Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak, USA Today Sports
The NHL has announced the return of the World Cup of Hockey. The tournament will begin again in September of 2016. The World Cup of Hockey should help grow the NHL on the international level and hopefully help the continued growth of hockey across the world. Countries like Germany, Latvia and Slovakia have been making huge strides in catching up to the big boys, but they aren’t ready to begin competing with the likes of Canada, the United States, Russia or Sweden (or even the Czech Republic). The new addition of the “Europe” team allows players from those nations to compete and show off their talent at the international level.
More from International Tournaments
- Michal Kempny and Martin Fehervary represent Capitals in IIHF Worlds
- Capitals: Connor McMichael wins gold for Team Canada in World Juniors
- Capitals: Prospect Connor McMichael scores first goal of World Juniors for Canada
- Washington Capitals: Three Players Win Bronze with Russia
- Washington Capitals: Five Players Go for the Gold
Each team will have 25 skaters (three goalies and 22 skaters). There will be eight teams participating, including six countries. The following six countries will be represented.
- Canada
- United States
- Russia
- Sweden
- Czech Republic
- Finland
In addition, the NHL sponsored World Cup of Hockey will have two other teams. The first is the previously mentioned Europe team. The second is the “Young Stars” team that will consist of North American born players who are less than 23 years old as of September 1st, 2016. This makes things really interesting, in my opinion.
Here are the updated roster projections for each team.
Next: Canada