Predictions Ahead of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey

Let the games begin!

On Saturday, September 17, eight teams will gather in Toronto to kick off the 2016 edition of the World Cup of Hockey.

Despite plenty of skepticism from fans and media going into the tournament, the pretournament games started off with a bang and entertained throughout. But pretournament games may not be good indicators of what to expect when the games count for real. They're more about testing combinations and looking at players than they are about winning and losing.

The four European teams also endured brutal travel and a seven-hour time change when they made their way over to North American for their final tuneup games, so plenty of variables are still in play.

In a short tournament that features just three games of round-robin play, absolutely anything can happen once the round-robin schedule kicks off. Here are a few things to expect over the next two weeks from the World Cup of Hockey.

Tournament Format Means Every Game Will Matter

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The NHL took plenty of heat for adding "made-up" Team North America and Team Europe to the World Cup tournament structure, but the decision looked good during the pretournament games.

As NHL.com's Dan Rosen explains, the logic behind the move was to get "as many NHL players as possible in the tournament." Team Europe struggled early in the pretournament warm-ups, but the roster is made up of more talent than any other single country would be able to put on the ice.

The Europeans are captained by Anze Kopitar, whose Slovenian national team currently sits 15th in the IIHF world rankings, and capped off their pretournament schedule with a 6-2 win over Sweden. Leon Draisaitl led the scoring with a hat trick—a German native whose national team is ranked 10th in the world.

As for Team North America? Rather than forcing its players to wait their turn for a chance to play for their respective national teams, the young stars served up some of the most entertaining hockey of the pretournament round.

Adding Team Europe and Team North America to the mix means that every game is competitive. With just three games in a whirlwind six-day preliminary round and no sure things, teams will be fighting hard for every win in hopes of finishing in one of the top two spots in their group and advancing to the one-game knockout semifinal.

No team was prefect in pretournament action, and no team went winless, either. Say what you will about favourites. In any given game in this tournament, anything can happen.

That should make for some high-stakes hockey.

Lineup Tweaks Will Keep Everyone Guessing

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The NHL has been building hype for this tournament since back in March, when the preliminary 16-man rosters for each team were announced. Each team added seven more players in late May, but there have been plenty of roster adjustments since then.

Since the pretournament games began, Tyler Seguin has been forced to bow out for Team Canada due to an ankle issue, per Chris Johnston at Sportsnet. Ryan O'Reilly has received the call to replace him. Sweden's Rickard Rakell is also in hospital in Sweden with a reported stomach virus, according to Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register. Rakell has been replaced in the Swedish lineup by Patrick Berglund.

Leading up to the tournament, several other big names dropped out citing health issues. They included Jamie Benn and Duncan Keith for Team Canada, Ryan Callahan for Team USA, Sean Monahan for Team North America and David Krejci for the Czechs.

Also according to Johnston, teams can continue making injury adjustments until Sept. 16. Once the tournament starts the next day, no further additions will be allowed unless a team's healthy roster drops below 18 skaters and two goaltenders.

With the intensity we've seen in the pretournament games, it's not out of the realm of possibility that more players will be knocked out of their teams' lineups, leading to more emergency call-ups as the tournament wears on.

Loui Eriksson and Sedins Will Dominate Offensively

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Lots of questions arose when the Vancouver Canucks signed 31-year-old Loui Eriksson to a six-year, $36 million free-agent contract on July 1. Why would a team in decline sign a goal scorer in his prime to a big-money deal?

For the answer, look to Team Sweden, where Eriksson has slotted into the right side of the top line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

The twins have had success with plenty of different linemates over their long NHL careers, but something special happened when they teamed up with Eriksson during the 2013 World Championship. After a tough start to the tournament by the Swedes, the team gelled when Daniel and Henrik joined after the San Jose Sharks eliminated the Canucks from the Stanley Cup playoffs in the first round—and lined up with Eriksson.

