All of the news surrounding the Detroit Red Wings and the World Cup of Hockey seems to be bad. Both Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall were forced to drop off the Swedish team due to injury, but there’s still plenty of Red Wings players anticipating the chance to showcase their skills on the world stage when the tournament gets underway later this month.

Seven Detroit players remain ready to participate – forwards Justin Abdelkader (United States), Dylan Larkin (North America), Tomas Tatar, Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek (Europe), defenseman Alexey Marchenko (Russia) and goaltender Petr Mrazek (Czech Republic).

“It’s great for the league, great for all the countries involved, and for the players,” Abdelkader said. “I’m really excited about the opportunity to represent my country.

“Being in Toronto, I know there’s a lot of hype around the event. It’s a good way to kind of kick the season off.”

While Canada will be the prohibitive favorites to take the title, you can’t count out the Americans, who finished second in the last best on best tournament played on a North American ice surface, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

“It’ll be different experience but it’ll be fun,” Abdelkader said. “We’re all looking forward to it.”

He anticipates filling more of a defensive role on the U.S. team than he’s accustomed to playing in Detroit.

“I’ll most likely be in a checking line role, probably play some penalty kill,” Abdelkader said. “Whatever I can do.

“I’m just kind of going in, looking forward to the experience playing with the guys, building some relationships with them, obviously playing whatever role they put me in.”

The Russians also figure to have a shot and it will likely be the last chance to see former Wing Pavel Datsyuk perform in North America.

“I’m going to miss him, we’re going to miss him as a team,” Abdelkader said. “What he’s done for the organization and the city is remarkable.

“We’ll miss him but we wish him luck on his next journey.”

Certainly, Team Europe is probably the longest shot on the board to win the World Cup, and you won’t find many people backing the Czechs, either.

Mrazek hopes to seize the opportunity to establish himself as the top goalie for his country.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Mrazek said. “Those games will be high intensity.

“It’s the first time I can play and maybe be the No. 1 goalie for the Czechs, so I can’t wait for that and we’ll see what happens in training camp.”

With such talent as Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews and Aaron Ekblad in two, Team North America – the top 23-under NHLers from Canada and the U.S. – is an intriguing entry.

Larkin believes they possess the capability to win the World Cup.

“I don’t think we’re a dark horse,” Larkin said. “I think we’ll be an exciting team to watch. Talking to other players in the tournament, they know we’re going to be pretty good. We’re just excited to get together and play games.

“The message from the coaches is we’re excited to get in there. I don’t think we’re going to shock any teams but we’re definitely going to play our best. Teams know the kind of players we have.

“We go and hope to win the whole thing.”

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