USA Announces Initial 16-Man Roster for 2016 World Cup of Hockey

Team USA announced Wednesday the 16 players selected for the country's initial roster ahead of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.  

Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski and New Jersey Devils goaltender Cory Schneider are among some of the headliners. You can view the full U.S. roster below:

Position	Player	Team
Goaltender	Ben Bishop	Tampa Bay Lightning
Goaltender	Jonathan Quick	Los Angeles Kings
Goaltender	Cory Schneider	New Jersey Devils
Defenseman	Ryan McDonagh	New York Rangers
Defenseman	Ryan Suter	Minnesota Wild
Defenseman	John Carlson	Washington Capitals
Defenseman	Dustin Byfuglien	Winnipeg Jets
Forward	Max Pacioretty	Montreal Canadiens
Forward	Joe Pavelski	San Jose Sharks
Forward	Derek Stepan	New York Rangers
Forward	Ryan Kesler	Anaheim Ducks
Forward	Blake Wheeler	Winnipeg Jets
Forward	Justin Abdelkader	Detroit Red Wings
Forward	T.J. Oshie	Washington Capitals
Forward	Zach Parise	Minnesota Wild
Forward	Patrick Kane	Chicago Blackhawks

The NHL also unveiled the uniforms Team USA will be wearing at the World Cup:

"It's a challenge naming only 16 players, as an important part of our team is yet to be selected," said Team USA general manager Dean Lombardi, per the USA Hockey website. "We're confident this is the start of a group that will complement each other really well and assume team roles that will lead to team success. These 16 players all excel in their compete level, overall skill and selflessness, which will be key components of our team."

DKPittsburghSports.com's Josh Yohe highlighted one of the bigger omissions from the team:

Scott Wheeler of SB Nation's Pension Plan Puppets made his case for why Pittsburgh Penguins winger Phil Kessel was snubbed:

SB Nation's Fear The Fin questioned whether the team is a bit too top-heavy:

Lombardi spoke about the overall mindset behind the structure of the roster, per NHL.com's Dan Rosen:

For many fans, the selection of Detroit Red Wings winger Justin Abdelkader over somebody like Kessel is curious, to say the least. In terms of offense, Kessel is the far superior player when you look at their season totals and per-60-minute averages, according to NHL.com:

Player	GP	Goals	Assists	Points	G/60	A/60	P/60
Kessel	62	19	21	40	0.98	1.09	2.07
Abdelkader	63	15	18	33	0.77	0.93	1.70

Rosen argued Abdelkader's work rate could validate his addition to the team:

Lombardi defended the decision, per Mike Halford of Pro Hockey Talk:

Before fans get too angry about contentious exclusions from and/or inclusions in the squad, it's important to remember this isn't the team that coach John Tortorella will be taking with him to Toronto in September. He'll have until June 1 to determine his final 23-man roster.

Tortorella will be prevented from selecting the United States' youngest stars. According to NHL.com's Arpon Basu, players from Canada and the U.S. born on or after Oct. 1, 1992, will feature for Team North America rather than their senior national teams.

While it's somewhat disappointing the likes of Brandon Saad, Seth Jones, Jack Eichel and Jacob Trouba won't play for Team USA, Tortorella has no shortage of options at his disposal.

Team USA is grouped with Canada, the Czech Republic and Team Europe for the 2016 World Cup, and the United States' first game comes Sept. 17 against Europe. Team USA's highly anticipated clash against Team Canada is on Sept. 20.

With the bulk of his roster decided, Tortorella will have a few months to mull over whom he'll have fill the seven remaining slots. Those players on the bubble have the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs to try to secure a spot on Team USA.