WJC: 2023 Team Canada Roster Talk

[JackSlater]

What? no more expanded 25 man rosters? that sucks.

I've consistently read 23 man roster. I rather the 25 but I'll live. Looking forward to seeing how this team takes shape.

 

[Statsy]

It's official!

 

[Hogan20]

 

[GermanSpitfire]

There it is - sucks that Columbus has been ravaged by injury‘s. I think there was a legitimate chance Sillinger would have been loaned out otherwise.

 

[BerthMania]

Here's my projected line up then. what do you think?

Stankoven - Bedard - Guenther
Othmann - Wright - Fantili
Roy - Beck - Bolduc
Ostapchuck - Kidney/Dean - Gaucher

Clarke - Matier
Zellweger - Del Mastro
Korchinski - Allen

3 good mix of offensive and defensive D

 

[Alberta tough]

Here's my projected line up then. what do you think?

Stankoven - Bedard - Guenther
Othmann - Wright - Fantili
Roy - Beck - Bolduc
Ostapchuck - Kidney/Dean - Gaucher

Clarke - Matier
Zellweger - Del Mastro
Korchinski - Allen

3 good mix of offensive and defensive D

Why would you want so many players playing out of position?

 

[Dominance]

Team is looking f***ing insane. The reunion of Wright, Othmann, and Clarke is fun.

Othmann-Wright-Bolduc
Fantilli-Stankoven-Bedard
Dean-Beck-Roy
Ostapchuk-Gaucher-Dumais
Kidney

Guenther on top would just be ridiculous.

Lambos-Clarke
Del Mastro-Zellweger
Korchinski-Allan
Matier

Defense is outrageous with a truly elite puckmover/playmaker matched with an elite defender on each pair.

Not too sure about the goalies, but who really cares? With some Team Canada squads, it’s gold medal game or bust; this time it’s truly gold medal or bust.

Update. Holy f*** this team is otherworldly besides the black hole in net.

Othmann-Wright-Bedard
Fantilli-Stankoven-Guenther
Bolduc-Beck-Roy
Ostapchuk-Gaucher-Dumais
Dean

Lambos-Clarke
Del Mastro-Zellweger
Korchinski-Allan
Matier

Look at those forward lines. Every single one of them will be playing in front of an elite transition guy in Clarke, Zellweger, and Korchinski, the whole damn game.

 

[BerthMania]

Why would you want so many players playing out of position?

Honestly I just know which players are wingers and centers, I don't know if players are LW or RW. How would you modify the lines? I'm curious.

 

[Gold Standard]

Update. Holy f*** this team is otherworldly besides the black hole in net.

Othmann-Wright-Bedard
Fantilli-Stankoven-Guenther
Bolduc-Beck-Roy
Ostapchuk-Gaucher-Dumais
Dean

Lambos-Clarke
Del Mastro-Zellweger
Korchinski-Allan
Matier

Look at those forward lines. Every single one of them will be playing in front of an elite transition guy in Clarke, Zellweger, and Korchinski, the whole damn game.

I'm down to win 7 games by a 6-5 score. It's going to be a marvelous Christmas.

 

[Alberta tough]

Honestly I just know which players are wingers and centers, I don't know if players are LW or RW. How would you modify the lines? I'm curious.

No problem. Just have a look at some of the other posts and you will have a better idea of where they should be positioned.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

Honestly I just know which players are wingers and centers, I don't know if players are LW or RW. How would you modify the lines? I'm curious.

Get a feel for how the guys on TSN talk about the team and construct their projected lineup. Take a look at eliteprospects.com for a brief scouting report on the player and their skillset, their position and handedness, and their stats with their junior/college team.

Canada usually builds from the center out, and they almost always take centers and convert them to the wing, instead of taking all natural wingers - e.g., in a group of 13 forwards, Canada will usually have 7 to 9 centers, and the rest natural wingers. For which wing position the player would line up at, its almost always safe to assume LHS at LW or RHS at RW, unless the player as a clear preference and demonstrated ability to play on his off-wing. In terms of center vs. winger skillset, at a high-level centers are the main play drivers and puck distributors on their line, while shooters line up on the wing. Centers assume the primary defensive responsibility on their line, so you will likely see someone like Bedard at RW this tournament, to allow him to focus on offense with Wright, a solid 200-foot player, at C. For any centers that get shifted to the wing for this tournament, I would assume that they would be the ones with a shooting or goal-scoring bias in their game or are seen as a little weaker defensively relative to the other centers.

