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WJC: 2025 Team Canada Roster Talk

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This is a good-looking team, though I’ll hold off on heaping too much praise on them until I see them play Sweden on Saturday.

Loved Molendyk and Schaefer on D. Loved the Ritchie and Catton lines, those two centres and Cowan in particular. Beaudoin was able to assert himself physically and made a few strong drives to the net. Yager was good, as was Howe. Thought the rant of the bottom 6 guys ranged from meh to just not very good. Mckenna was electric when he was on the ice. He turned the puck over in the d-zone in his first or second shift and I thought we’d seen the last of him, but every shift after that he was noticeable in a good way.

Gibson was physical, and i thought Akey played a safe, solid game with Schaefer. The rest of the D were ok. Price mishandled the puck often, I suspect because he played some of the game on his wrong side. He was an adventure in the d-zone at times.
 
I thought that Canada looked as good as could be expected for their first time out together. Really unsure what someone could be furious about? I've watched for a long time, and it's very evident in the pre-tournament when the team is lacking that "it" factor. I believe this team exudes it this year, so much confidence, clear blooming chemistry, offensive punch and the most important, a distinct style. Canada is very high on their fast skating, puck moving, blueline, and used them last night.
 
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joeyrikley said:
I thought that Canada looked as good as could be expected for their first time out together. Really unsure what someone could be furious about? I've watched for a long time, and it's very evident in the pre-tournament when the team is lacking that "it" factor. I believe this team exudes it this year, so much confidence, clear blooming chemistry, offensive punch and the most important, a distinct style. Canada is very high on their fast skating, puck moving, blueline, and used them last night.
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I agree that the signs from that game were good, while conceding that we can't take all that much from pre-tournament games. It did look like Canada was fairly cohesive with a coherent strategy, which is good. The use of the defenceman was noticeable.
 
joeyrikley said:
I thought that Canada looked as good as could be expected for their first time out together. Really unsure what someone could be furious about? I've watched for a long time, and it's very evident in the pre-tournament when the team is lacking that "it" factor. I believe this team exudes it this year, so much confidence, clear blooming chemistry, offensive punch and the most important, a distinct style. Canada is very high on their fast skating, puck moving, blueline, and used them last night.
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I think you really nailed it with this post. Sure, there were some big player omissions, but there were always going to be. The team they have is fast and talented… and deep enough that we are scratching dmen that are among the league scoring leaders and making a hockey phenom the 13th forward (that won’t last, by the way). Sure, the coaching isn’t great, but I honestly feel like anyone on this forum could coach this team to gold. :laugh:
 
I think you also have to pleased with our development system as well, there are some crazy talented, very high IQ players all throughout the lineup.
 
NordiquesForeva said:
Howe played really well last night. Albeit it was only 1 game, I think he's in the process of proving that he belongs on the team. I was a lot more impressed with Howe last night than I was with Cataford and Gauthier.
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Yeah, I agree, I had no issues with him last night. And Yep Cat and Gauthier were nothing to write home about.They were basically just out there taking a shift.


You know who I liked out there? the Beaudoin kid, threw some good checks and came hard with good pace. Hopefully he keeps that up.
 
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Rabid Ranger said:
Legends like Cameron get off on stuff like that. You can see the gleam in their eye.
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It was just the classic. 7-1, starting goaltender didn't allow a goal, one player had a hat trick, two defencemen were buzzing, and the only selected highlight was Howe tracking after the game was well in hand. Not that there is anything wrong with it and Howe was perfectly fine, but given Howe's lock status it cracked me up.
 
The team looked good and I think the team is very strong overall even with some iffy picks. There were a lot of positives but it was one game against a team they are expected to beat, plus the score was 4-0 pretty much right away. The game on Saturday against Sweden will be a better test.
 
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Digital Dog said:
Molendyk has been so high in Hockey Canada's estimations and this period certainly tallys
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Should be high on everyone’s tally’s. An elite D man.

hockey20000 said:
they didn't look that bad lol settle down
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Some people do nothing but crap on Canada, think it makes them look smart and impartial. The hand wringing over this team is out of control. Canadas worst line would be hyped as most countries top line. We split hairs over players and end up severely underrating guys like Gauthier and treat them like they’re nothing but crap, despite him being a first round pick. If he was on Czechia people would be using a guy like him to try and argue they’re better than Canada.
 
