Are we in Canada paranoid about 2026 or should we not be worried?

[Crosby2010]

A buddy of mine and I did a mock list of the 2026 Canadian Olympic team. I will say one thing, when Canada had 50-60% of the NHLers instead of, say, 40-45% they do in 2024 the names rolled off of your tongue a little easier. But we still put together a pretty good team for Canada in 2026:

Hyman-McDavid-Marner
Byfield-MacKinnon-Point
Reinhart-Bedard-Stamkos
Marchand-Crosby-Stone
Suzuki/Barzal

Toews-Makar
Theodore-Pietrangelo
Rielly-Bouchard
Dobson-Power

Hill
Jarry
Binnington/Skinner
(Hart, we'll see how things work out for him)


The names aren't really up for debate so much, we all do this on other threads, but it is just a bit of a base for you to see. Things can change, Lafreniere could really bust out, as could another draftee from 2020-'23 like Fantilli or so other names. To be honest there are a lot coming up the pipe right now where we are in a bit of a transition seeing some of the old guard leaving. It is hard to imagine some of them Olympians today, but in 2 years I think so.

But we both sort of felt that perhaps 10, 15, 20 years ago the names would have come easier for us to think about. You look at the defense of the 2002 team and it is incredible. 2010 had a wicked defense, 2014 did, 2016 did. Players like Letang never got on these teams. Even in net when Roy backed out in 2002 we had Brodeur, Joseph and Belfour. No problems there. Also there were legit guys like Burke, Potvin, Luongo, Theodore, Turco and even Osgood who could have easily been a legit 3rd stringer.

Now, with all of that being said, once we started comparing the Canadian roster to the ones of other countries there was a lot more optimism. Sweden, Czech and Finland all have plenty of holes in their rosters and don't have the star power or depth of Canada. Russia I personally hope is back to playing as it is not the same without them, but as usual their defense is suspect at best, and I was surprised that their forwards weren't as dangerous of a group as I thought they might be. As for goaltending, no contest for them. They beat any other country hands down with this. Vasi, Shesterkin and Bobrovsky are better than any of our best. But the team in front of them wouldn't be able to handle Canada's firepower.

That leaves the U.S. team, and a team that I will admit is closing the gap. The Americans' goalies trump ours. But our forwards are deeper and definitely have more high end to them. Imagine having McDavid, MacKinnon, Bedard and even Crosby as the lines you can roll down the middle. Imagine not finding room for Scheifele (although he could make it), Marchand (perhaps) and others. Marchand could be too old by then and not able to keep up, but there are plenty coming down the pipe that are replacing him. Even the defense, I think we have the best defense out of anyone, even the U.S. I think it relies heavily on Makar for instance and we don't have another guy like him, but who does? I like Quinn Hughes on the U.S. but I still take Makar.

Bottom line what I am saying is we as Canadians get this feeling that things are over for us. I don't know why, but we always do. And yet every other country would kill to have that roster and would freak out to be playing against that group of forwards and mobile defense on the back end. All of our goalies are good capable goalies, maybe not Vezina winners, but there won't be a shortage of at least good goalies to choose from. That's all we need.

The 2023 draft was Canadian-laden, the 2024 draft especially in the 1st round is at least half Canadians, and the 2020-'23 drafts have been loaded with talent that will be on these teams. Players we aren't thinking about yet too.

So do we get paranoid in Canada over this stuff too much? Not that we can't improve our program or anything but do we worry about it too much? I can already name for sure at least 10 players on that Canadian team destined for the Hall of Fame.

Click to read more...

 

[Crosby2010]

One last thing to mention, Canada is deep when it comes to centres, not just on this team but in the NHL overall. The best Canadians are usually centres. However, Canada has always had this problem. If you go back to 1976 there were some great players that were playing out of position on the wing that you couldn't leave off. 2010, 2014 and especially 2016 come to mind and we won all of those tournaments. Sometimes you can't leave a guy off if he is too good. I think Mike Keenan made this mistake with someone like Yzerman in 1991. Yes we still won, but for a guy like Yzerman at that stage of his career you put him on the team on the wing but in whatever way you have to.

2016 we had a total of two natural wingers among the forwards (Marchand and Perry) and it is worth noting that Perry was added only when Jeff Carter went down with an injury (although Jamie Benn was a natural winger and got hurt in a preseason game). So I honestly think if a player is good enough he can adjust to the wing. There are those that are good fits for that.

