3 questions facing Team Europe at the World Cup

Not as undermanned.

That would have to be the most appropriate way to describe many of the talented international players representing Team Europe at the upcoming World Cup of Hockey. Because while Anze Kopitar, Roman Josi, Mats Zuccarello, and others that hail from nations normally overmatched in best-on-best competition have been thrown a bone, they ought to still be considered underdogs.

Here are three questions facing Team Europe:

Wherein lies the motivation?

For the most part, players taking part in the NHL's international showcase can glance down at the crest on their sweaters to be reminded of precisely why they're in Toronto, and not soaking up the final rays of summer.

For Team Europe, though, that glance may only produce more wonder.

Patriotism is what makes elite talents put forth maximal effort in competition in the absence of compensation. Can we expect players thrown together by largely arbitrary means - who don't share a flag, anthem, or impetus - to meet that same standard?

Who starts in goal?

Team Europe has three netminders proven capable (in spurts) of providing the elite goaltending required at best-on-best competitions, but no truly obvious candidate to run with the starter's role.

Frederik Andersen and Jaroslav Halak have near-identical numbers through ebbs and flows of their last three seasons, sporting unspectacular but solid .919 and .918 save percentages, respectively.

However, it's Halak's backup in New York - and the presumptive third-string goaltender for Europe - who's coming off the best statistical NHL campaign of the three options in net. Thomas Greiss' .925 save percentage was the third-highest among those with more than 40 appearances. He also backstopped the New York Islanders to their first playoff-series win in 23 years while Halak nursed a lower-body injury.

Can this team gel?

It won't be easy on the Southampton F.C. chair.

When the well-traveled Ralph Krueger returns to coach NHL players for the first time since being fired by the Edmonton Oilers three seasons ago, he won't have the luxury of leaning on an existing rapport among members of the Team Europe roster. Of the 20 skaters who hail from 10 different countries, only Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg on the back end and Kopitar and Marian Gaborik up front have played together long enough to build lasting chemistry.

With nations choosing players in the past based solely on familiarity with one another, and with little time for introductions, having virtually no existing chemistry puts Team Europe at a considerable disadvantage.