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McDavid, Eichel headline ultra-talented Team North America

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With the rosters for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey announced on Wednesday, Bob McKenzie talks about the biggest surprises and most notable omissions.

Love the idea or hate it, the majority of hockey fans are at least intrigued by the idea of a 23-and-under team competing in the World Cup.

And for those who insist they aren’t curious whatsoever, well, you must have just clicked on this post by mistake.

Just a reminder that Team North America is comprised of players from Canada or the United States who were born on or after Oct. 2, 1992, and those players are only eligible to play for Team North America.

The following are the first 16 players that GM Peter Chiarelli and his associate, Stan Bowman, came up with:

G John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks
G Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
G Matt Murray, Pittsburgh Penguins

D Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers
D Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
D Ryan Murray, Columbus Blue Jackets
D Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs

F Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers
F Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
F Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames
F Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings
F Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
F Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
F J.T. Miller, New York Rangers
F Sean Monahan, Calgary Flames
F Brandon Saad, Columbus Blue Jackets

Safe to say talent won’t be an issue with this group. Strength and experience maybe, but not talent.

The goaltending might be pretty good, too.

And those uniforms!

Those are sure...something.

Seven more players are still to be added to the roster by no later than June 1.

Candidates -- and there are quite a few those, so forgive us if we miss any -- include Shayne Gostisbehere, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jonathan Huberdeau, Vincent Trocheck, Alex Galchenyuk, Dougie Hamilton, Jacob Trouba, Boone Jenner, Sam Bennett, Mark Scheifele, Anthony Duclair, Sam Reinhart, Bo Horvat, Max Domi, Robby Fabbri, Damon Severson, Colton Parayko, Matt Dumba, and possibly even Auston Matthews.

Related: Todd McLellan to coach Team North America, which will obviously feature McDavid