 

[ORRFForever]

A buddy of mine and I did a mock list of the 2026 Canadian Olympic team. I will say one thing, when Canada had 50-60% of the NHLers instead of, say, 40-45% they do in 2024 the names rolled off of your tongue a little easier. But we still put together a pretty good team for Canada in 2026:

Hyman-McDavid-Marner
Byfield-MacKinnon-Point
Reinhart-Bedard-Stamkos
Marchand-Crosby-Stone
Suzuki/Barzal

Toews-Makar
Theodore-Pietrangelo
Rielly-Bouchard
Dobson-Power

Hill
Jarry
Binnington/Skinner
(Hart, we'll see how things work out for him)


The names aren't really up for debate so much, we all do this on other threads, but it is just a bit of a base for you to see. Things can change, Lafreniere could really bust out, as could another draftee from 2020-'23 like Fantilli or so other names. To be honest there are a lot coming up the pipe right now where we are in a bit of a transition seeing some of the old guard leaving. It is hard to imagine some of them Olympians today, but in 2 years I think so.

But we both sort of felt that perhaps 10, 15, 20 years ago the names would have come easier for us to think about. You look at the defense of the 2002 team and it is incredible. 2010 had a wicked defense, 2014 did, 2016 did. Players like Letang never got on these teams. Even in net when Roy backed out in 2002 we had Brodeur, Joseph and Belfour. No problems there. Also there were legit guys like Burke, Potvin, Luongo, Theodore, Turco and even Osgood who could have easily been a legit 3rd stringer.

Now, with all of that being said, once we started comparing the Canadian roster to the ones of other countries there was a lot more optimism. Sweden, Czech and Finland all have plenty of holes in their rosters and don't have the star power or depth of Canada. Russia I personally hope is back to playing as it is not the same without them, but as usual their defense is suspect at best, and I was surprised that their forwards weren't as dangerous of a group as I thought they might be. As for goaltending, no contest for them. They beat any other country hands down with this. Vasi, Shesterkin and Bobrovsky are better than any of our best. But the team in front of them wouldn't be able to handle Canada's firepower.

That leaves the U.S. team, and a team that I will admit is closing the gap. The Americans' goalies trump ours. But our forwards are deeper and definitely have more high end to them. Imagine having McDavid, MacKinnon, Bedard and even Crosby as the lines you can roll down the middle. Imagine not finding room for Scheifele (although he could make it), Marchand (perhaps) and others. Marchand could be too old by then and not able to keep up, but there are plenty coming down the pipe that are replacing him. Even the defense, I think we have the best defense out of anyone, even the U.S. I think it relies heavily on Makar for instance and we don't have another guy like him, but who does? I like Quinn Hughes on the U.S. but I still take Makar.

Bottom line what I am saying is we as Canadians get this feeling that things are over for us. I don't know why, but we always do. And yet every other country would kill to have that roster and would freak out to be playing against that group of forwards and mobile defense on the back end. All of our goalies are good capable goalies, maybe not Vezina winners, but there won't be a shortage of at least good goalies to choose from. That's all we need.

The 2023 draft was Canadian-laden, the 2024 draft especially in the 1st round is at least half Canadians, and the 2020-'23 drafts have been loaded with talent that will be on these teams. Players we aren't thinking about yet too.

So do we get paranoid in Canada over this stuff too much? Not that we can't improve our program or anything but do we worry about it too much? I can already name for sure at least 10 players on that Canadian team destined for the Hall of Fame.

Re : "I don't know why, but we always do."

It's an insecurity thing and, yes, we always do.

As I mentioned elsewhere, in late 2023, posters were laughing at our stats and throwing dirt on Hockey Canada's grave. Now, mid March, last time I looked (2 days ago?), 23 of the Top 50 players were Canadian. 24 if you include Nylander. Also 7 of the Top 12 D-Men (points) were Canadian

As for you concerns : The garbage Canada produced from 2016 to 2019 cannot be underestimated. For 4 years in a row, Canada <bleeped> the bed. The players from those 4 drafts should be ashamed of themselves. If any other country had 4 horrific drafts like we did (in a row), they'd be a mess.

The players from those 4 drafts should be stepping up and replacing Marchand, Stamkos, Crosby and Bergeron. Instead, we're asking the Golden Generation to hold on for a few more years.

For Canada to have 4 drafts like that and still produce the best squad on paper speak volumes and is something we should be proud of.

