It's been hard for me to muster much excitement for the upcoming World Cup of Hockey.
For one thing, a successful, lucrative tournament likely spells the end of the NHL's Olympic participation, and that would be terrible. And how can you even call a tournament a "World Cup" when only six actual countries have been invited? That's like calling a playoff between two American teams the World Series.
The whole thing feels gimmicky. Since a sextet of teams isn't enough to have much fun unless you're the CFL playoffs, the NHL has padded the lineup by creating two more squads -- Team North America and Team Europe, the former comprised of young, marketable stars that couldn't crack Teams USA and Canada (including the undrafted Auston Matthews), and the latter made up of players from the European countries that, apparently, aren't wordly enough to be invited.
But as much as I hate the NHL's solution to the competitive drop-off after international hockey's big six, I can never complain about more Canucks content, and thanks to the goofy composition of Team Europe, we're getting some: Luca Sbisa is going to the World Cup.
The Italian-born Swiss was a late add to Team Europe on Friday, rounding out a defence corps that also boasts three of his fellow countrymen in Roman Josi, Mark Streit and Andrej Sekera, as well as Slovakian giant Zdeno Chara, and Germans Christian Ehrhoff and Dennis Seidenberg. That's mighty fine company. The next time Sbisa-haters try hatin' on your boy with their condescending, anti-fan facts and hard statistical evidence, you tell 'em he was the only Canucks' defenceman to garner a World Cup invite. Now who's the Canucks' least effective defenceman?
One wonders if Sbisa will still be a Canuck by the time this tournament gets underway in the fall. With the acquisition of Erik Gudbranson, the team's continued interest in Dan Hamhuis, and their plans for developing Ben Hutton and Nikita Tryamkin, it's no longer clear where Sbisa fits in Vancouver's top-six. Granted, it might be tough to move his contract, but let's be honest: if Jim Benning wants to trade Sbisa, he will, and he'll throw in as many draft picks as necessary to get the job done. And if Sbisa's still a Canuck by the time this tournament rolls around, a strong showing on the "World" stage could help increase his value going into training camp, and make him an option for a team that looks thin coming out of it.
While Sbisa's the lone Canucks' defenceman vying for international glory, he's not the only player coming out of Vancouver. He'll be joined on Team Europe by Jannik Hansen, repping Denmark along with Mikkel Boedker and Frans Nielsen.
Meanwhile, Team Sweden has invited Jacob Markstrom to back up Henrik Lundqvist in goal, and will, of course, feature the Sedin twins up-front, which means this tournament gives us an opportunity to watch Luca Sbisa trying to defend them.
There it is. I found a reason to get excited.
