World Cup: 2016 World Cup — Team Canada

[JackSlater]

Team Canada Power Rankings by Role:

Scoring Centers:
1. Sidney Crosby
2. Steven Stamkos
3. John Tavares
4. Tyler Seguin
5. Ryan Getzlaf
6. Claude Giroux
7. Ryan Johansen
8. Matt Duchene
9. Joe Thornton
10. Logan Couture

Scoring Wingers:
1. Jamie Benn
2. Corey Perry
3. Taylor Hall
4. Rick Nash
5. Jordan Eberle
6. Andrew Ladd
7. Jaden Schwartz
8. Brendan Gallagher
9. Patrick Sharp
10. James Neal

Defensive Specialists:
1. Jonathan Toews
2. Patric Bergeron
3. Ryan O'Reilly
4. Jeff Carter
5. Sean Couturier

Left-Handed Defencemen:
1. Duncan Keith
2. Mark Giordano
3. Marc-Eduard Vlasic
4. TJ Brodie
5. Dan Hamhuis

Right-Handed Defencemen:
1. Drew Doughty
2. Shea Weber
3. PK Subban
4. Alex Pietrangelo
5. Kris Letang

Goalies:
1. Carey Price
2. Braden Holtby
3. Corey Crawford
4. Roberto Luongo
5. Marc-Andre Fleury

I would include Schwartz in the defensive specialist group, and pretty highly in it as well. It's also hard to rank the centres since some of them are clearly going to be wingers (Seguin, Stamkos) but this looks pretty accurate.

 

[Nihiliste]

I think by 2018 Nathan Mackinnon and Connor Mcdavid will have both firmly forced their way into the conversation for Team Canada. Probably at RW and LW respectively.

I'm very concerned about our depth at LD going into 2018. Keith and Giordano will be turning 35 and seemingly all of our elite young talent plays on the right side.

 

[JackSlater]

I think by 2018 Nathan Mackinnon and Connor Mcdavid will have both firmly forced their way into the conversation for Team Canada. Probably at RW and LW respectively.

I'm very concerned about our depth at LD going into 2018. Keith and Giordano will be turning 35 and seemingly all of our elite young talent plays on the right side.

LD is not looking so hot compared to the right side, but Vlasic will likely be the same as he is now, some young guys like Brodie/Rielly/Murray could improve on that side, and Pietrangelo has experience on that side. I would like to see a bit of an improvement in the defencemen that Canada is producing though.

 

[1Gold Standard]

LD is not looking so hot compared to the right side, but Vlasic will likely be the same as he is now, some young guys like Brodie/Rielly/Murray could improve on that side, and Pietrangelo has experience on that side. I would like to see a bit of an improvement in the defencemen that Canada is producing though.

based on the season so far, and other than Price, P.K. and J.T., most of the A team players are AWOL. Yes, we are only a little over a week in, but the picture looks bleak as of today.

 

[JackSlater]

based on the season so far, and other than Price, P.K. and J.T., most of the A team players are AWOL. Yes, we are only a little over a week in, but the picture looks bleak as of today.

I wouldn't base anything on 3-4 games. They also don't have any meaningful hockey to play for at least two years. For the early season I'm only interested in seeing how young guys are performing.

 

[1Gold Standard]

I wouldn't base anything on 3-4 games. They also don't have any meaningful hockey to play for at least two years. For the early season I'm only interested in seeing how young guys are performing.

I was talking more about the gimmicky September tourney which has to name 15 players in February/March...but ya, still early.

 

[JackSlater]

I was talking more about the gimmicky September tourney which has to name 15 players in February/March...but ya, still early.

Sure, that's not what I would classify as meaningful though. You can easily pencil in 15 players for that team (Price, Doughty, Subban, Keith, Weber, Crosby, Tavares, Toews, Stamkos, Benn, Seguin, Bergeron, Getzlaf, Perry, Giroux) who will make that team regardless of how they play this year I am guessing. I've seen a bit of Anaheim, and Getzlaf and Perry do not look good at all in terms of skating. They (along with Nash) are the players I am most worried about Hockey Canada remaining loyal to beyond their actual usefulness. Of course a lot can change after one week.

 

[86Habs]

Sure, that's not what I would classify as meaningful though. You can easily pencil in 15 players for that team (Price, Doughty, Subban, Keith, Weber, Crosby, Tavares, Toews, Stamkos, Benn, Seguin, Bergeron, Getzlaf, Perry, Giroux) who will make that team regardless of how they play this year I am guessing. I've seen a bit of Anaheim, and Getzlaf and Perry do not look good at all in terms of skating. They (along with Nash) are the players I am most worried about Hockey Canada remaining loyal to beyond their actual usefulness. Of course a lot can change after one week.

