As Boston city officials clear the parade route, the Blues and Sharks continue to duke it out for the right to oppose them for the Cup. But that's not the only playoff hockey going on right now. There are plenty of NHL stars currently in Slovakia, where the World Championships are taking place.
Hockey's World Championships are always around this time, which means they're usually overshadowed in North America. Which is understandable, since they're right smack in the middle of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And it's impossible for the U.S. or Canada to host, since we'll have no idea who'll still be playing and what arenas will be available (although, they could theoretically hold Worlds in non-NHL cities like Halifax and Quebec, which they did in 1998).
So, that means the World Championships are held in Europe virtually every year (the only non-European edition since 1962 was the Halifax/Quebec tournament). And in Europe, the tournament is revered. As such, the European nations send the best teams they possibly can every single year (the fact that European leagues are finished certainly helps in that regard).
The U.S. and Canada are obviously at a bit of a disadvantage because their top players are usually still involved in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But that's true for the other top nations, too (for the Bruins, Tuukka Rask is Finnish, Zdeno Chara is Slovakian, and David Krejci is Czech; San Jose has a couple Swedes'; and the Blues' best player, Vladimir Tarasenko, is Russian). That's another reason why the NHL guys should play in the Olympics, but that's another conversation for another day.
Here's the thing about the World Championships, though. Despite the fact that the playoffs are still going on, the rosters are still sprinkled with NHL players left and right. And that alone is enough to make the hockey World Championships worth watching.
It really is incredible how many NHL players, after an 82-game season, travel to Europe for the World Championships every year. For players on teams that don't make the playoffs, it would be easy to just pack things up and rest up for next season. Instead, they put on their national team jersey for a different type of playoffs...with a similar intensity.
That hasn't always been the case. The U.S. and Canada used to not care about the World Championships at all, and the NHL guys on other rosters were few and far between. That certainly isn't true anymore. Of the 16 teams at this year's World Championships, the only ones without at least one NHL player on the roster are Great Britain and Italy, the two lowest-ranked teams (Canada, as you'd expect, is all NHL, while Russia is a combination of NHL and KHL).
And those NHL players come from all over the league. As you'd expect, the bulk of the NHL players come from the 15 teams that miss the playoffs (and there are some pretty good players on those bottom 15 teams). But, since Worlds don't start until the second round of the playoffs, they're able to pluck players from teams that lost in the first round. This year, that meant plenty of Lightning, Penguins, Predators and Golden Knights.
Of course, every player in the NHL would prefer to be going for the Stanley Cup than the World Championship. Which makes it all the more impressive that they show up in droves. And you don't want to play in too many World Championships because it means your NHL team isn't very good. But it really does show how much these guys love the game and just want to keep playing.
Take Patrick Kane. Arguably the best American-born player ever, he's played deep into June before, getting his name on the Cup three times and scoring the Cup-winning goal against the Flyers in 2010. But the Blackhawks have struggled and missed the playoffs for the last few seasons.
So, Kane has been available for the World Championships. And he hasn't just shown up. He's SHOWN UP! He was the tournament MVP last year, when he led the U.S. to the bronze medal. This year, he's the captain again. And he set the all-time U.S. World Championships scoring record the other day.
Kane doesn't have to play at Worlds. The fact that he keeps coming back shows what the tournament means. It's not the Stanley Cup. But it's not a consolation tournament either. And it's made so much better by the fact that seemingly every nation is putting together the best roster possible.
Joining Kane on the U.S. roster--Jack Eichel, Johnny Gaudreau and Dylan Larkin. Canada took full advantage of the late roster deadline, naming Matt Murray and Jonathan Marchessault to the team. Sweden's got Henrik Lundqvist in goal, and Gabriel Landeskog joined the squad after Colorado was eliminated (and the Avalanche reached the second round of the playoffs!). Alex Ovechkin won the Cup last year. This year, he's trying to win a World Championship with Russia. Finland, meanwhile, has 18-year-old Kaapo Kakko, who'll be playing for the Devils next season after they take him 1st overall in the Draft.
These rosters are loaded! This isn't the PyeongChang Olympics, where Russia was the only nation to send its best team and went on to win gold. That won't be the case here. Whoever wins will have to beat some tough competition. This World Championship is going to be earned. Like it is every year. As the best of the rest from the NHL battle it out for World Championship gold instead of Stanley Cup silver.
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