from Tal Pinchevsky of ESPN,
When the 2016 World Cup of Hockey kicks off on Sept. 17, the best players from around the globe will vie for international hockey supremacy.
A deep dive into the eight rosters assembled for this tournament offers a glimpse into where the world's best hockey players come from -- not simply which country develops top hockey talent, but which individual programs form the most prolific NHL pipeline.
ESPN.com examined each World Cup roster, including players who will miss the tournament because of injury, to find which programs are the top NHL incubators. Here is the list of the world's top hockey factories.
London Knights
It makes sense that this list would start with the Memorial Cup champions. In total, 33 Ontario Hockey League alumni were selected to compete in the World Cup, outpacing any other developmental league. Every World Cup team will ice at least one former OHL player. Among Canadian junior teams, the Knights, Kitchener Rangers and Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League lead the competition with five players each. London sticks out by virtue of the names it has developed, including Patrick Kane, John Tavares and John Carlson, although Tavares only played 38 total games for the Knights.
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