Canada picks Crosby captain for World Cup of Hockey

Logan Couture will take Benn’s place up front and Jay Bouwmeester, who won gold with Canada in Sochi, slides in for Keith. He also led Canada to victory in the world hockey championships past year. Don’t be shocked if head coach Mike Babcock pairs them together again.

Crosby has served as Team Canada’s captain at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and the 2015 IIHF World Championship, leading the team to gold medal finishes at both tournaments.

To the surprise of no one, Sidney Crosby was named captain of Team Canada’s entry at the just-around-the-corner World Cup of Hockey. Babcock said his staff would use an upcoming training camp, with three exhibition games, to come to a decision that way. Kris Letang and P.K. Subban – two elite defensemen not on Team Canada’s roster – both shoot from the right side.

“We believe it is in his best interests to focus on getting stronger and not risk further injury”, Terry said in the statement. Bouwmeester joins a group that includes Brent Burns, Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin, Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Weber and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

“We talked about what makes us the best team and we really felt that going into this tournament we wanted to have as close to a balance of right and left-shot players as possible”, Armstrong said, also via conference call. Now 29, he has two gold medals, two Cup rings and a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. The World Cup will begin Saturday, Sept. 17 and run through Saturday, Oct. 1. The 32-year-old smooth-skating lefty will presumably again be paired with fellow Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo at the World Cup, which begins September 17 in Toronto.

Eight teams are taking part in the World Cup of Hockey.

Bouwmeester, 32, is no stranger to representing Canada on the worldwide stage.