With the Sedins and Eriksson a force at five-on-fives and on the power play, the Swedes brought home the gold medal on home ice in Stockholm, with a 5-1 win over Switzerland. Eriksson had one goal and Henrik Sedin had two goals and an assist in the deciding game.

Before he even suits up next to the Sedins in Vancouver, Eriksson is doing it with Team Sweden. So far, the results have once again been impressive. Eriksson picked up three goals in Sweden's first two games and served as a netfront screen when Daniel Sedin tallied on the power play in the Swedes' final tournament tuneup against Team Europe.

The trio has been able to deliver consistent zone time and plenty of offensive pressure in the pretournament games. Expect to see that chemistry stay strong throughout the tournament, adding offensive punch to a strong Swedish team that also boasts a deep defense and world-class goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

The Swedes are contenders to compete for the World Cup title.

2016 Draft Picks Will Be Impactful Players

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The World Cup of Hockey features two players who have not yet played in the NHL but promise to be well worth watching.

The first overall draft pick in 2016, Auston Matthews, has already made an impact with Team North America, posting a goal and an assist in pretournament action. Matthews also used his muscle to defend teammate Connor McDavid after a late hit from Roman Polak in the final tuneup game against the Czechs.

Meanwhile, Patrik Laine is suiting up for Team Finland. The second overall pick in 2016 picked up his first goal in the Finns' final pretournament game against Team USA on Tuesday and has offered a glimpse into the size, skating and especially shooting that he'll be bringing to the Winnipeg Jets in October.

Both Matthews and Laine impressed playing against men at the IIHF World Championship in Russia last May but are still relative unknowns to NHL fans. Expect the two big teenagers to attract plenty of attention—and deliver plenty of excitement—when they suit up for their respective World Cup teams in Toronto.

Team Canada's Gold-Medal Experience Makes It the Team to Beat

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Finland won the 2016 World Junior and Under-18 Championships. Sweden boasts a strong lineup at both ends of the ice. Team North America is rich with speed and skill. But Canada has been the class of international hockey over the past six years and is the team to beat in this tournament.

The Canadians are the winners of back-to-back titles at the 2015 and 2016 IIHF World Championships. They've also won gold at the last two Olympic Games, in Vancouver in 2010 and in Sochi in 2014—under the guidance of their World Cup coach, Mike Babcock.

Almost the entire Canadian roster was part of at least one of those gold-medal teams. Of the 23 players expected to suit up when the real tournament begins on Saturday, the only skaters who haven't previously won gold for Canada at the Olympics and/or World Championships are Logan Couture and Steven Stamkos. And Stamkos won gold at World Juniors in 2008 and only missed the 2014 Olympics because of a broken leg.

Goaltenders Corey Crawford and Braden Holtby are both new to the world stage, but Canada should be in safe hands in net as Sochi gold medalist Carey Price gets back into his groove after missing most of the 2015-16 season due to injury.

Playing on home ice in Toronto, the pressure will be high on the Canadians. But coming into this tournament, Canada is unequivocally the team to beat.

Canada and Sweden Will Meet in the Best-of-Three Final

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Here's what matters: a prediction of which teams will battle it out for this year's World Cup title.

Twenty years ago, Team USA shocked the Canadians by winning the best-of-three final in the first-ever World Cup. Team Canada rebounded in 2004, beating Finland in a one-game final in Toronto.

This time around, here's how the two groups break down.

Group A	Group B
Canada	Sweden
United States	Finland
Europe	Russia
Czech Republic	North America

Each team will play three games in the round robin, against the other teams in its group.

In such a short tournament, a single upset could wreak havoc on the standings.

Unless something crazy happens—which is completely possible—we should see Canada and the United States advance out of Group A.

Group B is much more nebulous. Team North America could make noise, but the more experienced Sweden and Finland should prevail.

In the semifinal, teams will cross over for a one-game knockout. Look for Canada to beat Finland, while the Swedes take out the Americans.

That'll set up a repeat of what we saw at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi: Canada vs. Sweden for the championship.

All stats courtesy of WCH2016.com.