World Cup of Hockey roster projection: United States

The first 16 players on every team’s World Cup of Hockey roster will be announced today. The Russia and Finland selections have already been revealed. The Czech Republic will unveil at 11 a.m., ET, followed by Sweden (1:15), Team Europe (4:30), North American 23-and-under, Canada (6:05) and USA (6:45):

Here is Paste BN'S roster projections, with early selections marked with an asterisk, for the United States:

Forwards              

Zach Parise*         Joe Pavelski*           Patrick Kane*

Max Pacioretty*    Derek Stepan           Blake Wheeler*

David Backes*       Ryan Kesler*           Ryan Callahan*

Brock Nelson        Brandon Dubinsky    T.J. Oshie*

Kyle Okposo

Defense

Ryan Suter*                John Carlson*

Ryan McDonagh*      Justin Faulk*

Keith Yandle              Erik Johnson

Dustin Byfuglien

Goalies

Jonathan Quick*, Cory Schneider*, Ben Bishop*

Others in the mix : Kevin Shattenkirk, Bobby Ryan, Tyler Johnson, Justin Abdelkader, Cam Fowler

Keep in mind: USA general manager Dean Lombardi and his lieutenants Paul Holmgren and Brian Burke prefer physical, hard-to-play-against teams. This squad will not be the same as the team that traveled to Sochi for the 2014 Olympics. It will have more tenacity. That’s why we project bigger/pricklier players such as Johnson, Byfuglien and Dubinsky will make the team.