Music: {allcanada} Projecting rosters for World Cup of Hockey participants

Sunday, February 28, 2016

{allcanada} Projecting rosters for World Cup of Hockey participants

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John Tortorella is juggling two jobs, coaching both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Team USA. Canada general manager Doug Armstrong is worried about disappointing players twice when it comes to making the final cuts to his World Cup of Hockey roster.

And Team Europe GM Miroslav Satan joked that he doesn't ever recall watching this much hockey on TV during his 14-season NHL career, but scouting has kept his eyes glued to the screen.

Add in the NHL's trading deadline Monday, and it's going to be a frantic few days before the eight World Cup teams announcing the initial 16 players named to rosters on Wednesday.

''We're on conference calls once a week,'' said Tortorella, who was out of work when USA Hockey hired him as coach in September before taking over in Columbus a month later. ''It's been stimulating knowing we're going to be in a tournament with the best players in the world.''

Armstrong doesn't expect many surprises to come on Wednesday. The bigger challenge will be making the final seven selections when full rosters are due on June 1.

''Usually, when you pick Team Canada, you disappoint people once,'' Armstrong said. ''Some players will be disappointed twice in this format.''

Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic round out the six nations competing in the three-week tournament to be held in Toronto in September. And there will be two all-star teams. One will be made up of North American players 23 years and younger, and the other comprised of European players whose nations weren't invited.

With nearly a dozen countries to choose from, Satan has been busy scouting and reviewing his staff's evaluations.

''Definitely, this is the most as far as watching hockey in a long, long period of time,'' he said.

Here's a glance of the first 16 players projected by The Associated Press to be named to the Canadian, American, North American and European squads, and capsule glances of the four other teams:

CANADA (Group A)