Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
With the World Cup of Hockey announcements taking over the hockey world today, it seems appropriate to discuss the potential players that will be skating for their countries when the tournament starts. The configuration of the tournament involves eight teams split between two groups. Team Canada, Team Czech Republic, Team Europe, and Team USA will make up Group A. Team Finland, Team North America, Team Russia and Team Sweden will make up Group B.
For the readers that are unaware of what Team North America, and Team Europe are, the explanation is pretty simple. Team North America will be run by former Bruins and current Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli. The roster will be comprised of entirely North American players, but the caveat to that is the fact that each player must be 23-and-under as of October 1st of 2016. As for Team Europe, the NHL has described it as “a pan-European roster of players from birth countries outside of the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia and Sweden.” (original article can be found here).
Puck Prose
Without further adieu, these are the players on the Boston Bruins roster that should have a chance at making the World Cup Roster for their respective teams.
Group A
Canada: Patrice Bergeron
Czech Republic: David Krejci, David Pastrnak
Team Europe: Zdeno Chara (Slovakia), Dennis Seidenberg (Germany)
Team USA: Torey Krug
In total, there is the potential for six current Bruins to make a 2016 World Cup Roster in Group A, however there are always darkhorses that enter the race, and anything can happen moving forward.
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Group B
Finland: Tuukka Rask
Team North America: Malcolm Subban*
Russia: None
Sweden: Loui Eriksson
Group B looks far less appealing to Bruins fans. With Tuukka Rask and Loui Eriksson being virtual locks for Team Finland and Team Sweden respectively, *Malcolm Subban on the North American Young Stars team is really just a possibility based on his age and highly-talented prospect status. Assuming Subban doesn’t make it, the Bruins will have three players making the trip to Toronto to play for their respective country in the World Cup.
The Boston Bruins could have up to nine players from their current roster playing in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, although changes to the Bruins current roster could change that.
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