This is by no means the sexiest position group in the World Cup of Hockey. Zdeno Chara can still do his thing and Roman Josi is quite good, but this defense core is pretty devoid of superstars. That wouldn’t be such a big problem if this wasn’t a glorified all-star team in an all-star tournament.
So luckily there will probably be some decent goaltending on this squad, right?
Team Europe Defenders
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins (Slovakia)
Christian Ehrhoff, Chicago Blackhawks (Germany)
Roman Josi, Nashville Predators (Switzerland)
Dennis Seidenberg, Boston Bruins (Germany)
Andrej Sekera, Edmonton Oilers (Slovakia)
Luca Sbisa, Vancouver Canucks (Switzerland)
Mark Streit, Philadelphia Flyers (Switzerland)
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Zdeno Chara
At 39 years old, Chara is still relatively effective but it’ll be interesting to see what he can do against a bevy of players that are younger and faster than he is.