Team Euros vs. Team North America
— -- COLUMBUS, Ohio -- One of the most intriguing plans the NHL and its counterparts at the NHL Players' Association are working on for future international competitions is a Ryder Cup-style event pitting the world's best European players against the top players from North America.
The idea, still in its formative stages, would see the two teams play a series of games, likely in Europe, likely in London, possibly in the fall of 2018.
You think it's difficult for Hockey Canada executives to put together a single team for the Olympics (or a World Cup of Hockey, which will return to Toronto in the fall of 2016)?
You think the U.S. Olympic selection committee agonized over picking the team for last year's outing in Sochi?
Now imagine the two groups coming together to form one team for one competition. Yikes. Social media detonation is a given. And that would just be for the selection of the coaching staffs.
For fun, let's look at how the two squads might look if they were picked today. We've arbitrarily expanded the rosters to 30, given that we're looking at a possible best-of-five series (and it makes it easier for me), so we'll take three goaltenders, 15 forwards and 12 defensemen.
TEAM EURO
Goaltenders
Pekka Rinne ( Nashville Predators), Henrik Lundqvist ( New York Rangers), Tuukka Rask ( Boston Bruins)
Defensemen
Niklas Kronwall ( Detroit Red Wings), Zdeno Chara (Boston Bruins), Erik Karlsson ( Ottawa Senators), Sami Vatanen ( Anaheim Ducks), Oliver Ekman-Larsson ( Arizona Coyotes), Roman Josi (Nashville Predators), Victor Hedman ( Tampa Bay Lightning), Hampus Lindholm (Anaheim Ducks), Anton Stralman (Tampa Bay Lightning), Alexander Edler ( Vancouver Canucks), Andrej Sekera ( Carolina Hurricanes), Christian Ehrhoff ( Pittsburgh Penguins)
Forwards
Jakub Voracek ( Philadelphia Flyers), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins), Vladimir Tarasenko ( St. Louis Blues), Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings), Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings), Nicklas Backstrom ( Washington Capitals), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Anze Kopitar ( Los Angeles Kings), Alexander Steen (St. Louis Blues), Filip Forsberg (Nashville Predators), Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning), Gustav Nyquist (Detroit Red Wings), Tomas Tatar (Detroit Red Wings), Tomas Plekanec ( Montreal Canadiens), Marian Hossa ( Chicago Blackhawks)
TEAM NORTH AMERICA
Goaltenders
Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles Kings), Carey Price (Montreal Canadiens), Roberto Luongo ( Florida Panthers)
Defensemen
Shea Weber (Nashville Predators), Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks), Drew Doughty (Los Angeles Kings), P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens), Kevin Shattenkirk (St. Louis Blues), Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis Blues), Ryan Suter ( Minnesota Wild), Mark Giordano ( Calgary Flames), Justin Faulk (Carolina Hurricanes), Erik Johnson ( Colorado Avalanche), Ryan McDonagh (New York Rangers), Cam Fowler (Anaheim Ducks)
Forwards
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), John Tavares ( New York Islanders), Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks), Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks), Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks), Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks), Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning), Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins), Rick Nash (New York Rangers), Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers), Zach Parise (Minnesota Wild), Phil Kessel ( Toronto Maple Leafs), Tyler Seguin ( Dallas Stars), Jamie Benn (Dallas Stars), Ryan Kesler (Anaheim Ducks)
