Buffalo Sabres World Cup Of Hockey Rosters Revealed

This fall, for the first time there will be the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto, Ontario.

Yesterday, preliminary rosters for teams were released. There are 8 teams going to be in the World Cup of Hockey; based on the rosters released so far, who are the leaders for each team?

First, Team North America. This is going to be a team full of youngsters, Americans and Canadians all under the age of 23. Guys like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Aaron Ekblad will lead this team.

Teams USA and Canada are then made up of the players from those countries who are 23+.

For Canada, that includes, of course, Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Steven Stamkos. All big-name guys who no doubt deserve to be on the international stage. For the United States, three big players named to the preliminary roster are Patrick Kane, Zach Parise, and Jonathan Quick.

Team Russia will be led by guys like Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Vladimir Tarasenko, while Team Finland includes Tuukka Rask, Teuvo Teravainen, and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.

The Czech Republic team holds names including Petr Mrazek, Tomas Hertl, and Jakub Voracek, while Team Sweden has Henrik Lundqvist, Erik Karlsson, and Henrik Zetterberg. Finally, Team Europe includes former Buffalo Sabres forward Thomas Vanek, plus Tomas Tatar and Anze Kopitar.

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Right now, the best team on paper appears to be Team Canada; the leaders are just the tip of the iceberg of top-end talent at their disposal. The team has chemistry and experience from the Olympic gold medals. Not only does this team have the ability to score at any moment, but Team Canada also has the goaltending and defensive ability to shut any team down.

The goalies of this team one game could be Carey Price, the reigning Vezina trophy winner. The next game could face one of the best goalies right now who could be the next Vezina winner Braden Holtby. During the third game you could face the current shutout leader this season in Corey Crawford.

This team is oozing talent; as of right now, though it’s early, this team is my favorite to win. I think that this team is going to be difficult to beat if not contend with. The experience and winning ability should scare teams at least — but a team this big has been beaten before, while also under-performing to the potential that they have.

The next best team that has a chance of winning the World Cup is Team Russia.

This team has a chance to take it to Team Canada; the team is equipped with the one of the best scorers that hockey has ever seen in Alex Ovechkin, but he’s not the only that has the scoring touch. This team also can get scoring from Evgeni Malkin and Vladmir Tarasenko. The team is going to have the man with the dirty hands in Pavel Datsyuk.

The thing that the this team lacks in is their defense. They don’t have any top tier defenders that will be able to handle the Canadians. If I was the coach of this team, I would try to make every game a goalfest and try to make the other team keep up with their high scoring offense.

Team Sweden has the potential to be in the contention to win. This team has one of the best goaltenders in the world in Henrik Lundqvist. The defense in front of won’t be too bad either, as you have Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, not to mention Victor Hedman and Niklas Hjalmarsson. They have one of the best defensive units in this tournament. They will also have exceptional offensive skill in The Sedin twins, Filip Forsberg, and Gabriel Landeskog.

The only problem that could be seen for this team is a lack of secondary scoring. Team Sweden won’t have a problem if their top players score, but that can only take you so far. If the top scorers can’t score, the team will lean on their third and fourth line players. Don’t forget that team Sweden won a silver medal in the 2014 Sochi Olympics after falling to Team Canada.

Note that Buffalo Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner could still be added to the roster.

The next best to me would be Team North America, with the top scoring ability in McDavid and Eichel to name the least, but wait there’s more! The fastest skater in the NHL in Dylan Larkin who has been lighting it up in Detroit. You add two more first overall picks like Aaron Ekblad and Nathan MacKinnon and boom, you’ve got a solid core.

This team has incredible talent as it includes the best under 23 players. The weakest point of this team is at goalie as it has no elite goalies under 23.

The three goalies that have been named so far are John Gibson, Connor Hellebuyck, and Matthew Murray. Those goalies might be better in a few years but right now the only one that getting the most playing time in the NHL is John Gibson, my projected starter.

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I see the World Cup of Hockey playing out similar like the 2014 Olympics is that Canada will end up winning, but I am excited to see what team is the biggest test against them and how the young North American team will do, especially with Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel in tow.

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