GREENBURGH, N.Y. — New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist briefly mulled a question in jest as he removed his equipment after practice on Wednesday. ADVERTISING GREENBURGH, N.Y. — New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist briefly mulled a question in jest
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist briefly mulled a question in jest as he removed his equipment after practice on Wednesday.
Would he make Team Sweden for the World Cup of Hockey this year?
“We’ll see,” Lundqvist said with a smile on his 34th birthday.
There was zero doubt Lundqvist — who helped Sweden win the gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics and the silver in 2014 — would be part of his national squad when the eight World Cup teams announced their preliminary rosters later Wednesday.
The league and its players are breaking fresh ground with the tournament, which will be played Sept. 17 to Oct. 1 in Toronto. It will be the first preseason World Cup since 2004, a six-team event won by Canada.
After three appearances by NHL players at the Olympics, the World Cup will have a new format. Besides national teams, the lineup will include Team North America, made up of American and Canadian players 23 years old and under, and Team Europe, composed of players from outside Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic.
The World Cup could be a litmus test to determine whether it will be sufficient to replace participation by NHL players in future Winter Olympics.
Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner, and Donald Fehr, the executive director of the players’ association, said no decision about the 2018 Olympics in South Korea would be made until after the World Cup. But both officials expected another World Cup to take place in 2020.
“We will do an exhaustive debrief of this tournament because when you do something like this, you always learn,” Fehr said at a news conference in Toronto. “You learn about the little things you did right and wrong. You learn the larger things that maybe could have been done differently.”
Lundqvist, who was, in fact, named to the Swedish team at a news conference at the Rangers’ training facility, considered how this international showdown would differ from the Olympics, which interrupts the regular season for two weeks every four years.
“This time around, we will have more days to prepare,” he said. “We will have a real camp in Sweden. It’s definitely a new experience to start the season like this. I think it’s exciting and it will be a great atmosphere.”
Even though the World Cup is six months away, the NHL orchestrated news conferences around the world to unveil the first 16 players on each roster. The U.S. team was revealed on SportsCenter on ESPN, which will televise the tournament. (An additional seven players will be named to each team by June 1.)
Daly said it was a challenge to draw attention to the World Cup at a critical stage of the regular season.
“It’s tough to find the sweet spot in the schedule to really go out hard promoting this event, but we hope we found that in March,” he said. “There’s always a delicate balance with an NHL season going on as well.”
For Lundqvist and teammates like Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh, who were named to the U.S. team, the focus could only temporarily be on roster choices and a competition that will alter their summer plans ahead.
“This will be unique,” McDonagh said. “You will have to get yourself in shape a little sooner than you would. But when it’s something that means a lot to you, you’ll do the work. That goes for everybody that ends up making the team. They should be honored and understand there’s a responsibility.”
For the multinational Team Europe and Team North America, the roster announcements also included the unveiling of special logos and jerseys and discussions about what song would play before the teams’ games in lieu of a national anthem.
Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid, a Canadian picked No. 1 in June’s draft, and Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel, an American picked No. 2, will be teammates on the 23-and-under squad. That team also has Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad and Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau, who were Calder Trophy finalists last season.
Team Europe had players from seven countries selected, including Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello (Norway), Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar (Slovenia), New York Islanders forward Frans Nielsen (Denmark) and Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak (Slovakia).
“New team, new logo with no history,” said Miroslav Satan, the general manager of Team Europe. “This is going to be the biggest challenge for us.”
