While Free Agents Buzz - the Hockey World Cup Looms

The 2016 free agent signing season is roiling the NHL news but looming over all for teams and players is the looming World Cup of Hockey coming in September.

The World Cup has eight teams of NHL players, divied up into eight teams:

Group A

• Team Canada

• Team Czech Republic

• Team Europe (a team of European players not from countries that have their own national team)

• Team USA

• Team Finland

• Team North America (a team of U-23 players from USA and Canada)

• Team Russia

• Team Sweden

Group B
Training camp for the World Cup teams are slated to start September 4-5. This is a bit earlier than the normal team camps, as they normally start around the second week of September.

Games will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto from September 17 to October 1. For a lot of the top players, it means a short off season since the games will be played as NHL teams will be starting to play their preseason schedule at the end of September. For teams it means their early preseason training will be without their top players.

From the original NHL announcements of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey issued out before the 2015-2016 season:

"NHL training camps prior to the start of the 2016-17 season are expected to start on time, with the players competing in the World Cup joining their NHL teams once their teams are eliminated from the World Cup or once it is finished."

So each team will probably get their best players back in bits and drabs, and the coaching staffs will have to hustle to get their players incorporated into their team.