 

[ORRFForever]

A buddy of mine and I did a mock list of the 2026 Canadian Olympic team. I will say one thing, when Canada had 50-60% of the NHLers instead of, say, 40-45% they do in 2024 the names rolled off of your tongue a little easier. But we still put together a pretty good team for Canada in 2026:

Hyman-McDavid-Marner
Byfield-MacKinnon-Point
Reinhart-Bedard-Stamkos
Marchand-Crosby-Stone
Suzuki/Barzal

Toews-Makar
Theodore-Pietrangelo
Rielly-Bouchard
Dobson-Power

Hill
Jarry
Binnington/Skinner
(Hart, we'll see how things work out for him)


The names aren't really up for debate so much, we all do this on other threads, but it is just a bit of a base for you to see. Things can change, Lafreniere could really bust out, as could another draftee from 2020-'23 like Fantilli or so other names. To be honest there are a lot coming up the pipe right now where we are in a bit of a transition seeing some of the old guard leaving. It is hard to imagine some of them Olympians today, but in 2 years I think so.

But we both sort of felt that perhaps 10, 15, 20 years ago the names would have come easier for us to think about. You look at the defense of the 2002 team and it is incredible. 2010 had a wicked defense, 2014 did, 2016 did. Players like Letang never got on these teams. Even in net when Roy backed out in 2002 we had Brodeur, Joseph and Belfour. No problems there. Also there were legit guys like Burke, Potvin, Luongo, Theodore, Turco and even Osgood who could have easily been a legit 3rd stringer.

Now, with all of that being said, once we started comparing the Canadian roster to the ones of other countries there was a lot more optimism. Sweden, Czech and Finland all have plenty of holes in their rosters and don't have the star power or depth of Canada. Russia I personally hope is back to playing as it is not the same without them, but as usual their defense is suspect at best, and I was surprised that their forwards weren't as dangerous of a group as I thought they might be. As for goaltending, no contest for them. They beat any other country hands down with this. Vasi, Shesterkin and Bobrovsky are better than any of our best. But the team in front of them wouldn't be able to handle Canada's firepower.

That leaves the U.S. team, and a team that I will admit is closing the gap. The Americans' goalies trump ours. But our forwards are deeper and definitely have more high end to them. Imagine having McDavid, MacKinnon, Bedard and even Crosby as the lines you can roll down the middle. Imagine not finding room for Scheifele (although he could make it), Marchand (perhaps) and others. Marchand could be too old by then and not able to keep up, but there are plenty coming down the pipe that are replacing him. Even the defense, I think we have the best defense out of anyone, even the U.S. I think it relies heavily on Makar for instance and we don't have another guy like him, but who does? I like Quinn Hughes on the U.S. but I still take Makar.

Bottom line what I am saying is we as Canadians get this feeling that things are over for us. I don't know why, but we always do. And yet every other country would kill to have that roster and would freak out to be playing against that group of forwards and mobile defense on the back end. All of our goalies are good capable goalies, maybe not Vezina winners, but there won't be a shortage of at least good goalies to choose from. That's all we need.

The 2023 draft was Canadian-laden, the 2024 draft especially in the 1st round is at least half Canadians, and the 2020-'23 drafts have been loaded with talent that will be on these teams. Players we aren't thinking about yet too.

So do we get paranoid in Canada over this stuff too much? Not that we can't improve our program or anything but do we worry about it too much? I can already name for sure at least 10 players on that Canadian team destined for the Hall of Fame.

Re : "The 2023 draft was Canadian-laden, the 2024 draft especially in the 1st round is at least half Canadians, and the 2020-'23 drafts have been loaded with talent that will be on these teams. Players we aren't thinking about yet too."

From the 2020 draft on, we are more than fine. In fact, we are doing GREAT. And yes, the 2024 draft will be outstanding for Canada.

Remember, everything goes in cycles and other countries will have bad drafts - maybe 4 bad drafts in a row. When that time comes, expect Canada to jump ahead.

P.S. When Canada was <bleeping> the bed from 2016 - 2019, the U.S. was having some of their best drafts. 2016 is obscene with U.S. high end talent.

P.S.S. When Nick Suzuki (oy) is the best offensive players Canada produced from 2016 to 2019, we needed to hang our collective heads in shame.

 

[1Gold Standard]

What is with these threads? Were you not around in mid-late '90s? How did you (we) ever survive the horror of losing two back to back best on best tournaments in row?
So what if we lose in '26. It's not like we haven't lost an Olympic tournament before.
Losing can be a good thing. It will sting for a day or two, but changes will come out of it.

but for the record. It will be a Canada v USA GMG. And I'm betting we win it.

 

[HFpapi]

A year or two ago I was a bit alarmist about Canadian hockey. Especially at the end of last season with superstar seasons from Thompson, Tkachuk, Robertson. Hughes, McAvoy, on top of the already established ones and the lack of good options for Canada on the bottom 6 lines, bottom 2 D pairings, and goalies, it looked like the USA had skyrocketed right past us. |

Two things have changed my mind:

The here & now: A lot of breakout seasons.

