending is going to be a tipping point for the Czechs, since they have three goalies that can eat a lot of minutes, but they haven't reached that elite status in the league yet.  A good tournament in September would go a long way to helping their own status.

Forwards	P-16		Defense	P-16		Goalies	P-16
Anze Kopitar	74		Roman Josi	61		Frederik Andersen	51
Mats Zuccarello	61		Zdeno Chara	37		Thomas Greiss	49
Frans Nielsen	52		Andrej Sekera	30		Jaroslav Halak	43
Leon Draisaitl	51		Mark Streit	23
Mikkel Boedker	51		Christian Ehrhoff	12
Tomas Tatar	45		Dennis Seidenberg	12
Nino Niederreiter	43		Luca Sbisa	8
Thomas Vanek	41
Jannik Hansen	38
Tobias Rieder	37
Marian Hossa	33
Marian Gaborik	22
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	14

Finally, we have that mish-mash of every other country in Europe, thrown together to be some kind of All-Star squad from tier B nations.  There is a fair amount of top end talent on this roster, but the most interesting part about this is they won't have played in an international tournament together, unless those players are from the same country, so there could be a real period of adjustment going on here, before this team really gets to show off what its capable of.

There isn't anyone that we haven't seen in the NHL on this roster today, as they were able to fill this out rather easily with bodies that are active in the league.  Slovakia, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland are the countries that lead the way, in terms of participation, which is a great sign for international hockey, in actual international tournaments.  These programs are really coming along and the game is truly growing.