Team Canada Adds Brad Treliving, George McPhee to Worlds Brain Trust

Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving and former Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee will serve as co-GMs for Team Canada at the 2016 IIHF World Championship, Hockey Canada announced Wednesday. St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong serve as a special advisor.

McPhee was Director of Player Personnel during the 2015 Spengler Cup and was a part of the management team for Team Canada at the 2015 World Championship, when Canada went undefeated en route to a gold medal.
That gold medal team was one of the more impressive rosters they’ve fielded at World in some time. Led by Sidney Crosby, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, Brent Burns, Claude Giroux, Taylor Hall, Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly and Nathan MacKinnon, they were quite formidable compared to past rosters for the annual tourney.

It could be a little more interesting than usual at the World Championship because of the World Cup. For Team USA and Team Canada, two teams who frequently aren’t fielding the best their country has to offer, there may be added incentive for some players on the cusp of Team USA, Team Canada or Team North America rosters at the World Cup to play at Worlds and push for a spot.

At the other end of that, the nation’s top players may have less incentive to play in a year where they’d then be playing in two international tournaments between NHL seasons.

The 2016 tournament begins June 5 in Moscow, Russia.