A year or two ago we didn't have Sam Reinhart scoring at a 55 goal pace while being a solid 2-way player. Didn't have Hyman scoring 50 goals (sure, the McDavid effect. Luckily McDavid is Canadian too). Morrissey had a huge breakout season last year and Noah Dobson doing the same this year. Robert Thomas is one of the best play makers in the league, Barzal looks like a star again, Konecny looks like a prototypical 4th line team Canada guy. Bedard is as advertised.

Suddenly our offensive core of McDavid, Mackinnon, Crosby, Marner, Point doesn't look like it has to do all of the heavy lifting and our D looks miles improved with Dobson & Morrissey stepping up.

For the future: Horrible drafts for Canada 16-19 + high picks busting or at least at the time seeming to be busting. 1st overall Laf looked horrible. 2nd overall Byfield. 4th overall Wright. 3rd overall Dach. It coalesced into a grim future.

Now, even though the jury is still very much out on Laf, Wright, Dach, at least Byfield looks like a superstar. On top of that, what we lost with the high end picks we gained with lower picks like Johnston, Stankoven (thanks Dallas), MacTavish, Benson, Jarvis, Cozens, Johnson look great.

We have Celebrini, Misa, Martone, Mckenna upcoming.

USA will forever more be just as good as Canada now and maybe eventually better but for now we sure still very much at the top.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Maybe lets get over ourselves a bit? Hockey is almost impossible to play in our country as a kid, maybe losing could help the program long term , like making the game more accessible. I always root for Canada but its not gonna be a national travesty if they lose a best on best lol

 

[WarriorofTime]

They’ll be the favorite but not overwhelmingly so, short tournament anything can happen.

 

[1Gold Standard]

Re : "The 2023 draft was Canadian-laden, the 2024 draft especially in the 1st round is at least half Canadians, and the 2020-'23 drafts have been loaded with talent that will be on these teams. Players we aren't thinking about yet too."

From the 2020 draft on, we are more than fine. In fact, we are doing GREAT. And yes, the 2024 draft will be outstanding for Canada.

Remember, everything goes in cycles and other countries will have bad drafts - maybe 4 bad drafts in a row. When that time comes, expect Canada to jump ahead.

P.S. When Canada was <bleeping> the bed from 2016 - 2019, the U.S. was having some of their best drafts. 2016 is obscene with U.S. high end talent.

P.S.S. When Nick Suzuki (oy) is the best offensive players Canada produced from 2016 to 2019, we needed to hang our collective heads in shame.

It could be worse. At least we're not the Russians. They haven't won a best on best since Napoleon was a cadet, yet they (players along with their fans) used to walk into every best on best tournament with this idiotic goofy attitude like they were the team to beat, only to get bounced in the quarters.

 

[WarriorofTime]

It could be worse. At least we're not the Russians. They haven't won a best on best since Napoleon was a cadet, yet they (players along with their fans) used to walk into every best on best tournament with this idiotic goofy attitude like they were the team to beat, only to get bounced in the quarters.

I doubt you speak Russian, you have no idea what you are talking about in terms of attitudes.

 

[ORRFForever]

What is with these threads? Were you not around in mid-late '90s? How did you (we) ever survive the horror of losing two back to back best on best tournaments in row?
So what if we lose in '26. It's not like we haven't lost an Olympic tournament before.
Losing can be a good thing. It will sting for a day or two, but changes will come out of it.

but for the record. It will be a Canada v USA GMG. And I'm betting we win it.

Yes, the late 90s was UGLY.

Remember the Hockey Summit?...

The End Of Canadian Hockey was upon us. The U.S. won in 96, the Czechs in 98 and the 99 draft was pure garbage.

Then we went on a 20 year tear.

I doubt you speak Russian, you have no idea what you are talking about in terms of attitudes.

IIRC, @Gold Standard lived in Russia for YEARS.

 

[ORRFForever]

A year or two ago I was a bit alarmist about Canadian hockey. Especially at the end of last season with superstar seasons from Thompson, Tkachuk, Robertson. Hughes, McAvoy, on top of the already established ones and the lack of good options for Canada on the bottom 6 lines, bottom 2 D pairings, and goalies, it looked like the USA had skyrocketed right past us. |

Two things have changed my mind:

The here & now: A lot of breakout seasons.

A year or two ago we didn't have Sam Reinhart scoring at a 55 goal pace while being a solid 2-way player. Didn't have Hyman scoring 50 goals (sure, the McDavid effect. Luckily McDavid is Canadian too). Morrissey had a huge breakout season last year and Noah Dobson doing the same this year. Robert Thomas is one of the best play makers in the league, Barzal looks like a star again, Konecny looks like a prototypical 4th line team Canada guy. Bedard is as advertised.

