NHL teams
Scott Burnside, ESPN Senior Writer 7y

Which players will enjoy the biggest boost from their World Cup play?

NHL

TORONTO -- In the blink of an eye, World Cup of Hockey enemies will once again become National Hockey League teammates. And players who stood shoulder to shoulder sporting their nation's jersey in the tournament -- or in the case of Team North America and Team Europe, simply sporting matching jerseys -- will soon square off against those tournament teammates with valuable regular-season points on the line.

Funny how that works.

But as Canada celebrates the continuation of its historic domination of the sport after sweeping Team Europe in the best-of-three World Cup finals, winning their 16th consecutive game in best-on-best tournaments, we examined which players might use the World Cup as a springboard to greatness in the NHL -- or, conversely, which players are hoping to forget their forgettable performances in Toronto and start with a clean slate on their NHL clubs.

You could argue that Brad Marchand was going to get paid regardless. But there's little doubt that his superlative performance playing alongside Sidney Crosby and Boston Bruins teammate Patrice Bergeron was a catalyst to his eight-year, $49 million contract extension with the Bruins. Marchand finished second in the tournament in scoring, and if the Bruins are going to arrest a two-year playoff slide, Marchand will need to be a key part of that renaissance. And while we're at it, there's no reason to believe that Bergeron, third in tournament scoring and likely the second-best player on Team Canada behind Crosby, won't hit the ground running in Boston. Look out, Atlantic Division.

Remember last year when Crosby had five points in October? Remember how some people wrote him off? Ha-ha. That was funny. Now the World Cup of Hockey MVP and leading scorer in the tournament will return to the Pittsburgh Penguins in midseason form after leading the World Cup in scoring and continuing his playoff-MVP level of play. Look out, world.

There is no shortage of questions facing the Detroit Red Wings this season as they move on without Pavel Datsyuk and harbor concerns about Henrik Zetterberg's durability. But GM Ken Holland has to be thrilled with the play of a couple of members of Team Europe. Frans Nielsen, signed as a free agent by Detroit during the offseason, earned much praise for his two-way game during the World Cup. And Tomas Tatar delivered a team-best three goals, including two in the Europeans' overtime win over Sweden in the semifinals. Both players are crucial to the Red Wings' ability to keep their monumental playoff streak alive next spring. They have qualified for the playoffs in 25 consecutive seasons.

There were so many impressive players on Team North America, but Philadelphia Flyers fans had to be pleased to see rookie of the year nominee Shayne Gostisbehere get off to a good start at the World Cup.  His play was impressive, especially after Aaron Ekblad left the tournament with a concussion, and Gostisbehere (four assists) tied for the points lead among defensemen at the tournament.

On the other side of the coin, the tournament wasn't particularly kind to anyone on Team USA, as the Americans went 0-3. But Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi has to hope Jonathan Quick is more like the Jonathan Quick of the first pretournament game against Canada and not the Quick who turned in a 3.56 GAA and .863 save percentage in two starts during round-robin play.

The Kings will also be without veteran winger Marian Gaborik, who was injured in Team Europe's overtime win over Sweden in the semifinals. Gaborik may miss two months with an injury to his right foot -- which is not good news for a Kings team that appears to be entering a period of decline.

Back to Detroit for a moment. Nielsen and Tatar were standouts, but the same can't be said for the perpetually underachieving Thomas Vanek, who had just one assist.

Patrick Kane was another disappointing part of Team USA. The Hart Trophy winner failed to score and finished with a minus-4 rating, but we doubt it'll take long for him to reconnect with linemates Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin, whose Russian squad was dumped in the semifinal by Canada. The pair combined for one goal for Russia, and all three will be looking forward to getting back in a groove in Chicago.

Pekka Rinne played in only one game for Finland in the World Cup, a humbling 4-1 loss to speedy Team North America in which Rinne faced 43 shots. Tuukka Rask took over for the final two games, but if the Nashville Predators were hoping that Rinne would use the tournament as a springboard to midseason form, it didn't happen.

Speaking of the Finns ... they had a pretty ugly tournament, scoring just one goal in three games. But that said, we were impressed with youngster Sebastian Aho, and we know that Carolina Hurricanes GM Ron Francis is looking forward to seeing how Aho fits in with the Canes. And of course Patrik Laine was a physical presence, even if he did not record a point, and will step right into the Winnipeg Jets' lineup.

It was a bit of a challenge to get a handle on Jack Eichel with dynamic Team North America. The second overall 2015 draft pick had a goal and an assist, but he was overshadowed by Johnny Gaudreau, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. That might not be a bad thing, necessarily, but it will be interesting to see how Eichel's season begins in Buffalo.

And finally, how about the Tampa Bay Lightning, which led all teams with 12 players in the tournament? Will it hurt the Lightning, getting out of the blocks, having had so many key players -- not to mention coach Jon Cooper, who was an assistant with Team North America -- out of the loop at the World Cup of Hockey? Probably not. Having players play at such a high level early in the season can't be a bad thing. And you have to figure that this tournament will be a boon to a player like Steven Stamkos, who struggled offensively in the tournament, scoring just once, and who missed all but one of Tampa's playoff games with a blood clotting issue.

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