"Now we're getting to the fun part. We've previewed Russia, Sweden and Finland, and while some tough cuts were made, those rosters matched what you'd expect in real life, for the most part. But building a European powerhouse out of players from the remaining nations? Things are getting spicy. When the 2016 World Cup of Hockey was announced, the NHL was ridiculed for omitting nations like Slovakia and Switzerland and replacing them with a European all-star team and an under-23 North American squad. North America was an absolute blast to watch Kevin Durant Texas Jersey, with many of today's biggest stars playing together in a way we'll never see again at an international tournament, even if the tournament ended early for them. Europe received little fanfare with an older roster and a lack of a solid identity, but somehow, the group made the championship series against Canada and exceeded any expectations fans had beforehand. Since the U-23 team wasn't included in this exercise (mostly because the team would be full of players on entry-level contracts), consolidating the tournament to a six-team event made the most sense. For this, Europe features the same countries as the past World Cup, but with the addition of the Czech Republic - and, oh boy, adding David Pastrnak makes that all worth it. With Leon Draisaitl and his 110 points already in the lineup, Europe has two of the top scorers in the NHL. For reference, the highest scoring member of the European roster in the NHL campaign that followed was Draisaitl, who netted 77 points, good for eighth in the league. Nikolaj Ehlers' 64 points (31st in the NHL) was second. So scoring won't be an issue for this iteration of Team Europe. Europe's forward group also benefits from young players on inexpensive deals who are breaking out at the right time. Jakub Vrana makes less than $1 million and is one of the league's most efficient forwards. Dominik Kubalik is still on his ELC and forced himself into Calder Trophy consideration with 30 goals in 68 games Kyrie Irving Duke Jersey. Oliver Bjorkstrand was on one of the NHL's best scoring runs before an ankle injury took him out. Even Nico Hischier ($925,000) and Kevin Fiala ($3 million) were playing some of the best hockey of their career before the league shutdown. Saving on scoring meant the team could afford to spend more elsewhere, like an inverse Russian team. Funny thing is, the European team doesn't need to. Roman Josi was the team's most expensive defenseman at $4 million and three blueliners make less than $1 million. The issue, though, is that the defense doesn't stack up well against the competition. Josi's a star in today's NHL, but there's a lack of experience elsewhere as Filip Hronek, Moritz Seider and Erik Cernak also land on the back end. Michal Kempny has been good alongside John Carlson, but he's more of a complementary option than a game-changer. Zdeno Chara's glory days are well in the past, but he's a solid, veteran presence to fill the seventh spot and play the power play. Still, defense is the weakest position Larry Bird Indiana State Jersey, though the rest of the lineup should be able to make up for it. Between the pipes, Europe had a plethora of options to choose from. When Frederik Andersen is healthy, he can be a top 10 goaltender in the league. That wasn't the case post-all-star break, but have you seen Toronto's defense in front of him? Philipp Grubauer has fought injury issues this season that has limited his action, but he's another goalie who can steal games along the way and he made Europe's roster in 2016, too. Elvis Merzlikins is a goaltender with a bright future and having a guy who put the league on notice with his incredible play in February as your third option is perfect. When it's all said and done, Europe have roughly $2.46 million in cap space and a roster that would top the team that came second in 2016. Among the omissions, Jakub Voracek's $8.25-million cap hit wasn't going to fly. He's definitely not the 80-point player who earned that expensive contract and even though he still has more offensive potential than a few of the wingers on the roster, bringing him along would have meant sacrificing the team's goaltending. The same situation would apply had Europe taken 33-year-old David Krejci and his $7.25-million hit. The European club can replace 43 points from an injury-prone forward easily on this team. With the talent up front, it just wasn't worth the hassle." "Relatively speaking Lonzo Ball Ucla Jersey, the problems the hockey world faces pale in comparison to the hardship a lot of people are enduring when it comes to the crisis surrounding COVID-19. But if you're going to feel sorry for anybody in hockey, you might want to save those sentiments for a couple of guys by the names of Ritchie Thibeau and Yanick Jean. And the teams they run. Thibeau and Jean are the GMs of the Moncton Wildcats and Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the QMJHL, respectively. And seeing their teams with a legitimate chance to compete for the Memorial Cup this season, they both went all-in at the league's annual trade deadline. Like, really all-in. QMJHL teams, in particular, tend to treat draft picks the way we used