And for line composition, it varies at the junior level but for this particular tournament I think we'll see Canada run with 2 really strong scoring lines, one line that can play tough minutes against the opponent's best offensive line (but be good enough offensively to keep the opponent on their heels), and a fourth line with the remaining forwards that can complement the others - maybe another scorer, a more physical guy, a versatile center that can convert to the wing, a really good PKer or a good faceoff guy (or ideally a mixture thereof). At the 4th line level, its really about who impresses the coaching staff at camp and adding some specific attributes or abilities to the team, and I wouldn't necessarily expect them to see all that much ice time.

 

[Halfy]

We all know HC will have some surprises. Wouldn’t be shocked to see Fantilli cut or something. However: this would be my team

Othmann-Wright-Guenther
(keep the nhl guys together, since they’re already used to that style, and have a dominant 1st line, plus reunite the Flyers kids)

Fantilli-Stankoven-Bedard
(Fantilli played with Bedard U18 why break that up, and Stankoven completes the second super line, good luck matching)

Then have the bottom 6 some mix of
Roy, Beck, Ostapchuk, Gaucher, Bolduc, Kidney/Schaefer/Dean (all are pretty even for me)
Dumais as 13th forward in case you need more offence somehow.

Korchinski-Allan (LH)
Zellweger - Matier
Lambos - Clarke
Del Mastro

Milic starter
Gaudreau

 

[Statsy]

We all know HC will have some surprises. Wouldn’t be shocked to see Fantilli cut or something. However: this would be my team

Othmann-Wright-Guenther
(keep the nhl guys together, since they’re already used to that style, and have a dominant 1st line, plus reunite the Flyers kids)

Fantilli-Stankoven-Bedard
(Fantilli played with Bedard U18 why break that up, and Stankoven completes the second super line, good luck matching)

Then have the bottom 6 some mix of
Roy, Beck, Ostapchuk, Gaucher, Bolduc, Kidney/Schaefer/Dean (all are pretty even for me)
Dumais as 13th forward in case you need more offence somehow.

Korchinski-Allan (LH)
Zellweger - Matier
Lambos - Clarke
Del Mastro

Milic starter
Gaudreau

You just nailed what I think we should do for the top two lines. The other two lines are less important but will obviously have a nice mix of scorers and versatile guys that are just tough to play against.

With Zellweger having been so impactful at the summer tourney, I think you have to have him tops in the pecking order of our D. Korchinski/Allan probably move to the third pairing (That's one hell of a third pairing, though).

This PP is likely going to be treading in the 50% territory. What an insane forward corps we have this year!

Hopefully one of our goalies really steps up. Definitely the Achilles heal of the team on paper.

 

[Halfy]

You just nailed what I think we should do for the top two lines. The other two lines are less important but will obviously have a nice mix of scorers and versatile guys that are just tough to play against.

With Zellweger having been so impactful at the summer tourney, I think you have to have him tops in the pecking order of our D. Korchinski/Allan probably move to the third pairing (That's one hell of a third pairing, though).

This PP is likely going to be treading in the 50% territory. What an insane forward corps we have this year!

Hopefully one of our goalies really steps up. Definitely the Achilles heal of the team on paper.

Yeah I wasn’t really trying to lay out the D pairs in order. Think the talent is pretty evenly split this way

 

[DavidLamb]

It is now time to assess practice lines to determine who will stay on the team.
Here are the potential practice lines:

Team Red:
Othmann Wright Bedard/Guenther
Bolduc Bankier/Fantilli Roy
Schaeffer Dach Greene
Del Mastro Clarke
Lambos Matier
Nause

Team White:
Bankier/Fantilli Stankoven Guenther/Bedard
Kidney Beck Dumais
Ostapchuk Gaucher Dean

Allan Zellweger
Korchinski Samson
Hinds

We will see if which forwards/defense will have the adequate speed and skill to impress HC.

Forwards that will not stand out due to the speed of the game = Schaeffer, Greene, Kidney
Defense who are not able to move the puck from zone to zone = Hinds & Nause
Players with the most mistakes during practice games = Lambos, Kidney, Nause

 

[J bo Jeans]

This is one of the most stacked teams in a while.

So naturally we will be losing in the quarter finals

 

[Eternal Leaf]

Just a silly amount of offensive talent with Guenther in.

That top 6 will carve teams up.

 

[NewEraGM]

Could be 8-9 first round picks (past and future) and another 3-4 in 2nd round

Absolutely stacked.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

This team is ridiculous

Also, when did Canadian players get so underrated in the draft? Anyone else feel like the CHL is being under appreciated by scouts?

 

[SpoolCat]

Well a little bit surprising there was not that surprising a player named at least a contender by McKenzie I'd thought someone like Bankier might be that. But I guess not.

