Sidney Crosby First Player Officially Announced to Team Canada

On the day where Hockey Canada officially announced Mike Babcock as the team’s head coach for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and Joel Quenneville, Barry Trotz and Claude Julien as assistant coaches, GM Doug Armstrong also noted the first player officially announced on the roster.

To no one’s surprise, Sidney Crosby will be a part of the Team Canada at the World Cup. “There is no discussion about Sidney. He will be part of the first group of 16 players,” Armstrong said.

He did not give a timeline on when that initial roster would come to light

While Crosby is not surprising, it’s maybe a little surprising that they’ve announced only Crosby and no one else when there are plenty of players who seem like a lock. Particularly, Jonathan Toews who has been a leader for the team internationally. It seems as though Armstrong may be tipping his hand that it will again be Crosby sporting the “C” for Canada.

Maybe a piece of the pie is that Crosby finished off his entry into the Triple Gold club when he was a part of Canda’s gold medal win at the 2015 World Championship while Toews was busy winning his third Stanley Cup. Crosby has shown a lot of dedication to the team internationally, where many star players choose to forgo participation in the World Championship.

On the international stage through all levels — juniors through the Olympics — Crosby has over a point per game pace going with 25 goals and 51 assists through 43 international matches.

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