Team North America head coach Todd McLellan must feel like pinching himself.
McLellan and his assistant coaches are responsible for finding the most productive and efficient line combinations and D pairs. He has a treasure chest that is spilling over with bright, young, amazingly skilled talent.
McLellan said Monday that Team North America's team’s management wanted to infuse their U23 team roster with the fastest players available.
Boy, have they ever accomplished what they set out to do. Team North America has the type of speed you find at a Formula One race track during qualifying heats.
McLellan rolled these impressive forward trios out on at Team North America's first practice together as a unit on Monday.
Drouin-McDavid-Scheifele Gaudreau-Eichel-Saad MacKinnon-RNH-Larkin Miller-Couturier-Matthews *Trocheck
“When you think about speed, you think about skating fast and that only happens when you have crisp puck movement and players are working to get into position,… told McLellan media. “You need crisp execution and that’s what training camp is for. We’re also stressing the speed factor on the defensive side of the puck, being able to close quickly and apply pressure.…
McClellan's first draft of lines will likely be tweaked in the interest of building faster forward lines.
“We have a lot of centers and we have to move some people around,… said McLellan. “MacKinnon and (Jonathan) Drouin have played together before and we might look at them together. We thought we’d have Sean Monahan and Gaudreau, but Monahan is injured.…
McLellan's D corps has a heavy amount of speed, too.
Ekblad- Rielly Parayko-Gostisbehere Jones-Trouba *Murray
McLellan is asking the under 23 studs to check their egos at the door.
Many of the young stars will have to accept lesser roles and play outside of their comfort zones if Team North America is to have success at the two week tourney. Several of the 11 Canadians and 14 American players have accepted reduced roles on the previous World Juniors teams and on international U18 teams. However, none of the players have ever accepted pennies on the dollar roles on a World Cup team because this is the first time in tourney history that a hybrid Canada-USA squad has competed in the World Cup.
“You look at the forwards on this team and they average about 18 minutes a game, and the defencemen are playing about 22,… said McLellan. “Obviously, there aren’t minutes to go around for everyone. (Babcock) has guys who have been through this before and it’s a little easier for him.
McLellan said he and his staff enjoyed throwing the proverbial spaghetti at the wall to see what forward lines and D pairs stick.
"We'd like to keep some consistency with lines, but we also need to experiment, so we're so early in the evolution of lines and pairs that I think you'll see changes as it goes on, and not necessarily because guys are playing poor or well, it's just we want to see," McLellan said.
Colorado Avalanche power forward Nathan MacKinnon threw down the gauntlet on Monday. MacKinnon believes that Team North America have what it takes in terms of skill and speed to win the two week long World Cup of Hockey tourney.
"I don't think there's another more skilled team than ours," said MacKinnon, who was selected first by the Colorado Avalanche in 2013. "I'll go against anybody's roster and put ours against them, and for speed and skill, you know, this isn't a full season or a playoffs, this is one-and-done, and we have the talent and ability to beat anybody, for sure."
"I don't think anybody cares," forward MacKinnon said. "
"All of us play in the NHL, and it's a young league. I think we have some of the best players in the League on this team. We're the most skilled team here, in my opinion. I think we are, just with our speed. But in terms of best-on-best, everybody's been in international tournaments and we have that feel. Obviously, it's going to be a step up, but no one's intimidated by that."
The bigger the stage, the brighter the lights, the higher the pressure to perform.
"Our whole lives, we've been climbing that ladder, playing against better competition," MacKinnon said. "I haven't even thought about it, to be honest, that this would be a harder tournament. I'm just excited to be here and to play well."
From the mouths of babes.
Buffalo Sabres generational talent Jack Eichel echoes MacKinnon's sentiment.
“Now you see, with the team drawn up and how much talent there is, you definitely don’t want to take us lightly. I don’t think we’ll be pushovers, that’s for sure", Brandon Saad told the AP on Monday.
Team North America will practice again on Tuesday and Wednesday in Montreal and Wednesday. Then it's off to Quebec City to face Team Europe in an exhibition game on Thursday. The same two teams will also face off Sunday in Montreal.
Will Eichel, MacKinnon, McDavid and the Cold War Kids crush Canada to in the gold medal?
Not likely.
Will they steal games from Team Europe, Team Sweden and Team Czech Republic?
I like the chances of the kids to put a hurting on the older teams in this tourney.
The legs feed the wolf. Team North America's speed and puck possession will drive many opponents crazy in this tourney.
Stacked. #TeamNA #WCH2016 pic.twitter.com/d28gslZz1g
— Team North America (@TeamNA_WCH) September 5, 2016