Patrick Kane Leads Team USA World Cup Roster, Phil Kessel Snubbed

As expected, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel were named to Team North America, which is open to players 23 and under. The games will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and the tournament will be comprised of eight teams.

The Chicago Blackhawks will be well represented in the inaugural World Cup of Hockey, with nine players joining the eight-team field.

Jonathan Quick is the incumbent, and should be the starter based on experience although both Cory Schneider and Ben Bishop have posted better numbers this season.

Count Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane as one of those people.

The forwards include Crosby, Toews, Stamkos, Dallas Stars' Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, the New York Islanders' John Tavares, Boston's Patrice Bergeron, L.A.'s Jeff Carter and Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf.

"It's probably going to be one of the best tournaments that's ever been played in hockey history", Forsberg said via Predators.NHL.com. The Czech Republic left Jaromir Jagr off, but mainly because so that the 44-year-old could have until June 1 to decide whether he wants to play.

Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, the NHL's top goal scorer, heads the list of the first 16 players named to the roster by Team Russia.

"It's a huge honor, I'm really excited", Abdelkader said.

Other teams had more hard decisions.

Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Phil Kessel (81) waches as Washington Capitals goalie Braden Holtby (70) makes a save during the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, March 1, 2016, in Washington. The difficulty comes from one problem: We have a lot of talented, character players to choose from. This isn't a knock on Kesler, Pavelski and Stepan, but the American's center depth is among the weakest in the tournament when compared to the seven other teams, especially Canada, Sweden, Russia and Team North America.

The Russian Hockey Federation's 16-man roster mixes established names such as Russian Olympic team regulars Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeny Malkin with up-and-comers such as the Tampa Bay Lightning pair of Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov.

"The design and development of the World Cup of Hockey uniforms was a true collaboration between adidas, the NHL and the NHLPA, with important input provided by each participating team", said Brian Jennings, NHL CMO & Executive Vice President.

The World Cup runs from September 17 through October 1, ahead of the National Hockey League preseason.

Fehr said the league and players will do an extensive debrief after the 2016 World Cup and planned to make some conclusions in October and beyond.

I'd have to think a Team Europe title would be the worst-case scenario for organizers, as the idea of a mixed-nation team flies in the face of what a tournament like this typically looks like - one where national teams (and national teams alone) battle for hockey supremacy.