The World Cup of Hockey makes its return in Toronto after a 12-year hiatus. Here's a look at the eight teams involved in the tournament, which opens Sept. 17:
Canada
The unquestioned favourites, Canada will try to recapture the World Cup of Hockey after winning the last edition 12 years ago.
The Canadians boast the deepest pool of talent in the tournament, stacked with Art Ross, Hart and Norris Trophy winners, as well as the last two goaltenders to win the Vezina.
The forward contingent is loaded with speed, size, skill, smarts and a great degree of versatility. The puzzle pieces should be interchangeable for head coach Mike Babcock with just about every player capable of taking on a role or position as needed. There's plenty of firepower, too. Twelve of the 13 forwards have scored at least 30 goals in an NHL season, including Brad Marchand, one of eight Canadians to do so last season.
Canada offered one of the stingiest defensive showings ever at the 2014 Sochi Games, yielding a mere three goals all tournament. The World Cup defence took a hit with Duncan Keith sidelined by injury, but Shea Weber, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Drew Dougthy, Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester all return to resume past duties. Incoming L.A. Kings defender Jake Muzzin adds defensive stability, likely alongside Doughty, while Brent Burns injects an air of enthusiasm and offensive pep.
Carey Price should be a lock to start but hasn't played since November after suffering a season-ending knee injury. If he can't quickly return to past form Canada has Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby along with two-time Stanley Cup champ Corey Crawford.
Anything less than victory will be a disappointment for this squad.
North America
The North Americans could be the most exciting team to watch at the World Cup.
Built with players 23-and-younger from Canada and the U.S., this squad is bursting with some of the brightest young talents in hockey, from Connor McDavid to Aaron Ekblad, Jack Eichel, Johnny Gaudreau and Nathan MacKinnon. Some in this group -- McDavid certainly -- might have even qualified for their respective nations had the rules of the tournament not forbid it.
What should make this group tantalizing is the combination of all that youth together. Imagine Auston Matthews paired with fellow No. 1 overall picks Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nathan MacKinnon or Eichel teamed with the shifty Gaudreau.
The defence is plenty young and inexperienced, led by Ekblad, the Florida Panthers' 20-year-old going on 30 along with Morgan Rielly of the Maple Leafs and Seth Jones from the Columbus Blue Jackets. How that youthful, if mobile, group handles powerful forward contingents like Canada's will be of intrigue in September.
Matt Murray, the Penguins Cup-winning goaltender, or John Gibson, the Ducks present and future in goal, offer promise but a degree of uncertainty when facing elite options on every team.
They may not win the World Cup, but these young players will be worth watching.
Sweden
Silver medal winners in Sochi, the Swedes, with a stocked defence, stability in goal and deep forward contingent, are a good bet to challenge for the World Cup crown.
There may be no better looking defensive group. Sweden's back end is led by the incomparable Erik Karlsson and all-around Tampa Bay Lightning stalwart Victor Hedman, complemented by underrated types like Anton Stralman, Hampus Lindholm, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Every member of the group skates well, moves the puck easily, and has some degree of skill, making for an effortless transition to offence.
Up front, the Swedes are led by the aging, but still productive Sedin twins as well as assets in their primes like Nicklas Backstrom and Loui Eriksson and emerging talents such as Filip Forsberg and Gabriel Landeskog.
It's a smart, responsible group with just enough firepower to complement that fine defence and goaltending, which comes once again from the great Henrik Lundqvist.
There's not a lot to dislike about the Swedes. They pose a real threat to the favoured Canadians.
United States
The Americans have the reigning NHL scoring champ and Hart Trophy winner in Patrick Kane, the deepest goaltending in the tournament, and a meat and potatoes-type roster otherwise.
The Americans finished a disappointing fourth in Sochi, edged 1-0 by Canada in the semifinal before getting stomped 5-0 by Finland in the bronze-medal game. They opted against bringing back Phil Kessel, their leading scorer from that tournament, a Conn Smythe trophy candidate last spring and a real game-breaker on a roster that lacks many such options.
The U.S. may be challenged by its over-reliance on feisty, blue collar types such as David Backes, Brandon Dubinsky, Justin Abdelkader and Ryan Kesler in a tournament booming with skill up top.
Beyond Kane, Jets winger Blake Wheeler, Montreal captain Max Pacioretty, Wild star Zach Parise, and Leafs winger James van Riemsdyk, there's just not the same degree of high-end skill in this group as there is with Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia and North America. It's worth noting that the Americans were not permitted to add teenage sensations like Eichel, Larkin, Matthews, Gaudreau or Shayne Gostisbehere, players who would've helped fill the skill gap.