Some thoughts... I'm a bit surprised Othmann is not a lock I thought he was quite good in the summer.
Bit surprised that Riley Kidney wasn't even shown to be a contender. I think that's a good thing hopefully he can earn it.
Not crazy about Ostapchuk being locked in as a centre
I think the team should look like

Othmann Stankoven Bedard
Roy Wright Guenther
Bolduc Fantilli Dumais
Schaefer Gaucher Ostapchuk
Beck
Del Mastro Zellweger
Lambos Clarke
Korchinski Matier
Allan
Gaudreau
Milic
This is a very talented team. I'm excited to have a two headed dragon on defense in Clarke and Zellweger But they definitely could lose. Goaltending is huge issue. We just have to hope Gaudreau or Milic can hold us in. I still wonder about the coach Everett does well in the regular season but they are well known for choking in the playoffs including last year. I still think the 2019 team could have won gold but were hobbled by a terrible coach. Hopefully this doesn't happen again. Hopefully Dennis Williams is up to the task.

 

[SergeConstantin74]

I like his lines.

• Brennan Othmann – Shane Wright – Dylan Guenther
• Adam Fantilli – Connor Bedard – Logan Stankoven
• Joshua Roy – Nathan Gaucher – Zachary Bolduc
• Riley Kidney – Owen Beck – Zach Ostapchuk

Extras : Reid Schaefer et Ryan Greene

• Olen Zellweger – Brandt Clarke
• Kevin Korchinski – Carson Lambos
• Ethan Del Mastro – Nolan Allan

Extras : Tyson Hinds et Jack Matier

• Tyler Brennan
• Thomas Milic
• William Rousseau

Surprising picks in front of the net though. Gaudreau would be the obvious choice.

 

[PecnoTrunk]

This team is ridiculous

Also, when did Canadian players get so underrated in the draft? Anyone else feel like the CHL is being under appreciated by scouts?

Tsn pumping american players

Graig button , who I think is completely useless , is an American shill. Always trying to push American players. He loves his American players. He is the worst scout on tsn

I don’t know how he still has a job. Useless

 

[cmcneil02]

This tournament is going to be amazing.

The noise when Canada scores in a low-roof junior barn is going to be crazy. The addition of two NHL players just makes this team so stacked. Potentially the best roster they’ve had since 2015 if not better. The depth this team will possess will be firing at all cylinders and they don’t have Russia to deal with either. Shane Wright is coming to camp very hot right now, Guenther has 11pts in 21 games with Arizona, Brennan Othmann is going to carry, Bedard proving everyone wrong in Dec 2021, and getting invites to the BioSteel training camp and playing with NHL Players at 17. He’s a dominant force, he’s going to be flying. Olen Zellweger, Carson Lambos, and Brandt Clarke bringing the energy on the back end throwing dangerous shots to the net. We get to see Adam Fantilli on the biggest stage of his career thus far, he’s going to want to leave an impression. Joshua Roy has the opportunity to shine on the bottom pairings with some real good shutdown forwards. But GOALTENDING, man that’s a let down. Let’s keep our fingers crossed! Halifax, Nova Scotia baby. Going to be rocking!

 

[SergeConstantin74]

This tournament is going to be amazing.

The noise when Canada scores in a low-roof junior barn is going to be crazy. The addition of two NHL players just makes this team so stacked. Potentially the best roster they’ve had since 2015 if not better. The depth this team will possess will be firing at all cylinders and they don’t have Russia to deal with either. Shane Wright is coming to camp very hot right now, Guenther has 11pts in 21 games with Arizona, Brennan Othmann is going to carry, Bedard proving everyone wrong in Dec 2021, and getting invites to the BioSteel training camp and playing with NHL Players at 17. He’s a dominant force, he’s going to be flying. Olen Zellweger, Carson Lambos, and Brandt Clarke bringing the energy on the back end throwing dangerous shots to the net. We get to see Adam Fantilli on the biggest stage of his career thus far, he’s going to want to leave an impression. Joshua Roy has the opportunity to shine on the bottom pairings with some real good shutdown forwards. But GOALTENDING, man that’s a let down. Let’s keep our fingers crossed! Halifax, Nova Scotia baby. Going to be rocking!

Goaltending in Canada has been a let down for several years. That's why I could see a goalie like D'Aigle getting an invite as soon as next year.

 

[nbwingsfan]

How did Geekie not get invited?? He is better than Dach and Dumais.

Dumais is tiny and would need to play in the top 6 to have a role and that will not happen. Geekie is a solid big two way player who would have fit in the bottom 6. Another questionable decision by hockey Canada.

Canada doesn’t just do top 6 scorers and bottom 6 grinders. This idea needs to stop