I'm not overly concerned about that, to be honest. It depends of course on the composition of the management team and coaching staff, but if you look back to 2014 Yzerman et al didn't hesitate to "cut" Eric Staal and Brent Seabrook from the 2010 team, despite both of those players still being relatively strong performers. And of course the whole Martin St. Louis situation demonstrated that, collectively, they can make some difficult calls when need be. With the ridiculous amount of talent and depth available to Canada, especially at the forward position, I have to think that whoever forms the management team for the 2018 team will make reasonable selections and if certain veterans aren't up to snuff, they won't be there.

 

[JackSlater]

I'm not overly concerned about that, to be honest. It depends of course on the composition of the management team and coaching staff, but if you look back to 2014 Yzerman et al didn't hesitate to "cut" Eric Staal and Brent Seabrook from the 2010 team, despite both of those players still being relatively strong performers. And of course the whole Martin St. Louis situation demonstrated that, collectively, they can make some difficult calls when need be. With the ridiculous amount of talent and depth available to Canada, especially at the forward position, I have to think that whoever forms the management team for the 2018 team will make reasonable selections and if certain veterans aren't up to snuff, they won't be there.

Possible. Even in 2014 though you still had Rick Nash make the team. He ended up performing well in his limited role, but he did not make the team based on anything he had done to that point in that season. Getzlaf and Perry have pretty big reputations (similar to Nash) so I am curious. Of course the best situation would just be for the top players to play like the top players.

 

[Riddum]

The young stars could very well beat Team Canada.

 

[86Habs]

Possible. Even in 2014 though you still had Rick Nash make the team. He ended up performing well in his limited role, but he did not make the team based on anything he had done to that point in that season. Getzlaf and Perry have pretty big reputations (similar to Nash) so I am curious. Of course the best situation would just be for the top players to play like the top players.

I'm not sure if Nash was a true Gretzky-esque loyalty pick, though. In retrospect I see his selection as the management team filling a necessary role on the team - big guy that can skate like the wind, near-elite defensively, loads of experience on international ice and at the Olympics, and a great track record with Team Canada. Also a guy that was willing to take a lesser role. The management team probably looked at him, Couture, St. Louis and Giroux and figured he'd be the safest bet to fulfill a role (whatever role that ended up being) in the bottom six.

Now granted he wasn't great in the months leading up to the selection, but he did go on a bit of a tear immediately after the roster was announced. It seems like he's been around forever but he was only 29 yrs old during Sochi, in what should be the late prime of his career (his performance last season kind of attests to this).

Putting aside his actual performance in the tournament, which was solid, I also didn't like the selection at first. Not as bad as Kunitz, but I wasn't 100% on board with Yzerman et al on this one.

 

[JackSlater]

I'm not sure if Nash was a true Gretzky-esque loyalty pick, though. In retrospect I see his selection as the management team filling a necessary role on the team - big guy that can skate like the wind, near-elite defensively, loads of experience on international ice and at the Olympics, and a great track record with Team Canada. Also a guy that was willing to take a lesser role. The management team probably looked at him, Couture, St. Louis and Giroux and figured he'd be the safest bet to fulfill a role (whatever role that ended up being) in the bottom six.

Now granted he wasn't great in the months leading up to the selection, but he did go on a bit of a tear immediately after the roster was announced. It seems like he's been around forever but he was only 29 yrs old during Sochi, in what should be the late prime of his career (his performance last season kind of attests to this).

Putting aside his actual performance in the tournament, which was solid, I also didn't like the selection at first. Not as bad as Kunitz, but I wasn't 100% on board with Yzerman et al on this one.

It's possible that Nash was not picked for that reason, but he was absolutely putrid leading up to the selection period. I remember the selection process docuentary CBC put out (I wish it was available online, or at lest somewhere I can locate) and they mentioned a player having a horrible year, but also that the player was presumably someone "he" considered a lock. "He" was someone important but not among the management group, so many people assumed it was renowned Nash fan Babcock. Could be completely inaccurate speculation, but Nash always felt to me like a pick that was made based on what he was in the past as opposed to what he was at the time. That's what I fear happening again. The Kunitz situation won't happen again, considering none of the top Canadian centres have a plug linemate who people are accepting as a near elite player.

 

[86Habs]

It's possible that Nash was not picked for that reason, but he was absolutely putrid leading up to the selection period. I remember the selection process docuentary CBC put out (I wish it was available online, or at lest somewhere I can locate) and they mentioned a player having a horrible year, but also that the player was presumably someone "he" considered a lock. "He" was someone important but not among the management group, so many people assumed it was renowned Nash fan Babcock. Could be completely inaccurate speculation, but Nash always felt to me like a pick that was made based on what he was in the past as opposed to what he was at the time. That's what I fear happening again. The Kunitz situation won't happen again, considering none of the top Canadian centres have a plug linemate who people are accepting as a near elite player.

