WJC: 2025 Team Canada Roster Talk

[TheBeastCoast]

Maybe behind closed doors it was a different story, but the way he so ardently defended their philosophy, process and selections publicly would make me want to move off him. His work and accomplishments in the past are appreciated, but he seemed to be one of the main proponents of a roster building philosophy that was not fit for purpose

I think he has a strong enough recent history of identifying elite talent that I'm not ready to write him off after just this tournament. Get rid of absolutely everyone else involved with this year, give him a different mandate and see how next year goes.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Dude wouldn't change a thing, even after the benefit of hindsight and seeing how things worked out. Exhibit A for why he was never qualified to be the GM of the team in the first place.

Can we include voting out the Hockey Canada GM in our next election ballot!
Hockey is what unify Canada from coast to coast and junior hockey is our sacred crown, let all canadians decide on who should make the decision.
I am sure any GM that guarantee that the selection will be based on skill and talent would be voted in by 99% of all canadians.

 

[Mehar]

Can we include voting out the Hockey Canada GM in our next election ballot!
Hockey is what unify Canada from coast to coast and junior hockey is our sacred crown, let all canadians decide on who should make the decision.
I am sure any GM that guarantee that the selection will be based on skill and talent would be voted in by 99% of all canadians.

99% of all Canadians would not have left the third overall pick in the draft Sennecke off this team. I am still dumbfounded how these clowns at Hockey Canada left Three Top Ten Picks- Sennecke, Yakemchuk, Parekh off this team.

You had an offensive talent like Misa (a Top 5 Pick in the draft this year) not on the team also. They were a couple of players also who I thought would make it like Andrew Cristall. Just a disgraceful job by these clowns, who thought that guys with 'Grit' over actual offensive talent is what they needed.

 

[JackSlater]

Button made a good point, you had two extra roster spots compared to prior years with alternates being allowed to be subbed in and out of the lineup, why wouldn't you bring Cristall and Parekh? Even if you think for some reason that they are auto goals against on the ice, it's clear once the powerplay isn't great that they'd be good players to sub into a lineup to put out there. Would love to see what goes in Dave Cameron's mind to believe Oliver Bonk QB'ing a powerplay is a better option than Zayne Parekh.

Parekh just needs to be there. That's an inexcusable omission. This isn't the Stanley Cup Finals, it's a junior tournament. Those rover defensemen like ASP for Sweden, C. Hutson for USA... they're gamebreakers in this event.

Let me channel team Canada general manager Peter Anholt for a moment....

"That's uhh not really how it works".

Bringing offensive players doesn't lead to goals. And never forget that practice also doesn't lead to cohesion.

Interviews sound better today. Finally reading the room it seems.

Excellent that they are being held to the fire to some degree. Not enough though, Salmond should be fired. But it sounds like a start at least. Wheeler also asked them about picking NCAA players, and to my surprise Salmond even mentioned the perception that they more or less don't take NCAA players except as a last resort.

 

[JackSlater]

The post game TSN panel where they led off with the penalty call over shadowed the bigger point which was it should never have gotten to the point where that penalty made the difference between the medal round and getting out early. This started with a questionable selection camp roster and continued with poor coaching and sub par play.

Yeah regardless of the refs, who were not all that different from typical IIHF refs, Canada should not have been in a position where one goal decides the game with that Czech team or where Canada has to chase the whole game. Just like Canada should not be in a position to be close to Latvia, or play a close game with Germany, or lose by three to that American team. The party line seems to be that Canada just had some bad luck but that wasn't the case.

Maybe behind closed doors it was a different story, but the way he so ardently defended their philosophy, process and selections publicly would make me want to move off him. His work and accomplishments in the past are appreciated, but he seemed to be one of the main proponents of a roster building philosophy that was not fit for purpose

I was fine with Murray staying due to his track record... until watching that little press conference. He didn't sound like a guy who recognized the very obvious flaws in the team. His only defence would be that of the three stooges, he was the shell shocked one. Anholt was just stupid and Salmond was busy scrambling for cover.

 

[FinPanda]

I thought it's crazy that best Canadian is 58th in scoring.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Let me channel team Canada general manager Peter Anholt for a moment....

"That's uhh not really how it works".

Bringing offensive players doesn't lead to goals. And never forget that practice also doesn't lead to cohesion.


Excellent that they are being held to the fire to some degree. Not enough though, Salmond should be fired. But it sounds like a start at least. Wheeler also asked them about picking NCAA players, and to my surprise Salmond even mentioned the perception that they more or less don't take NCAA players except as a last resort.

Explains why they left off Hage. He's right there with Perreault, Hagens, and Leonard in scoring in the NCAA. Crazy to me they left him off.

