The World Cup of Hockey will return this September. When it does, the rosters will be sprinkled with quite the collection of Colorado Avalanche players.
The nations filled out their rosters on Friday, with each naming their final seven players. Three Avalanche were added.
Canada added center Matt Duchene. Despite having a plethora of talented forwards to choose from, this was probably the least surprising of the trio. Duchene has always been willing to answer when his country called, having represented Canada on 10 previous occasions, including the 2014 Olympics and the recently-completed World Championship (where a strong performance likely helped his case). He also has the versatility to be used as either a center or wing.
In perhaps the most surprising move, Team USA added defenseman Erik Johnson over someone like Kevin Shattenkirk or Justin Faulk (both of whom represented the United States at the last Olympics). Johnson will likely be reunited with Jack Johnson, as the duo was arguably the best defensive paring on the 2010 Olympic team that captured a silver medal. A product of the USNTDP, Johnson has represented the Stars and Stripes at eight international competitions.
The final addition was Carl Soderberg, who will join Team Sweden. Though Soderberg had played for Sweden on eight occasions, the last major tournament he played in was the 2005 World Junior Championship.
The trio will join Gabriel Landeskog (Sweden), Semyon Varlamov (Russia), Nathan MacKinnon (North America) and Mikkel Boedker (Europe), who were all previously named to their respective rosters. The tournament, which will be held for the first time since 2004, will take place from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1. at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
