+ Sidney Crosby, 37 years old, forward, Canada/Pittsburgh.
One of the greatest hockey players of all time and the forward from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, has a CV so long that it doesn't fit in this text.
The biggest: 2 Olympic Games gold medals, 3 Stanley Cup titles, 1 World Championship gold medal, 1 World Cup title, 1 Four Nations title.
Making his first World Championship appearance since 2015 and his first championship tournament on Swedish soil.
+ Nathan MacKinnon, 29, f, Canada/Colorado.
Picked up 116 points (32 goals + 84 assists) in the NHL last season and finished second in the scoring league after Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay.
Stanley Cup champion 2022, named NHL's best player last year, MVP in Four Nations when Canada won the title.
+ Marc-André Fleury, 40, goalie, Canada/Minnesota.
A legend who is retiring after the season. Won three Stanley Cup titles together with Crosby in Pittsburgh and they won Olympic Games gold together in 2010, but has been declining in recent years.
Second goalie behind Filip Gustavsson in Minnesota last season.
Macklin Celebrini, 18, f, Canada/San Jose.
Last year's draft pick who picked up points in his first NHL season for the bottom team San Jose, 25 goals and a total of 63 points.
Playing together with Crosby and MacKinnon must be a top-notch education for the teenager.
+ Zach Werenski, 27, d, USA/Columbus.
Won the scoring league in Four Nations (six assists), second in the back's scoring league in NHL (82 points, including 23 goals) and one of three candidates for the Norris Trophy, the prize for NHL's best defenseman.
Werenski is the biggest star among the defensemen in the World Championship tournament.
+ Tage Thompson, 27, f, USA/Buffalo.
Fourth in the NHL's goal league with 44 goals, but surprisingly didn't get selected for Four Nations.
Now sees the chance to prove himself ahead of the Olympic Games in Milan.
+ David Pastrnak, 28, f, Czech Republic/Boston.
Czech gold hero on home soil last year, fourth in the NHL's scoring league this season (106 points) and fifth in the goal league (43 goals).
+ Mika Zibanejad, 32, f, Sweden/New York Rangers.
Tough season in the NHL where everything went against him, both personally and for the team. Rangers' assistant captain finished with 62 points, including 20 goals.
One of the best in Tre Kronor in Four Nations.
+ Filip Forsberg, 30, f, Sweden/Nashville.
Tough season in Nashville that never had to do with the playoff battle.
Forsberg still produced 31 goals and 76 points in 82 matches.
Pointless in Four Nations and likely extremely revenge-hungry.