The defence is solid, if unspectacular, with all-around types such as Ryan Suter and Ryan McDonagh as well as a potential game-changer in Dustin Byfuglien.
The high point of the roster though is in goal. With Jonathan Quick, Ben Bishop and Cory Schneider, the Americans have three of the best goaltenders in the tournament to choose from and that gives this group a fighting chance at the very least.
Finland
Typically overlooked despite a long track record of success internationally, including medals at five of the last six Olympics, the Finns are unlikely to slip by unnoticed this fall.
This isn't the aging roster led by Teemu Selanne, which landed bronze in Sochi, but one rather that's brimming with youth. There's Winnipeg Jets sensation Patrik Laine, Panthers top centre Aleksander Barkov as well as young defenders like Olli Maatta and Sami Vatanen.
Thirteen players on the 23-man roster are aged 25 and younger. That should offer the Finns, who have always relied on savvy team defence and stable goaltending, a little more pep and excitement. Finland is especially young on the back end though, which could put more pressure on either Tuukka Rask or Pekka Rinne in goal.
The future is coming to Finnish hockey. It just might be too soon for World Cup glory.
Russia
Perhaps no team in the tournament can boast game-breaking talent quite like the Russians.
From Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin to Vladimir Tarasenko and Nikita Kucherov, Russia is loaded with explosive offensive talent. Of course, that's usually the case with the Russians, who have nonetheless disappointed in the past two Olympics, including a disastrous fifth-place showing on home soil in 2014.
This squad is deeper though, primarily due to the influx of talented young players like the 23-year-old Kucherov (30 goals last season), 24-year-old Tarasenko (40 goals) as well as Artemi Panarin, the reigning Calder Trophy winner, and Evgeny Kuznetsov, the leading scorer (77 points) for the President's Trophy-winning Washington Capitals.
Stack those stars on top of Ovechkin, Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk, the now former Red Wing legend, and there's plenty to fear here for World Cup opponents.
Outside of 37-year-old Montreal Canadiens stalwart Andrei Markov, the defence is mostly a young contingent though and the goaltending is riddled with question marks as both Semyon Varlamov and Sergei Bobrovsky had rocky performances last season. The Russians rotated between the pair in Sochi.
There's plenty of talent in this group, but whether it translates into cohesive team success remains the question as always.
Europe
The European squad will represent eight different nations at the World Cup: France, Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria, and Norway. It's a predictably mish-mash roster tilted toward an aging group of declining NHL stars like Zdeno Chara (39 years old), Marian Hossa (37), Marian Gaborik (34), and Thomas Vanek (32).
It's unlikely that the old guard has enough left to make this a formidable threat, especially on defence, where Chara will be joined by 38-year-old Mark Streit, 35-year-old Dennis Seidenberg, and 34-year-old Christian Ehrhoff.
New Kings captain Anze Kopitar gives the Europeans a powerful, two-way force down the middle, but there might not be enough scoring in this group to get by. The level of game-breaking talent is thin with Hossa, Gaborik and Vanek all having seen their best days pass by and Oilers up-and-comer Leon Draisaitl still only 20 years old.
Jaroslav Halak is a solid, if unspectacular option in goal.
The talent on Team Europe just doesn't compare with the Canadians, Swedes, Finns, North Americans or even Americans, making the squad n unlikely contender in Toronto.
Czech Republic
As thin as the Europeans might be on offence and skill, the Czechs are even thinner, with a young roster that appears the weakest on paper heading into the World Cup.
Perhaps the only fighting chance the Czechs have is Petr Mrazek, the likely No. 1 netminder who was one of the NHL's best for the first half of last season. If Mrazek gets hot in this two-week tournament it's conceivable that this group could surprise.
Still, it's unlikely.
The Czechs don't have the skill to match up with Canada, a Group A opponent, nor the depth of the Americans or Europeans, especially with top centre David Krejci backing out because of injury. Jakub Voracek now fronts a forward contingent mixed with youth, such as 20-year-old David Pastrnak and 22-year-old Tomas Hertl, as well as aging talent like Milan Michalek and Ales Hemsky.
The group on defence is easily the thinnest among the eight teams with Maple Leafs defender Roman Polak joined by the likes of Zbynek Michalek and Andrej Sustr.
