6 top candidates for World Cup's vacant captaincies

With the World Cup of Hockey now less than a month away, and all eight rosters basically set in stone (health permitting), the next decision to be made is who will don the captain's "C" for each squad.

So far, we know that Henrik Zetterberg has been named Sweden's captain, while Joe Pavelski is expected to be handed the honor for Team USA.

Here's a look at the top candidates to captain the other six teams.

Canada - Jonathan Toews

While Sidney Crosby captained the 2014 Olympic and 2015 World Championship teams to gold medals, it's time for Jonathan Toews to be afforded the chance to take on that mantle of leadership for a couple weeks.

As previously argued here, Toews is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and the 2015 Mark Messier Leadership Award winner. Clearly he has achieved more than enough to deserve the "C" for Canada at the World Cup.

Crosby has served well as Captain Canada and is the unquestioned best player in the world, but the reality is that the World Cup's a step below the Olympics.

To deny Crosby the "C" and bestow it on Toews, therefore, would simply be to acknowledge the latter's body of work while keeping the former out of the spotlight until PyeongChang - if NHL players participate, that is.

Russia - Pavel Datsyuk

Having made the decision to walk away from the final year of his NHL contract, the World Cup will effectively serve as Pavel Datsyuk's swan song in North America.

Alex Ovechkin remains Russia's premier star, but chances are he'd be willing to step aside for one international tournament in order to allow the Magic Man - who captained the World Championship team back in May - to once again serve as team leader, in name at least.

Seeing as former Red Wings teammate Zetterberg is captaining Sweden, having Datstyuk wear the "C" for Russia would add another layer of intrigue to the tournament.

Finland - Mikko Koivu

This Finnish squad is made up of a bevy of rising stars, and a player like Aleksander Barkov is sure to carry the team to great heights as early as the 2018 Winter Olympics.

For the time being, elder statesman and Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu gets the nod, especially after having captained Finland to a silver medal at the World Championships in the spring.

It also helps that Koivu is the NHL's active points leader among all players from his home country.

Czech Republic - Tomas Plekanec

In the absence of cornerstone players like Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias, Tomas Plekanec emerges as the de facto leader of the Czech Republic squad.

Plekanec has represented his country in multiple international tournaments at the junior and major levels, with all colors of medals earned along the way.

That the tournament will be played in Toronto and Plekanec is a member of the rival Montreal Canadiens is also quite fitting. And yes, he, like others mentioned above, wore the "C" at the 2016 World Championships.

Europe - Anze Kopitar

Two names that jump to mind immediately for Europe are Zdeno Chara and Anze Kopitar, both of whom have raised the Stanley Cup in recent years as captains of the Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings, respectively.

While Chara is a worthy candidate, Kopitar is in his prime and has the better chance of making a major contribution to a European squad which many don't have pegged to make much noise in the tournament.

Europe was added to the field in part to allow for players from smaller countries to participate, so why not make the most of the Slovenian's presence and charge him with leading the team both on and off the ice?

North America - Connor McDavid

The Young Stars team is made up of players 23 and under, many of whom are likely destined to become captains at the NHL level sooner than later.

Two may have that distinction as early as 2016-17, namely Aaron Ekblad in Florida and Connor McDavid in Edmonton.

The defenseman has more professional experience, but the World Cup is designed to feature the best and brightest hockey has to offer, with McDavid - who already has a World Championship gold with Canada to his name - representing not only the future but the present of the game.

Ekblad will no doubt be an alternate and has as bright a future as just about anyone in the game, but if North America is able to pull off the upset and win the thing, it should be McDavid who's front and center to receive the odd-looking trophy.