2016 World Cup of Hockey: Preview and Projected Rosters 2.0

2016 World Cup of Hockey will feature eight teams (Team Canada, Team USA, Team Russia, Team Sweden, Team Czech Republic, Team Finland, Team North America, Team Europe). The tournament will be held in September 2016, and is a group effort with the NHL and NHLPA, in association with International Ice Hockey Federation.

The rules will differ from that of IIHF held tournaments, and will follow NHL rules, with games being played on NHL-sized rinks. Because of the league’s involvement, fans can expect to see far less European players than we’re used to seeing at World Championships or Olympics in the 2016 NHL World Cup of Hockey.

2016 World Cup of Hockey – Rosters and Groupings

23 players, 20 skaters, 3 goalies

Group A: Team Canada, Team Czech Republic, Team Europe, Team USA

Group B: Team Finland, Team North America, Team Russia, Team Sweden

via NHL.com,

“The players for Team North America will be selected from a pool of the best young hockey players from Canada and the United States. Those players must be 23 or under as of Oct. 1, 2016 (i.e., must have a date of birth on or after Oct. 2, 1992) and will be available for selection exclusively by Team North America.”

“Team Europe will be comprised of a pan-European roster of players from birth countries outside of the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden – in short, all of the other European countries who are developing world-class hockey players in ever-increasing numbers. Countries such as Austria, Belarus, Denmark, France, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland (among others) will all be eligible for representation on Team Europe.”

1st Roster Deadline: 16 players (at least two goalies) no later than March 1st, 2016

2nd Roster Deadline: Remaining roster no later than June, 1st, 2016

The 2016 World Cup of Hockey will be held in Toronto at Air Canada Centre from September 17th to October 1st.

Before going any further, we’d like to address one point through feedback from our first edition. It seems there’s a small percentile of fans that believe there was too much NHL representation with certain European teams, such as Finland, Czech Republic, Russia, etc. While it’s normal for these teams to carry several KHL or other European league skaters for annual international tournaments – this is an NHL run tournament. NHL rules, NHL ice surface, held in North America. So while there will be some representation of players from European leagues – teams will be largely filled with NHL skaters.

Any stats or information were obtained from Hockeydb.com or NHL.com