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Only the Chicago Blackhawks, at 12, will have more players involved in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey than the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 11. And number would actually be 12 each had Tampa Bay alternate captain Ryan Callahan not been forced out of the Team USA mix in this tournament as he recovers from offseason hip surgery. And with camps and practices opening up this week, it’s time to see where each Bolt lines up on their respective roster in roles both familiar and unfamiliar.
On Team Canada, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos spent his first day of practice as the right-winger on a line with John Tavares on the opposite wing and Ryan Getzlaf at center. Canada coach Mike Babcock then moved Stamkos to the right-wing of Canada’s second line with Jonathan Toews at center with Tyler Seguin, Toews’ original right-side winger (at least on day one of practice), out of practice with an illness. With a forward group loaded with 10 natural centers, Stamkos’ experience at right wing makes him an easy move to the wing, especially with names like Sidney Crosby, Toews, and Getzlaf expected to make up the top-nine center group.
This will be Stamkos’ first international tournament play since the 2013 World Championships.
Goaltender Ben Bishop will be deadlocked as a third of a three-horse race for the Team USA starting gig against Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick and New Jersey’s Cory Schneider.
The 29-year-old Bishop, who is in the final year of his current contract, has not played since that gruesome looking knee injury took him out of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins just 12 minutes into Game 1, but enters this tournament on the heels of an impressive 35 wins and career-best 2.06 goals against average and .926 save percentage along with six shutouts.
The same could be said for Bishop’s creasemate, Andrei Vasilevskiy, though Vasilevskiy will have to outwork veterans Sergei Bobrovsky and Semyon Varlamov for starts in net.
But Vasilevskiy is far from the lone Lightning connection on Team Russia.
The still unsigned restricted free agent Nikita Kucherov skated with Washington superstars Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov on Russia’s first line, while Vladdy Namestnikov is apparently Russian for Patrick Kane, as he skated with Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin on the third line. Tampa Bay defenseman Nikita Nesterov is the likely seventh defenseman for the group.
It’s expected that Team Sweden will rely on the Lightning’s top-pairing of Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman as their shutdown pairing given the chemistry established between the two over the last two seasons plus, but it’s also entirely possible that the Swedes plug the 6-foot-6 Hedman with Ottawa Senators captain Erik Karlsson to create the best pairing in the whole damn tourney.
In roles not too unfamiliar to what they do with Tampa Bay, Valtteri Filppula skated as Finland’s third-line center, Ondrej Palat skated on the Czech Republic’s second line, and Andrej Sustr is expected to skate top-four minutes, especially with Radko Gudas out of the tournament.
But if you’re looking for excitement, you’ll find it with Jonathan Drouin’s spot on Team North America’s roster. Expected to be the top-line winger with Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid as his center and Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele on the right wing, Drouin’s line -- and roster for that matter -- is all about speed and creativity. Putting Drouin, who was one of Tampa Bay’s best forwards throughout their playoff, with a player like McDavid, might actually blow some minds.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can also be read in the New England Hockey Journal magazine. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.