Earlier, we learned that the Red Wings would be represented on Team Russia (Marchenko, Datsyuk), Team Czech Republic (Mrazek), and Team Sweden (Kronwall, Zetterberg). This evening, the remainder of the rosters for this September’s tournament came out, and we’ve got three more Red Wings joining the fun.
While there were no surprise additions to this group from the preliminary rosters, it’s good to get confirmation that nobody played their way off the teams.
Team Canada
No Red Wings will be on Team Canada’s stacked and likely tournament-favorite roster. They went a bit like the Red Wings though in that only four of their forwards aren’t centers.
While Canada’s snub list was always going to be kind of a who’s-who, the lack of PK Subban on defense makes me think he should defect to the United States. This will be extra-important once we get to their roster.
Team Europe
Tomas Tatar will join the team of players put together from countries which aren’t Finland, Sweden, Russia, and the Czech Republic (mostly Slovakians, Danes, and Swiss). The Slovakians have a pretty good top-end talent, but depth both at forward and defense doesn’t compare well to the tournament powerhouses.
Naturally, expect them to compete very well.
Team USA
Justin Abdelkader keeps his spot on Team USA, which left Phil Kessel off their roster and took both Abdelkader and Ryan Callahan. Defensively, Jack Johnson being on the team makes me long for simpler times before the World Cup of Hockey was a thing. Ben Bishop, Jonathan Quick, and Cory Schneider can steal any game at any time though.
It’s clear Team USA was put together as an “everybody has a role” team and want to be “tough to play against.” I’m sure they will be. Whether that means tough to beat? I think it would be tougher if Team USA took their best players.
Team North America
Honestly, this is probably going to be my favorite team. A group of 23 and under also-rans from the U.S. and Canada coming together for a joint mission to shove it in the faces of the old-asses from their own countries is too good.
It’s also helpful that Dylan Larkin is on this squad.
I wouldn’t put it past this squad to be real competitive either. Their forwards are real good and the whole team is speedy. I think they have a better defensive corps than Team USA too. I wish Athanasiou were there, but that’s a real tough call to put him on there based on the playing time he got this season.
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So there you have it: a total of eight Red Wings players for eight tournament teams set to compete for World Cup gold this September. This should do a good job of shortening a long summer for us.
