PREDICTIONS: Team USA World Cup of Hockey Roster

If you’re a fan of hockey, there are few things better than international competition, where the best players in the world square off for supremacy. Having attended the 2004 World Cup, as well as the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics, I was encouraged when the NHL and NHLPA first began talking about adding a tournament this coming summer. Now, after much talk and planning, the 2016 World Cup is finally becoming a reality. With games scheduled to begin in mid-September, in Toronto, we will start to get a first look at rosters for the eight teams throughout the day tomorrow.

Russia, Finland, and the Czech Republic will each announce at least 16 names from their rosters early in the morning. They’ll be followed by similar announcements from Sweden, Team Europe, Team North America in the afternoon. Then, Canada (3:00 pm PST) and USA (3:45 pm PST), winners of the two previous World Cup tournaments, will round out the day with press conferences of their own.

As we first reported last June, Kings GM Dean Lombardi, is serving as the General Manager of Team USA. His Assistant GM in Los Angeles, Rob Blake, is part of the management team for Team Canada. Among the many difficult choices Lombardi faces is what to do with his current team captain, Dustin Brown. The New York native is not only a two-time Stanley Cup winner, but has also worn a letter for Team USA at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. However, his play over the past two seasons would most likely render him a longshot for this year’s competition.

Each of the eight World Cup teams will eventually have a tournament roster of 23 players, consisting of 20 skaters and three goaltenders. The balance of each team’s roster will be announced no later than June 1, 2016. NOTE: Team North America will be comprised of players from Canada and the United States who are 23 or under as of Oct. 1, 2016.

Here at MayorsManor, we thought we would have a little fun surrounding the announcements by asking a few of our writers to submit their Team USA roster predictions. All decisions were made blindly, without the benefit of seeing each other’s selections. Here is who they would take to Toronto…

JOHN HOVEN

Zach Parise – Joe Pavelski – Patrick Kane
Max Pacioretty – Nick Bjugstad – Phil Kessel
James van Riemsdyk – Ryan Kesler – Blake Wheeler
Chris Kreider – Charlie Coyle – Bobby Ryan
Craig Smith

Kevin Shattenkirk – Ryan Suter
John Carlson – Ryan McDonagh
Matt Niskanen – Dustin Byfuglien
Cam Fowler

Jonathan Quick
Cory Schneider
Ben Bishop

ANDY TONGE

Max Pacioretty – Joe Pavelski – Patrick Kane
Zach Parise – Ryan Kesler – Phil Kessel
James van Riemsdyk – Derek Stepan – Kyle Okposo
Chris Kreider – David Backes – Blake Wheeler
Brandon Dubinsky

Kevin Shattenkirk – Ryan Suter
John Carlson – Ryan McDonagh
Justin Faulk – Keith Yandle
Erik Johnson

Jonathan Quick
Cory Schneider
Ben Bishop

SCOTT COFFMAN

Zach Parise – Joe Pavelski – Patrick Kane
Bobby Ryan – Ryan Kesler – Phil Kessel
Max Pacioretty – Tyler Johnson – T.J. Oshie
Nick Foligno – David Backes – Blake Wheeler
James van Riemsdyk

Justin Faulk – Dustin Byfuglien
Ryan McDonaugh – Kevin Shattenkirk
Ryan Suter – Erik Johnson
Keith Yandle

Jonathan Quick
Cory Schneider
Ben Bishop

The World Cup of Hockey 2016 will begin with the Preliminary Round (Sept. 17-22), with the eight teams split into two Groups, Group A (Canada, Czech Republic, USA, and Team Europe) and Group B (Finland, Russia, Sweden, and Team North America). Each team will play its three Group opponents in a round-robin format. The top two finishers in each of Group A and Group B will advance to the Semifinals (Sept. 24-25), where each qualifier will face an elimination game against a team from the other Group.

This year’s World Cup winner will be determined when the two Semifinal winners meet in a best-of-three series finale on Sept. 27, Sept. 29 and, if necessary, Oct. 1.

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