I believe he was concussed early in the '13-'14 season and was clearly off his game at that point. This may/should have been enough of a reason to leave him off the team. I remember the speculation that Babcock pushed for Nash to make the team (IIRC it was speculated that it was either Nash, or Mike Richards that they were referring to on that CBC video).

 

[Get North]

Mark Stone is really pushing for a spot now. If he continues to impress like this he'll be a lock, right shot, skate pretty well, size, good two-way, smart hockey player. That is for sure a Hockey Canada type of player and I think he'd fit in perfectly with Crosby. Getzlaf and Perry look slow like mentioned. Sharp, Marleau, aren't returning for sure and Duchene doesn't look as good as MacKinnon from the couple games I saw this season but Duchene has been between Iginla and Comeau so that doesn't help. Hall looks terrible, was watching all of McDavid's games and Hall was turning puck overs, making bad decisions, etc. I wouldn't want Hall on the team even though he looked good at the WHC.

Turris is playing pretty well too and could challenge for a RW spot. Johansen has looked alright and could be that Getzlaf "replacement" but I want to see him on big ice because he still has some flaws like skating and consistency. I wonder how far Monahan can come in a couple of years because he's a big kid, plays some really solid defence, good shot and I like his skating for a 6'2 hockey player. MacKinnon is off to a great start with the Avalanche after a bad season but I think Roy is holding a lot of players on that team back so he's another player to watch.

Starting to see the next wave of Canadians from the 2009-2013 drafts come through.

 

[JackSlater]

Mark Stone is really pushing for a spot now. If he continues to impress like this he'll be a lock, right shot, skate pretty well, size, good two-way, smart hockey player. That is for sure a Hockey Canada type of player and I think he'd fit in perfectly with Crosby. Getzlaf and Perry look slow like mentioned. Sharp, Marleau, aren't returning for sure and Duchene doesn't look as good as MacKinnon from the couple games I saw this season but Duchene has been between Iginla and Comeau so that doesn't help. Hall looks terrible, was watching all of McDavid's games and Hall was turning puck overs, making bad decisions, etc. I wouldn't want Hall on the team even though he looked good at the WHC.

Turris is playing pretty well too and could challenge for a RW spot. Johansen has looked alright and could be that Getzlaf "replacement" but I want to see him on big ice because he still has some flaws like skating and consistency. I wonder how far Monahan can come in a couple of years because he's a big kid, plays some really solid defence, good shot and I like his skating for a 6'2 hockey player. MacKinnon is off to a great start with the Avalanche after a bad season but I think Roy is holding a lot of players on that team back so he's another player to watch.

Starting to see the next wave of Canadians from the 2009-2013 drafts come through.

The new season is barely one week old. A little early to put Stone in a sentence with the word lock or suggest that Turris even has a remote chance to make this team.

 

[Get North]

The new season is barely one week old. A little early to put Stone in a sentence with the word lock or suggest that Turris even has a remote chance to make this team.

Stone was a finalist for the Calder last year and I believe last season after January he was top 5 in NHL scoring. Ottawa definitely plays an offensive system but he's still an excellent up and coming young player.

 

[JackSlater]

Stone was a finalist for the Calder last year and I believe last season after January he was top 5 in NHL scoring. Ottawa definitely plays an offensive system but he's still an excellent up and coming young player.

I like Stone a lot, particularly because he's a two way winger. A rare spot that Canada is usually short at. He's far from a lock at this point though. If he continues to develop he'll be on the shortlist for best defensive forwards in hockey, and if he's scoring 30 goals per year... that's certainly attractive.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

I don't see this player slowing down, he'll be the Niedermayer come 2018.

Patrick Marleau will be in Pyeongchang. He's sooooooooooooooooooooo good it's scary, he's still a top 10 skater in the league, he's has the Niedermayer stride for the forward position. It's a treat to watch him play and just never slow down.

And yah he's a lock for this exhibition cash grab cup as well.

 

[NewHabsEra*]

Hall Crosby Stamkos

Benn Seguin Stone

Giroux Tavares Nash

Bergeron Toews Ladd

extra: Carter Eberle

Keith Subban/Doughty

Giordano Pietrangelo

Vlasic Weber

extra: Subban/Doughty Brodie

Price
Luongo
Smith

 

[xxxx]

I must say, our goaltending is very good now...

Price, Holtby, Luongo, Crawford, Fleury, Dubnyk, Jones, Smith..

 

[MNRube]

Tavares - Toews - Girioux
Benn - Bergeron - Seguin
Stone - Crosby - Stamkos
Schwartz - Johansen - MacKinnon

Keith - Doughty
Weber - Subban
Giordano - Pietrangelo

Price
Who Cares

That's about what I would do as an American. Went with a young, quick 4th line for energy. Love RyJo and Schwartz and think both would be look a long look over a guy like Nash. Also as someone mentioned earlier Stone is the real deal, he is going to be a household name and Team Canada would be smart to give him a look. His playmaking and defensive acumen are a great fit with the speed and skill they have up front. Probably have some glaring omissions but oh well.

