World Cup of Hockey's oddball teams add intrigue
Young guns, European misfits bring flavour to tournament
When the new twist was announced that the 2016 World Cup of Hockey would include a "young guns" team of North Americans and a sort of "misfit" squad from various European countries, there was a feeling the NHL and NHLPA had lost their marbles.
How would a 39-year-old Zdeno Chara feel about not get an opportunity to play for Slovakia one more time? How could 19-year-old Connor McDavid not have a chance to earn a spot on the Canadian roster?
Besides, you never know when an underdog team beats the odds in a tournament like this and makes some unexpected noise — like Switzerland's silver-medal showing at the 2013 IIHF world championship or Iceland's run to the soccer quarter-finals at this year's European Championship.
But there is plenty of curiosity about the young guns and the misfits, and how these two teams will fare against Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia and the United States.
How much fun will it be to watch McDavid and Co., with all their speed on display, perform? Can the misfits come together and pull off an upset or two?
Young guns outgun misfits
The teams squared off in Quebec City in an exhibition game on Thursday with the kids getting the better of their older opponents in a 4-0 win that saw Nathan MacKinnon, Johnny Gaudreau and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each score less than five minutes apart in the second period.
The inclusion of these two groups allows the NHL/NHLPA to showcase the game's best young talent and European stars like Anze Kopitar, the two-time Stanley Cup-winning Los Angeles Kings centre whose Slovenia would not have qualified for a tournament like this.
The young guns, officially called Team North America, are a collection of the best 23-and-under players from Canada and the United States — like McDavid, Gaudreau, MacKinnon, Jack Eichel, Dylan Larkin and Aaron Ekblad.
The misfits, officially called Team Europe, includes players like Kopitar, Chara, Roman Josi, Marian Hossa and Thomas Vanek.
Neither team has the depth that the tournament's powerhouse countries have. Team North America has a group of unproven players on defence and in goal, although Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Matt Murray could help their cause. He registered a shutout on Thursday.
'The right kind of language'
Who better to run Team Europe than head coach Ralph Krueger? The native of Winnipeg has a Canadian passport, coached the Swiss national team and the Edmonton Oilers, won gold as an assistant with the 2014 Canadian Olympic team and in his day job is the soccer chairman of the Southampton Saints of the English Premier League.
Krueger remarked that the process to build Team Europe has been a "fascinating" process, but he doesn't believe his team is at a disadvantage because they arrive on the scene from places like Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia and Austria rather than one country.
"I don't think it's any different just because were not from one nation," Krueger said. "Each team has players from different teams that have to come together and learn a new system.
"We have 11 days and three games to pull this thing together. It's plenty of time because I've certainly been involved in teams that have had as few as three days to prepare, like an Olympics."
You may have noticed in the exhibition game on Thursday that each Team Europe player had his country's flag on the left arm of his sweater. Krueger wants his players to be proud of their birthplace.
"I have asked them to play for their country, play with pride and be proud of where they come from," Krueger said.
"I've noticed we have the right kind of language in the dressing room and based on the character we have on this team the players have responded to the spirit of this team. We have a strong leadership group and a good staff."