As we mentioned in a previous post, today is the first day of World Cup training camps.
Each team hit the ice for the first time, which means we get our first taste of World Cup line combinations.
Obviously, these lines are subject to change, but it’s interesting to see what the coaches are thinking early in the process.
Team Russia is never short on offensive firepower:
Team Russia lines: Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Kucherov; Tarasenko-Malkin-Kulemin; Namestnikov-Anisimov-Panarin.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) September 5, 2016
Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Kucherov should be exciting to watch and that Malkin, Tarasenko, Kulemin line isn’t too shabby either.
Pavel Datsyuk, Evgenii Dadonov, Vadim Shipachev and Ivan Telegin were given the day off because they’ve begun play in the KHL already.
With Russia, the question marks are always on defense and between the pipes.
Team Russia D pairs: Orlov-Zaitsev; Emelin-Markov/Nesterov; Marchenko-Kulikov.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) September 5, 2016
Three goalies are Varlamov, Bobrovsky and Vasilevskiy .
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) September 5, 2016
Team North America is holding their training camp in Montreal, Quebec.
Head coach Todd McLellan has some dynamic young skaters to work with. Not surprising to see Connor McDavid on the top line.
Prelim Team NA lines: Drouin-McDavid-Scheifele; Gaudreau-Eichel-Saad; MacKinnon-RNH-Larkin; Trocheck rotate thru Miller-Couturier-Matthews.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 5, 2016
The defense isn’t set in stone either, but here’s the first look as the blue line:
Team NA defence is rotating through, but first time out of the gate was Rielly-Ekblad/Parayko; Gostisbehere-Trouba; Murray-Jones. #WCOH2016
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 5, 2016
Team Canada, who are the tournament favorites, took to the ice in Ottawa, Ontario.
Interestingly enough, Sidney Crosby is on a line with two Boston Bruins:
Canada lines: Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron; Tavares - Getzlaf - Stamkos; Couture - Toews - Seguin; Duchene - Giroux - Thornton. Perry rotate
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) September 5, 2016
Crosby and Bergeron played on a line together for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship in 2004. During that tournament, Bergeron was the center and 16-year-old Crosby was on the wing.
As is usually the case, Canada has some forwards playing out of position. Bergeron, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Tyler Seguin and Joe Thornton are centers playing on the wing.
LA Kings Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin are paired together on Canada’s defense:
Canada D: Muzzin-Doughty; Vlasic-Weber; Petriangelo-Burns. Bouwmeester rotating in.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) September 5, 2016
In Sweden, it’s an all Vancouver Canucks top line:
Sweden's lines: Sedin-Sedin-Eriksson, Forsberg-Backstrom-Hornqvist, Silfverberg-Kruger-Hagelin, Landeskog-Soderberg-Rakell #WCH2016
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) September 5, 2016
Henrik Lundqvist is a little banged up after taking a puck to the ribs last week, but he was on the ice for Team Sweden today.
As for Finland, the second overall pick in 2016, Patrik Laine, was on a line with Jussi Jokinen and Aleksander Barkov. Wild forwards Mikael Granlund and Mikko Koivu are on a line with Sharks winger Joonas Donskoi.
Team Finland's lines today: Laine-Barkov-Jokinen, Granlund-Koivu-Donskoi, Teräväinen-Filppula-Lehterä, Korpikoski-Haula-Komarov, Aho.
— Sami Hoffrén (@shoffren) September 5, 2016
The Americans have hit the ice in Columbus, Ohio and their top line looks pretty good:
Team USA: Kane - Pavelski - Pacioretty; Wheeler - Stepan - Parise; Abdelkader - Kesler - Oshie; Dubinsky - Backes - Palmieri/Van Riemsdyk.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) September 5, 2016