This could be a story about redemption.
Or it could be a story about time running out on a generation of hockey players looking to shoulder their way into a discussion of the greatest American players of all time.
Or both.
But stripped down to its very core, this is a story about the very essence of what it means to become a team.
Will Team USA coalesce into that rarest of things, something that is greater than the sum of its very disparate, rugged parts and emerge in a month as not necessarily the best players in the world but the best team in the world?
History tells us that such things are possible.
It was so in 1980, when a bunch of no-name American players beat the Russians en route to a gold medal. And it was so in 1996, when a brash group of American NHLers beat some of the greatest players in the history of the game to win the first-ever World Cup of Hockey.
But history also tells us such transformations are difficult to achieve, and many teams fall in vain while waiting for that alchemy to take place.
How will history judge the U.S. entry at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, which kicks off Sept. 17 in Toronto? Well, that's what's going to make the next month or so such compelling theater. Because there is something that tells us this is going to be one of two things: a face-smashing, bone-jarring success -- or a very ugly trip into chaos.
"Not a lot of people are going to be picking us to win many games against teams with these high-skilled players, so we're going to have to really outwork and really earn every victory," New York Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said.
McDonagh is one of 14 Team USA players who also went to the Sochi Olympics in 2014 with high hopes, only to crumble late, failing to score a single goal in tournament-ending losses to Canada in the semifinals and to Finland in the bronze-medal game.
What was to have been a steppingstone to greatness after the Americans earned a silver in Vancouver four years earlier, after losing in overtime in the gold-medal game to host Canada, ended with more than a little finger pointing and acrimony in Russia.
"I think the feeling in the locker room was we were all pretty embarrassed and upset about the result," McDonagh said. "I don't think I've heard anybody talk about that [bronze-medal] game, but you bring it up, you ask me, but I can remember that feeling, and if you asked anybody else, if they can remember that feeling, we definitely don't want to repeat that."
McDonagh said he doesn't think what transpired in Sochi needs to be dredged up as motivation for this version of Team USA. But what happened there, the failure of the team to rally itself, to truly forge an identity that could carry it through the crucial moments of a tournament that was theirs for the taking, is a strong backstory to this World Cup team.
"I don't have a ton of regrets in my career, but to not have that group take advantage of that opportunity really still stings, and you want that back," Boston Bruins center David Backes said.
Backes was part of the silver-medal effort in Vancouver and was part of the leadership core in Sochi. Losing 1-0 to Canada in one of the fastest games you'll ever see wasn't necessarily the defining moment for the '14 team, but not bouncing back was especially galling.
"To still have a chance against Finland to win a medal and to squander that, I think that really stings as well," Backes said.
And so GM Dean Lombardi and his management team went off script to build the '16 version of Team USA.
In all, nine players played on the 2010 silver-medal team, including Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson and Brandon Dubinsky, who weren't in Sochi. The plan was simple: Bring in players who can bond immediately and who thrive in the dirty areas of the ice, who can win a street brawl in the tighter quarters of an NHL rink like the Air Canada Centre, and who will accept their roles without hesitation, without question.
Zach Parise, the captain of the American team in Sochi, acknowledged there are lots of questions about the roster of the current U.S. squad.
"I'm sure everyone's got their opinions," Parise said recently. "But I think it's going to be a team that's hard to play against, and playing on an NHL rink with that style of team, I think that they did a lot research into that. I think you have guys that are very hard to play against. I think it's going to be a good team."
Throw into the equation the uncertainty over the future of NHL participation in the Olympics, and you add another layer of urgency for much of this team. Defenseman and two-time Olympian Ryan Suter is 31. His pal and Minnesota Wild teammate Parise is 32. Backes is 32, and Ryan Kesler will turn 32 a couple of days before training camp starts.
If the NHL does not return to the Olympics, the World Cup represents the only best-on-best tournament available to the world's best players. And given the International Olympic Committee's stance that they will no longer pay for professional athletes' travel, insurance and other expenses as they have since the NHL first started playing in the Olympics in 1998, a return to the Winter Olympics seems doubtful.
Given the emergence of a plethora of top-end young American talent in Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Brandon Saad and Johnny Gaudreau, all of whom will play on Team North America in the World Cup and would seem to be locks for a U.S. team down the road, it's easy to suggest this is the last, best chance for this group of American players to lay claim to being the best in the world.
"The World Cup's not going to erase what happened in Russia by any means, but at the same time it would be a better way to go out," Parise said. "Not that we're all riding off into the sunset right now."
The topic of urgency and taking advantage of opportunities like the World Cup was a recurring theme for Team USA players, especially those who spent the offseason in Minnesota.
"You only get so many opportunities like this to make a name for yourself and make yourself on top of the world, so to speak," McDonagh said. "And I think our group is really trying to take that to heart and understand that it's a fine line between winning. But if you can get everybody on the same page and really pushing for one another and not worrying who's in certain situations and just go out there and play hard against your opponent and play hard for your country and that jersey, I think we've got the group to do it and do whatever we want to accomplish."
Backes put it more succinctly.
"I think the way USA Hockey is trending, there's a lot of great players that are coming up, and you never know when someone's going to kick you out of your spot," he said.
This last-chance mentality is something management is counting on while helping this team focus on the here and now to come together in rapid fashion.
"I think if you look that far in advance, you're short-sighting what you have in front of you, and that's at the forefront for me," Backes said. "Make each opportunity, make the most of it, and we won't have regrets and look in the mirror and say, 'I wish I would have,' like perhaps what we're doing with Sochi and the opportunities that we had there. That's the way I'm looking at it. I'm grateful and humbled by another experience to represent my country at an elite level, and I take great pride in having that opportunity."
In some ways, the story of the building of this U.S. team has been the story of who wasn't asked to take part. Former Olympians Justin Faulk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Phil Kessel and Paul Martin weren't invited. Neither was dynamic young Tampa Bay Lightning center Tyler Johnson. Or Kyle Okposo.
"They may be difficult to play against, but they may be lacking some speed and finish," one scout said of the roster. "In a short tournament like this, goaltending will be key."
And if the team flounders, the recriminations will be swift and strong. But not everyone is pessimistic about how things might unfold in Toronto.
"I think it's a heck of a team," said longtime NHLer and national broadcast analyst Darren Pang.
He noted that GM Lombardi has built two Stanley Cup winners for the Los Angeles Kings. He knows the types of players who will rise to the occasion in big games, in difficult times, and he knows players who will shrink away from those challenges, Pang said.
"You ever watch Dubinsky play in hard games, big games?" asked Pang, who will provide analysis for ESPN during the tournament. "He's ferocious."
He noted Justin Abdelkader's hard-nosed play at the World Championships a couple of years back.
"There's some meat and potatoes in this group," Pang added.
Hall of Famer Brett Hull, a member of the seminal 1996 U.S. World Cup of Hockey team, has a different take.
Hull, who also is providing analysis for ESPN during the tournament, said recently, "They put people in charge, and it's their team. It really doesn't matter what I think or what anybody else thinks, it's what they think, and they obviously think they've picked a real strong team.
"If that's what they're looking for and that's the style they're going to play, then they probably picked the right guys."
And so the journey begins for this group of players with so much to prove. And I wonder, when it ends, will we call them a team or something else?