Cooper is currently the head coach of National Hockey League (NHL) outfit Tampa Bay Lightning, a team he joined midway through the 2012-13 campaign following two-and-a-half seasons in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Norfolk Admirals and Syracuse Crunch.

He was an assistant coach for Team North America at last year's World Cup of Hockey in Canada and guided the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2015.

Cooper has also held head coaching positions for teams in the Cleveland Suburban Hockey League (CSHL), Midwest Elite Hockey League (MWEHL), North American Hockey League (NAHL) and United States Hockey League (USHL).

He will be joined behind the bench by assistant coaches Gerard Gallant, Dave Hakstol and Dave King.

Gallant was an assistant coach with Canada at the 2007 IIHF World Championship and served in the same role alongside Cooper with Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Hakstol just completed his second season as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, following 15 seasons in coaching roles with the University of North Dakota, while King is a former head coach of Canada having held the role full-time from 1983 to 1993. 

King won a silver medal with Canada at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in French town Albertville and was also behind the country's bench at the 1999 IIHF World Championship in Norway. 

"Canada has tremendous depth in both its player and coaching pool, and we are fortunate to welcome a blend of experience and new faces to our programme for this year’s IIHF World Championship," Tom Renney, President and chief executive of Hockey Canada, said.  

"This is always an exciting event that brings Canadian hockey fans together to cheer on the red-and-white, and our players have four talented coaches and leaders in this group to work with and learn from."

Canada's management, staff and players are due to gather in Swiss city Geneva for a pre-tournament camp, which includes a warm-up game against Switzerland on May 2.

The defending champions are due to open their World Championship campaign against the Czech Republic on May 5.

The Group B match will be held at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, which is co-hosting the event with German city Cologne.

Group A action is scheduled to take place at Cologne's Lanxess Arena, where Blashill will look to guide the US to victory over Germany in his first match, also on May 5. 

Blashill recently completed his second season as head coach of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings and will be making his debut as head coach of the men’s national team.

He has previously been involved with US teams in international competition, serving as goaltending coach at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Championship in Canada and as assistant coach for both the select team at the 2009 World Junior A Challenge and the under-18 select team at the 2006 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

Before joining Detroit, Blashill had a three-season spell as the head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Red Wings' AHL affiliate.

He oversaw three hugely successful years, highlighted by a 2012-13 campaign that ended with the first Calder Cup championship in the 17-year history of the franchise.

"We're extremely pleased to have Jeff lead our men's national team at the World Championship," Jim Johannson, assistant executive director of hockey operations at USA Hockey, said. 

"He's been successful at every step of his career and we know our team will be well prepared when the puck drops."

Johannson leads an advisory group which is responsible for selecting the staff and players of the 2017 US men’s national team.