to regard hockey cards as kids, but even by those standards, what Thibeau and Jean gave up to supplement their rosters was staggering. Thibeau acquired three QMJHL stars for the Wildcats - center and Anaheim prospect Benoit Olivier-Groulx, defenseman and Detroit prospect Jared McIsaac and left winger and Tampa Bay prospect Gabriel Fortier - for a sum total of 13 draft picks and a 16-year-old prospect. All three of them will age out of junior hockey after this season. Jean went even further, acquiring five players for the Sagueneens for a total of 18 picks (18 picks!) and two players. Four of those picks were in the first-round of this year's draft and they gave up seven first-rounders in total. The Sagueneens got Canadian World Junior Championship players Raphael Lavoie and Dawson Mercer, along with veterans Felix Bibeau, Patrick Kyte and Karl Boudrias. At least Mercer Michael Jordan North Carolina Jersey, who is a consensus first-round in this year's NHL draft, will be back. Boudrias could return as an overager. All told, the Wildcats surrendered - try to keep up here - two second-rounders and two third-rounders in 2020; a first- and second-rounder, plus two fourth-rounders and a fifth-rounder in 2021; and picks in each of the first three rounds in 2022. The Sagueneens gave up four first-round picks, two second-rounders and a fifth-rounder in 2020; two first-rounders, two second-rounders, one third-rounder and one fourth-rounder in 2021; and, picks in each of the first five rounds in 2022. Now to be fair, there's a good number of these picks that will end up back with their teams for players to be named later because that's how they do things in the QMJHL. Teams in that league are a lot like the little girl with the curl in the Longfellow poem. When they're good, they're incredibly good. And when they're bad, they're horrid. But there's little doubt that both teams have mortgaged a good chunk of a future for a present that no longer exists. Last night, the Canadian Hockey League announced that it will not award a Memorial Cup this season. It will mark the first time in 102 years the trophy has not been awarded. The Wildcats and Sagueneens were second and third overall in the QMJHL this season and one of them stood a very good chance of winning the league, and perhaps the biggest prize in junior hockey. “We had 23 shattered boys last night,” Thibeau said. “They feel like they got cheated a little bit, but they all understand that this is a bigger thing than just our team and our league and our sport.” That's pretty darned mature for a bunch of teenagers who are chasing their dreams. And the thing is that for the majority of them, the dream will probably stop here. When the NHL comes back, the players will continue to pick up their enormous paychecks and have chances to win the Stanley Cup. But for a lot of players in junior hockey, this is the pinnacle. This is as good as it gets. Some will go on to play at higher levels, but a lot of them will move on to higher education and jobs in the real world. As for the future of his team Paul Pierce Kansas Jersey, Thibeau was realistic about the situation and did not lament the chances he took trying to build a championship team. The players they brought in gave them 25 games of the best they had to offer and he's proud of what his team accomplished this season. There's little doubt the league will make any accommodations to compensate the teams for losing their picks for virtually nothing and Thibeau isn't expecting his competitive rivals to do him any favors. “There's really nothing we can do about it,” Thibeau said. “We can sit here and lament it or we can move on. We're going to get ready for the draft and we're going to get back to work, that's what we do. If we keep looking in the rear-view mirror, we won't see what's coming in front of us.” As far as the draft picks, Thibeau isn't worried. Some of them will be coming back, but not the first-rounders. “You always mortgage some of the future when you go for it,” Thibeau said, “but we'll still be competitive and we'll make another run at it in due time. If you look at our roster, we've been successful in getting players in mid-to-later rounds. And we just have to make sure we hit on those picks again.” There are a lot of people who deserve sympathy. The Kelowna Rockets were supposed to host the event this year and that has been taken away from the organization, the players and hundreds of volunteers. The possibility of simply giving the event to Kelowna next year was discussed, but OHL commissioner David Branch confirmed to TheHockeyNews.com that the commissioners of all three leagues decided the rotation will continue and the OHL will host in 2021. That means the earliest Kelowna would get another crack at it would be 2023. There are players who are up for the draft and who were playing for contracts in pro circuits next season and the pressure of the playoffs and the Memorial Cup would have provided the perfect stage for that. There are a good number of overage players whose careers simply ended without them being to say a proper goodbye to the fans for whom they played. But as Branch said, “The game of life is a little more important at the moment.”"