Suddenly our offensive core of McDavid, Mackinnon, Crosby, Marner, Point doesn't look like it has to do all of the heavy lifting and our D looks miles improved with Dobson & Morrissey stepping up.

For the future: Horrible drafts for Canada 16-19 + high picks busting or at least at the time seeming to be busting. 1st overall Laf looked horrible. 2nd overall Byfield. 4th overall Wright. 3rd overall Dach. It coalesced into a grim future.

Now, even though the jury is still very much out on Laf, Wright, Dach, at least Byfield looks like a superstar. On top of that, what we lost with the high end picks we gained with lower picks like Johnston, Stankoven (thanks Dallas), MacTavish, Benson, Jarvis, Cozens, Johnson look great.

We have Celebrini, Misa, Martone, Mckenna upcoming.

USA will forever more be just as good as Canada now and maybe eventually better but for now we sure still very much at the top.

Minus your last paragraph, I agree with everything you wrote. We're on top now and for the foreseeable future.

As for 2016 - 2019, let's put that in the rear view mirror. It still makes me laugh to think that Suzuki is the most dynamic forward from those 4 years. Ouch!

 

[ORRFForever]

A year or two ago I was a bit alarmist about Canadian hockey.

Me, too. I have also changed my mind.

LAF will be more than fine. So will Wright. Dach has LOTS of potential if he stays healthy. The upcoming drafts are flooded with Canadian talent. The drafts since 2000 have been amazing. We'll be more than fine.

 

[WarriorofTime]

IIRC, @Gold Standard lived in Russia for YEARS.

While it's difficult to speak about 141 million people as a monolith, those who follow closely haven't felt great about Russia winning tournaments since the late 90s. First it was goaltending, then defensemen, along with the typical coaching grumblings, then centers and now there hasn't been any "best on best" in a long time to even have opinions about. So the cartoonish portrayal is not accurate.

 

[ORRFForever]

While it's difficult to speak about 141 million people as a monolith, those who follow closely haven't felt great about Russia winning tournaments since the late 90s. First it was goaltending, then defensemen, along with the typical coaching grumblings, then centers and now there hasn't been any "best on best" in a long time to even have opinions about. So the cartoonish portrayal is not accurate.

That's fair. I personally know nothing about Russia - minus their love of chess. However, @Gold Standard has a strong knowledge of Russia and their people.

Unfortunately, he can be moody as hell - all that time in Siberia took its toll.

 

[ORRFForever]

A year or two ago we didn't have Sam Reinhart scoring at a 55 goal pace while being a solid 2-way player.

Who saw that coming? No one.

I remember when he was "BUST" in Buffalo.

 

[Czechboy]

The good for Canada is that MacK, McD and Makar is hard to match up against. That is as good a start as anyone can possibly have (Matthews, Eichel and Hughes?).

The more good is that Bedard should be a cemented stud by then too.

The bad for Canada is that Makar probably isn't going as that court case seems years away.

 

[Zine]

In his defense, @Gold Standard is a GREAT guy and very knowledgeable about hockey.

GREAT guy? He could be a mass murderer for all we know. I suppose any of us could.
I always chuckle when people vouch for others’ personal character….from knowing only what they write on a message board behind a fictitious name.
It’s a crazy impersonal virtual world we live in now.

Anyways, back to hockey……

 

[ORRFForever]

GREAT guy? He could be a mass murderer for all we know. I suppose any of us could.
I always chuckle when people vouch for others’ personal character….from knowing only what they write on a message board behind a fictitious name.
It’s a crazy impersonal virtual world we live in now.

Anyways, back to hockey……

Back to hockey.

The bad for Canada is that Makar probably isn't going as that court case seems years away.

???

He was not one of the ones charged - he was outside of Canada at the time of the incident.

 

[NotASheep]

Problem will in net

 

[Voight]

Goaltending is certainly at its weakest point in decades.

 

[ORRFForever]

Problem will in net

Yup. Fortunately, we only need ONE. SomeONE. AnyONE. Please.

 

[Czechboy]

Back to hockey.


???

He was not one of the ones charged - he was outside of Canada at the time of the incident.

All members of that team are banned. Including Hart and Makar. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that is the current ruling.

 

[Golden_Jet]

He was not one of the ones charged - he was outside of Canada at the time of the incident.

No one from that current team, is eligible at the moment I thought.

 

[T_Cage]

The goaltending is a cause for concern, but we are still probably one of the 2 or 3 favourites (moreso if Russia isn't there)

Worrying is our national sport it seems