Canada has the same weaknesses as it did at the beginning of the tournament, and the shameful lack of discipline is a new wrinkle that has crept up. Same strengths... or strength... too, to be fair. I fully expect Cameron and Anholt to wave away the problems again when interviewed and say that everything is fine. The way that Hockey Canada is constructing these teams is awful and that the team sometimes wins in spite of that does not make it acceptable. There was no need to bring Cameron back, and Anholt is a moron, and we know that Salmond doesn't have a clue.
Canada still plays with an amazing lack of cohesion on offence as well as a clear lack of creativity. You can only score a limited number of goals from a high number of long bad angle shots. It maybe isn't shocking that the two most talented forwards, McKenna and Catton, tend to generate the most dangerous chances. The lower end forwards mostly lack an identity and are pretty pointless on the team. Beaudoin has been ok and Luchanko looks a lot better than he did early on but that's the best you can say. Schaefer being out is a big problem. Ritchie and Cowan are nice depth options but are sub standard for first line threats. Dickinson is very clearly not as good as Schaefer, regardless of how many points he has in London, and is too slow in his decision making and in reacting to players blowing by him.
I am sure I am in the minority but I do think that this team is salvageable. It is still important that this team does defend very well at even strength and that George is a good goaltender. Honestly I do not think that any team is all that difficult in this tournament. Canada faced early versions of Czechia and Sweden before the tournament and they weren't that noteworthy, Finland was not so good, and really USA wasn't either. I'd say that Canada outplayed USA at even strength and I'd give good odds in a rematch. Of course Canada can lose to any of those teams, but a narrow path is there.
I can't pretend to know what they can fix in such a short span. Look to build on strengths mainly. The team is defending well at even strength and will need to ride that. Catton and McKenna are threatening, so get them a RW who can complement them and let Pinelli take the role he was destind for all along as a sparkplug fourth liner. Cameron is scratching the RW who makes the most sense in that role. The idiotic penalties need to stop. They aren't even penalties derived from playing hard, most of the penalties against USA were completely avoidable idiocy. It's a sad state of affairs but Canada can beat any team in this tournament if it stays out of the penalty box. The Ritchie line isn't especially threatening, so I'd honestly divide ice time more evenly so that the team can at least consistently play a high pressure game with fresh skaters, maybe some extra time to Catton's line.
Never.
