Four Avs named to initial World Cup rosters

Throughout Wednesday the eight teams participating in the return of the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 each announced preliminary rosters of 16 players. Semyon Varlamov (RUS) and Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog (SWE) will return to their respective national teams after recently representing their countries at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The Avalanche will also have players represented on the World Cup’s two most unorthodox teams. Avs’ newcomer Mikkel Boedker will join team Europe while 3rd year forward Nathan MacKinnon will play for the North American under-23 team.

Despite playing in previous Olympic tournaments, both Matt Duchene (CAN) and Erik Johnson (USA) were left off their respective national rosters, but either one could be named to their World Cup team later in the year when rosters are finalized. With strong finishes to the 2015-2016 season, center Carl Soderberg (SWE) and prized prospect Mikko Rantanen (FIN) could also vie for a spot in the World Cup of Hockey.

In addition to preliminary rosters, the NHL revealed eight new Adidas brand jerseys for the international tournament. Adidas will take over the NHL’s jersey manufacturing contract in 2017 and could bring large sweeping changes like those introduced by Reebok in 2007. These World Cup sweaters are the first Adidas NHL jerseys: all feature Adidas’ distinctive “three stripe” design on the sides and are expected to feature advertisements.

All of the #WCH2016 team jerseys unveiled today! pic.twitter.com/m2RmXdxoHO

— Icethetics (@icethetics) March 3, 2016

 The 2016 World Cup of Hockey starts September 17th at the Air Canada Center in Toronto. Teams have until June 1st to announce their final 20-man roster.