 

[JackSlater]

Explains why they left off Hage. He's right there with Perreault, Hagens, and Leonard in scoring in the NCAA. Crazy to me they left him off.

It's not even that he didn't make the team to me, it's that he couldn't even get a camp invite. Hage has it against him that he didn't go through the u18 "program" that Salmond and company get so hot and bothered over. Absolutely ridiculous that he was not at the camp. Of course, as we saw with Sennecke attending the camp and playing well likely would not have gotten him onto the team anyway.

I'm going to add here a longer version of Salmond's statement from the second press conference regarding changes to the team selection process:

"We’re going to take some time to reflect on that. I think it’s early to talk specifics about change. But you know you also don’t change just for the sake of change. I think Kathy alluded to the fact that we have some great opportunities for change ahead of us with that great crop of players who are coming up through U17, U18. We’ll look at our selection process for sure, we’ll look at how we build teams, and we’ve done that in the past – we’ve had a model historically where we’ve built teams based on some sort of a ghost roster where we had skilled players we had checking players and we had players who brought energy. And I talked to Doug Armstrong about this and he asked what lessons we’ve learned about team building, and he knows more about this than me. But you know, skill. And I think we’ll be criticized and we should be criticized about how this team was constructed. I accept that. But the irony is that you never know. I mean you could have took different players and had the same result. At the end of the day we’re committed to success, we’re committed to a process, and so more than anything we need to look at the process not just the result. And we need to make changes to that to improve, and we do that win or lose. But we’ll spend a little more time, and we’ll dig a little deeper into what that looks like this year so that we’re better prepared for next year."

Anyway, Hage and Boisvert should be very strong contenders for the team next year. And if any star CHLers go to the NCAA next year they should be given the exact same consideration as if they had stayed in the CHL.

 

[Svedu]

Even if I believe the US will win 6-2 tonight. If they don't? Canada is the only nation who won against Finland and they did it by completely destroying us in the first game. Let's not forget that. Also, both teams from the same group are now in the final. And if the Czechs wins the bronze? Then you only struggled against two medalists and won against another...

 

[JimmyApples]

It’s quite concerning to see the coach’s comments and the management backing up him and the selection process. Just admit you made some mistakes and do better next time.

Even if I believe the US will win 6-2 tonight. If they don't? Canada is the only nation who won against Finland and they did it by completely destroying us in the first game. Let's not forget that. Also, both teams from the same group are now in the final. And if the Czechs wins the bronze? Then you only struggled against two medalists and won against another...

Canada lost to Latvia and struggled against Germany, too.

 

[wickedwitch]

The quote about the NCAA is interesting:

I think there’s always been this perception that Hockey Canada tends to exclude an NCAA player. That’s not at all true. It takes the best players. Could it change? It’s so new that I’m not sure what it will look like. But I can guarantee it that if there’s more players in the NCAA then we’ll spend more time watching them. I still believe that the best players tend to play in the CHL and that’s indicative of what the roster has been traditionally but we’ve also been open minded in the past. Bradly Nadeau never played in the CHL. So we’re looking at the best players and wherever they are, it’s our job to find them.

It very much implies that they don't spend much time watching the NCAA. Which is... a choice.

But also, there's clearly the thinking that if a player was good, they would have played in the CHL so if a player chooses otherwise, they must not be good.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

The quote about the NCAA is interesting:


It very much implies that they don't spend much time watching the NCAA. Which is... a choice.

But also, there's clearly the thinking that if a player was good, they would have played in the CHL so if a player chooses otherwise, they must not be good.

Comes off like an unintentional bias. Like they might not be intentionally excluding NCAA players but if you watch CHL players 5x more then the NCAA players you are going to obviously have more of a familiarity with what they do compared to the player in College.

 

[brentashton]

Just listened to Friedman’s 32 Thoughts after the Chechia loss. That fool has lost his mind.

He’s a non committal NHL insider (they might do this or that or maybe nothing at all) and now he is the chief apologist for Hockey Canada. After SN loses their broadcast rights, I fully expect to see him in their employ.

Used to think he was ok, but he has deteriorated greatly.

 

[bobber]

Let me channel team Canada general manager Peter Anholt for a moment....

"That's uhh not really how it works".

Bringing offensive players doesn't lead to goals. And never forget that practice also doesn't lead to cohesion.


Excellent that they are being held to the fire to some degree. Not enough though, Salmond should be fired. But it sounds like a start at least. Wheeler also asked them about picking NCAA players, and to my surprise Salmond even mentioned the perception that they more or less don't take NCAA players except as a last resort.

Imagine a Salmon taking us for Suckers.