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JackSlater said:
Cameron told TSN that a highlight for him was "Howie" tracking back hard when the team was up 7-1.

Are we certain that Tanner Howe is not Cameron's grandson or something?
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I thought both Howe and Cataford has solid games and we’re all over the puck on the forecheck. Both won a lot of battles, races to pucks and were tracking well all night. You need guys like this when you play the USA, who are going to challenge us and make us work defensively. All the young and TikTok fans says well let’s just have the puck the entire game and problem solved, but that’s not the reality. We’ll have to defend, and these two are very good at it. Howe has a very admirable work ethic and his attention to detail is high end. Cataford is like a Hyman at this level, hard and fast in straight lines, never takes a shift off, goes hard into the corners and to the net. Very happy with their performance last night.
 
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Leviathan899 said:
Should be high on everyone’s tally’s. An elite D man.


Some people do nothing but crap on Canada, think it makes them look smart and impartial. The hand wringing over this team is out of control. Canadas worst line would be hyped as most countries top line. We split hairs over players and end up severely underrating guys like Gauthier and treat them like they’re nothing but crap, despite him being a first round pick. If he was on Czechia people would be using a guy like him to try and argue they’re better than Canada.
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Gauthier is simply worse than Misa in every aspect of the game, to pick an individual example. We’re stuck with these guys and when the tournament gets underway I’m fully committed to the team, but it’s simply getting exhausting to see management and coaching hamstring us year in and year out with objectively stupid decisions. There’s a half-dozen guys on the roster with no business being there, and now our best forward and best defenseman are on the outside looking in for ice time. It’s just tiring. f*** the brass.
 
joeyrikley said:
I thought that Canada looked as good as could be expected for their first time out together. Really unsure what someone could be furious about? I've watched for a long time, and it's very evident in the pre-tournament when the team is lacking that "it" factor. I believe this team exudes it this year, so much confidence, clear blooming chemistry, offensive punch and the most important, a distinct style. Canada is very high on their fast skating, puck moving, blueline, and used them last night.
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Great post. Of course we don’t know how this tournament will play out but this team is as good as any Canada has had in some time and clearly capable of winning it all. Every year they disappoint, you can see it in their pre tournament games, not looking sharp or struggling to come together.
 
Dominance said:
Gauthier is simply worse than Misa in every aspect of the game, to pick an individual example. We’re stuck with these guys and when the tournament gets underway I’m fully committed to the team, but it’s simply getting exhausting to see management and coaching hamstring us year in and year out with objectively stupid decisions. There’s a half-dozen guys on the roster with no business being there, and now our best forward and best defenseman are on the outside looking in for ice time. It’s just tiring. f*** the brass.
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In a role where you’re going to play 12-13 minutes and be expected to go up against the likes of Perrault, Leonard, Hagens, get minimal PP time and be expected to kill penalties, I’ll take Gauthier’s skill set over Misa all day long. Is Misa the more skilled player with higher upside? Of course, but he wouldn’t be playing that role here. You’re entitled to your opinion but I flat out disagree with you on this. Gauthier is a more physical, defensively responsible player and he’s also still skilled, can score goals.
 
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Leviathan899 said:
I thought both Howe and Cataford has solid games and we’re all over the puck on the forecheck. Both won a lot of battles, races to pucks and were tracking well all night. You need guys like this when you play the USA, who are going to challenge us and make us work defensively. All the young and TikTok fans says well let’s just have the puck the entire game and problem solved, but that’s not the reality. We’ll have to defend, and these two are very good at it. Howe has a very admirable work ethic and his attention to detail is high end. Cataford is like a Hyman at this level, hard and fast in straight lines, never takes a shift off, goes hard into the corners and to the net. Very happy with their performance last night.
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I agree with you on Howe, I thought he was really solid, but respectfully disagree on Cataford. Aside from a strong shift early in the game - it may have been his first - I thought he looked somewhat disinterested and wasn't as engaged as I would have liked to have seen him. Same for Gauthier.

Now, having said all that, that was their first game, and they were playing Switzerland. Players in those roles don't tend to shine in 7-1 blowouts. I'm confident that Cataford's and Gauthier's true value to the team will start to show itself against stronger opposition; maybe we'll start seeing it tomorrow night vs. a tougher opponent in Sweden.
 
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