When the NHL announced its re-entry into the world of best-on-best hockey with the 4 Nations Face-Off, proud Czech David Pastrnak made sure folks knew he was none too pleased.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” the Bruins forward told Boston.com’s Conor Ryan in February. “I don’t know much I can say. Definitely not happy about it.”
With just four nations (Canada, U.S., Sweden, and Finland) set to participate in the event, which will take place next February, some of the world’s best players were going to be left on the sidelines, and Pastrnak said the snub would prompt him not to even watch.
But what if the NHL was actually doing him a favour?
Leaving a guy who scored 47 goals last season for the Bruins at home is not an ideal way to sell the game, to be sure. But in an NHL-only event, the Czechs would be hard-pressed to field a team, based on last year’s rosters. At least one with enough players on the blue line.
There were 26 Czech skaters who played at least one game last season in the NHL, providing an abundance of left-shooting wingers to choose from. As for defence …. uh, not so much.
With just five blueliners on NHL rosters, there were actually more goalies holding Czech passports than there were defencemen in the league in 2023-24.
Filip Hronek is without a doubt a first-pairing defenceman, but who amongst the rest would be his partner? (Your choices are Jan Rutta and Radko Gudas, by the way.)
With that in mind — and with the goal of keeping Pastrnak happy — we have decided to revive the Team Europe idea from the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and include all those who won’t be at the 4 Nations tournament.
Yes, it was one of the weirdest things ever to happen in international sports, but it was also fun, gave Zdeno Chara a team to play on, and the Euros made it all the way to the finals, where they fell to Canada.
Without any further ado, let the debate begin on what we think a Team Europe could look like in 2024-25.
Forwards
Nikolaj Ehlers (Denmark) – Leon Draisaitl (Germany) – David Pastrnak (Czechia)
Kevin Fiala (Switzerland) – Tim Stützle (Germany) – Timo Meier (Switzerland)
Pavel Zacha (Czechia) – Anze Kopitar (Slovenia) – Oliver Bjorkstrand (Denmark)
Juraj Slafkovsky (Slovakia) – Nico Hischier (Switzerland) – JJ Peterka (Germany)
Extra: Martin Nečas (Czechia)
In the mix: Philipp Kurashev, Nino Niederreiter, Mats Zuccarello, Daniel Sprong, Tomas Hertl.
If great teams are built with strength up the middle, then Team Europe 2.0 is in pretty good shape. Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stützle, Anze Kopitar and Nico Hischier? Uh, that’s an all-star spine for your forward group. So much so that you probably have to ask Pavel Zacha to slide over to the wing.
And just ask yourself this: how entertaining would it be to see Pastrnak working with Draisaitl on a line with Nikolaj Ehlers?
The Swiss have been doing a wonderful job developing NHLers recently, with nearly every one meriting consideration here. Kevin Fiala slots in on the second line, with compatriot and 40-goal scorer Timo Meier on the other side of Stützle.
If keeping Pastrnak happy isn’t enough of a reason to revive Team Europe, how about providing Kopitar a world stage? Let’s face it: Slovenia is not quite an NHL-producing nation (yet!) though it did advance to next year’s top group for the Worlds. Here, Kopitar can provide leadership and defensive responsibility on a line with Zacha and the shoot-first Dane, Oliver Bjorkstrand.
The fourth line can be given over to the youthful energy of Juraj Slafkovsky and J.J. Peterka, who had a breakout 28-goal season for the perpetually bad/ever promising Sabres, on either side of Hischier.
Martin Nečas is your extra, which is sure to offend some Hurricanes fans. Perhaps they can take solace in the fact he might get traded soon, thus eliminating their emotional investment.
Could anyone else bump themselves up? Playing with Connor Bedard sure did wonders for Philipp Kurashev’s stat line, so he’s possible. Or, wouldn’t it be fun to have Norway’s Mats Zuccarello back on the team (he was there in 2016)? And then there’s Zuccarello’s Minnesota teammate, Marco Rossi, who finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting last season after scoring 21 goals and 40 points. Further improvement from the 22-year-old could quickly put him on a team like this.
Defence
Roman Josi (Switzerland) – Filip Hronek (Czechia)
J.J. Moser (Switzerland) – Moritz Seider (Germany)
Jonas Siegenthaler (Switzerland) – Erik Cernak (Slovakia)
Extra: Radko Gudas (Czechia)
In the mix: David Jiricek, Jan Rutta, Šimon Nemec, Martin Fehervary
Roman Josi and Filip Hronek are your slam-dunk choices here. One is a Norris Trophy winner and perpetual candidate for the award with the Predators, while the other has proven himself adept at playing with a partner of that calibre, while putting up decent numbers himself in Vancouver.
Moritz Seider provides some additional firepower on the second pairing, but after that … it gets a bit thin.
We’re going to nominate J.J. Moser for the left side of that pairing with the German after three solid (if unspectacular) seasons with Arizona.
The third group will be Jonas Siegenthaler and Erik Cernak. Yes, the Swiss blue liner is coming off a down season with the Devils, but he had a solid one prior to that and is playing around 20 minutes a game the last three years.
As for Cernak, the Slovak is a veteran with a ton of playoff experience and a pair of Stanley Cup rings.
Radko Gudas is on standby if you think the game requires a wild, bearded veteran who’ll lay some body and block shots.
Goalies
Frederik Andersen (Denmark)
Petr Mrazek (Czechia)
Elvis Merzlikins (Latvia)
Extra: David Rittich (Czechia)
In the mix: Arturs Silovs, Lukas Dostal, Akira Schmid, Karel Vejmelka, Philipp Grubauer.
Let’s just say right away that these three come in no particular order. Flip a coin or have them play rock/paper/scissors to be your starter. Would any of them turn into a Jaroslav Halak, who posted as .941 save percentage for Team Euro in 2016, and lead his team to the final? How many hockey miracles can one fictional team count on?
On recent form alone, David Rittich merits consideration, having posted a career-best .921SV% and 2.15 goals-against average last season with the Kings, albeit in only 24 games. But this feels like too big a leap of faith for a guy who turned 32.
Frederik Andersen also had a career year, with a .932SV% and minuscule 1.84GAA … but that was in just 16 starts, due to a blood-clotting issue that limited his season. At 35, he was originally on the 2016 World Cup roster, but had to bow out due to (you guessed it) injury. Still, he has the pedigree (career .916/2.56) that gives him a spot on the 2.0 roster.
Petr Mrazek, 32, did actually play in 2016, though on the Czech team. He managed to post a .908 save percentage on a very bad Chicago team last season, which appeared to hint he perhaps had not lost the form that made him 20+ game winner with a .914 save percentage in Carolina. (Leaf fans will undoubtedly be undeterred on this count.)
Our final spot goes to Elvis Merzlikins. Hear us out on this one. A career .904 save percentage is no small miracle when the entirety of it has been spent in Columbus, where the Blue Jackets have allowed an average of 33.7 shots per game in that five-season span. Only one team (Anaheim) has averaged more. At 30, Merzlikins would be the youngest of the bunch, which is also something. But perhaps most important of all, he’s Latvian, and it feels criminal to have a Team Euro without just one, even if it is just a pretend team.
Euro count: Czechia – 7; Switzerland – 6; Germany – 4; Denmark – 3; Slovakia – 2; Slovenia – 1; Latvia 1