 

[jersey1302]

TBH I could not care any less about this tournament. The format is completely bogus, instills zero national pride..can't wait to tell my grand kids (not like I'm having any) about when the world cup came back and Canada hosted it and Canada played north america in the finals and lost but its kind of okay because half of the other team was Canadian anyways.. gee great story... you cant even have the roster you want because of them making up new teams. I hope this tourney crashes and loses all kinds of money so they realize how ridiculous they were for even trying to toy with the format. Its like FIFA telling Brazil and Mexico to combine young star players and having the rest of European teams like Russia, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Germany having to sacrifice their young starts to compete on one separate team. I can't believe this even was approved to be a real competition.

Sorry I know this had nothing to do with the roster but I couldn't find any other topic to post this under haha. *venting done*

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

McJesus must be thrilled he'll be playing with his enemy instead of his childhood hero.

Can't wait to see Crosby and McDavid on the same team in 2018.

Smaller version of 99 & 66 1987 version all over again perhaps 31 years later.

 

[xxxx]

This is my take on the best possible roster Canada could ice, including under-24 players, and it would be for September 2016. I did two teams (Team A, Team B).


Team Canada

G: Carey Price, Braden Holtby, Corey Crawford

D: Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, P.K. Subban, Shea Weber, Brent Burns, Alex Pietrangelo, Marc-Edouard Vlasic

F: Patrice Bergeron, Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Connor McDavid, John Tavares, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Bryan Little, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Claude Giroux, Taylor Hall







I would pick these 23 players (which is the highest number you can pick btw). I think Little deserves a place on this roster, great overall player that would complement possible line-mates in Toews and Giroux, also great overall players, really well.

The latest cuts: IN: Hall, Little, Giroux / Vlasic; OUT: Carter, Nash, Toffoli, Marleau / Giordano
(exactly in that order; those menitoned first were either the last pick for the team, or the last cut.)


Tyler Toffoli is under the radar, but he already scored 7 times in 9 games this season for the Los Angeles Kings (2nd best goal-scorer in the league), while providing solid defence, and playing SH situations. I suggested him a year ago, and I think he has a chance, depending how he continues to play in this season. He can score goals and kill penalties, which is quite valuable. He already played in a similar role with the golden Team Canada in Prague, at the 2015 World Championships.






Team B


G: Marc-André Fleury, Roberto Luongo, Devan Dubnyk

D: Mark Giordano, Brent Seabrook, Jake Muzzin, Kris Letang, Jay Bouwmeester, T.J. Brodie, Tyler Myers

F: RYan O'Reilly, Sean Monahan, Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Jason Spezza, Tyler Toffoli, James Neal, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Andrew Ladd, Rick Nash, Jeff Carter

 

[JackSlater]

This is my take on the best possible roster Canada could ice, including under-24 players, and it would be for September 2016. I did two teams (Team A, Team B).


Team Canada

G: Carey Price, Braden Holtby, Corey Crawford

D: Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, P.K. Subban, Shea Weber, Brent Burns, Alex Pietrangelo, Marc-Edouard Vlasic

F: Patrice Bergeron, Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Connor McDavid, John Tavares, Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Bryan Little, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Claude Giroux, Taylor Hall







I would pick these 23 players (which is the highest number you can pick btw). I think Little deserves a place on this roster, great overall player that would complement possible line-mates in Toews and Giroux, also great overall players, really well.

The latest cuts: IN: Hall, Little, Giroux / Vlasic; OUT: Carter, Nash, Toffoli, Marleau / Giordano
(exactly in that order; those menitoned first were either the last pick for the team, or the last cut.)


Tyler Toffoli is under the radar, but he has already scored 7 times in 9 games this season for the Los Angeles Kings (2nd best goal-scorer in the league), while providing solid defence, and playing SH situations. I suggested him a year ago, and I think he has a chance, depending how he continues to play in this season. He can score goals and kill penalties, which is quite valuable. He already played in a similar role with the golden Team Canada in Prague, at the 2015 World Championships.






Team B


G: Marc-André Fleury, Roberto Luongo, Devan Dubnyk

D: Mark Giordano, Brent Seabrook, Jake Muzzin, Kris Letang, Jay Bouwmeester, T.J. Brodie, Tyler Myers

F: RYan O'Reilly, Sean Monahan, Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Jason Spezza, Tyler Toffoli, James Neal, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, Andrew Ladd, Rick Nash, Jeff Carter

That's pretty good. I would replace Little with either MacKinnon (playing well despite the tire fire in Colorado) or O'Reilly, depending if you want a more offensive or defensive team.