Brian Leetch hopes 2016 World Cup is 'only year' for Team North America format

Hockey Hall of Famer and 1996 Team USA World Cup of Hockey captain Brian Leetch isn’t the biggest fan of one element of the newest World Cup format.

On a conference call with reporters about the 1996 team’s induction into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Leetch said he hoped the upcoming World Cup is the “only year” for Team North America.

That group is made up of players from the United States and Canada age 23-and-under. It includes young stars like Canada’s Connor McDavid and America’s Jack Eichel – both talents who may have made their respective World Cup national teams if not for this format.

“I’d also like to see Connor McDavid play with Sidney Crosby and learn from him on a national level and see Jack Eichel be on the U.S. team and be able to play with guys he has looked up to in the NHL and is going to be taking their place for years to come in international competition and learn from some of their national team players and guys that have been through it before,” Leetch said. “I think it will be an interesting concept and I am intrigued about watching the team but I do hope that guys like that are able to in the future play, if they’re good enough, to play on that team. I think it’s a great way to transition for every country.”

Former NHLer Craig Janney, who had played on multiple American teams in international competitions agreed with Leetch. Janney was on the call for his own induction into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

“You want to play with the guys you grew up kind of watching and idolizing and being in the room with,” Janney said. “I remember when I played Canada Cup way back and being in the room with (Chris) Chelios and Gary Suter and guys I admired. And that was part of the fun and part of the learning process about being taught about how to be a professional as well. I’m intrigued because I think there’s great talent (on team North America) there and they’ll be fun to watch, but I agree with Brian on the whole deal.”

Ron Wilson, who coached 1996 American team as well as many other U.S. teams understood why this type of format is important for this particular tournament, but intimated the 2016 World Cup could lose some country-oriented pride. Wilson also mentioned Team Europe that includes European players not from Russia, the Czech Republic, Finland or Sweden.

“Well, I mean I don’t know how to feel about this team. You’re probably preventing a few of these guys from playing on their respective national teams. The big thing about this tournament is the national sense of it and you have a team that’s going to be a combination of both Canadian and American players,” Wilson said. “That’s going to be different from that point of view. The same thing for Europe. It’s trying to get everybody involved. That’s why they put these teams together. The younger teams are going to be very hungry and I wouldn’t be surprised to see an upset or two.”

Leetch did note that he was looking forward to seeing how the youthful exuberance played out with the group, which could be a positive for this tournament.

“I believe it will be interesting to watch the players and the team and they will – as coach Wilson said they’re hungry and ready to go,” Leetch said.

Team North America is considered one of the more speed-oriented teams in the tournament and won’t have the burden of playing for a national team. They’ve generated some buzz as a sleeper pick to win it all.

“I look at the young guns, and they’re going to probably be playing pressure-free, and they’re going to have a ball. It’s going to be a dangerous team,” Team USA coach John Tortorella told ESPN.com in February. “It’s going to be a really good team, talent-wise, but just the youth of it and basically the inexperience of it all, they’re going to be flying. It’s going to be a really good hockey club.”

Overall Team North America has many players who would have been solid candidates for Team USA such as Eichel, Johnny Gaudreau, Seth Jones and Brandon Saad amongst others.

“I’d rather not get into it and make the best of what we have,” Team USA general manager Dean Lombardi said in a recent interview with Puck Daddy. “Certainly there’s a little bit when you think of the Olympics and World Cup, it’s all about the best, right? Whether you’re 15 or 16 it shouldn’t matter but it is what it is and I tried to get an exemption. I proposed when I first took the job, could each country get an exemption for an exceptional player like a hardship rule in college or something. That didn’t fly, but it is what it is.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper