World Cup: Canada 4 Nations Tournament 2025 Roster Talk

[The Gr8 Dane]

It’s not the jersey Color, it’s the leadership. The leadership in Toronto is pathetic if you ask me. Where as team Canada has winners and natural leaders.

Its not the jersey color or leadership.


It was 3 on 3 man...still a huge goal for mitch

 

[cneely]

You disagree that he's a defensive liability? Well that explains your posts, you just don't know anything about hockey.

Ah yes, the old fall back. You disagree with me, so you don't know anything.

Jarvis was really good last night. Doesn't mean someone else wouldn't be an upgrade.

 

[NyQuil]

That mcdavid line needs to be changed.

It's no one's fault, it just isn't working.

On paper, it kind of makes sense that it doesn't work, as the two of them both like to be the elusive puck carrier and a complete line needs guys who can do the work and get open around the net.

A guy like Stone works well with Crosby, despite his lack of footspeed, because his hockey IQ is off the charts and he knows where to go and at the right time.

 

[surixon]

It's no one's fault, it just isn't working.

On paper, it kind of makes sense that it doesn't work, as the two of them both like to be the elusive puck carrier and a complete line needs guys who can do the work and get open around the net.

A guy like Stone works well with Crosby, despite his lack of footspeed, because his hockey IQ is off the charts and he knows where to go and at the right time.

I'd give them another half game but they weren't in sync last night.

 

[NyQuil]

I'd give them another half game but they weren't in sync last night.

Canada may have to start extracting some guys from the bottom six and spreading the offence around a bit more.

Konecny is a guy that I think could do well with McDavid.

A lot is made of "top six" but rolling three or four lines and generating offence might be a better distribution of the talent. You can still overload on the PP.

 

[Palio]

I never wanted Marner but he came thru in O.T..

I never understood putting Marner with McDavid - you want scorers on McDavid's wings and Marner is NOT that.

Jarvis is a gem and will be on BoB Team Canada for the next decade.

You never wanted the player 4th in the league in scoring? Cmon...

He admittedly looked awful early. So did Reinhart for that matter. There was no time to build chemistry. And McDavid is a unicorn. I'm sure it takes time to learn how to play with someone like him. He was deferring and not playing like himself. I thought he started to come alive in the 3rd period. It was really nice to see him score a goal like that in a moment like that. Stuff it to the haters that were ready to pounce.

Now if you want to say he would mesh better wish Crosby, I can definitely see that

 

[surixon]

Canada may have to start extracting some guys from the bottom six and spreading the offence around a bit more.

Konecny is a guy that I think could do well with McDavid.

A lot is made of "top six" but rolling three or four lines and generating offence might be a better distribution of the talent. You can still overload on the PP.

Yeah they have options to balance their lines better if they so choose.

Thought each line had times where there was some chemistry issues. Not really sure how well Mack and Sid play together. Thought Sid and Stone were on more of the same wave length.

 

[Peasy]

Yeah they have options to balance their lines better if they so choose.

Thought each line had times where there was some chemistry issues. Not really sure how well Mack and Sid play together. Thought Sid and Stone were on more of the same wave length.

I think swapping Mack and Marner could make sense.

Stone-Crosby-Marner
McDavid-Mack-Reinhart

Or at least try Mack and McDavid together and see how their speed plays off of each other.

 

[surixon]

I think swapping Mack and Marner could make sense.

Stone-Crosby-Marner
McDavid-Mack-Reinhart

I like that. I think Mitch's pace.of play would fit better with Sid and Stone and same for Mack with McDavid.

 

[Soundwave]

I know I'm basing this off things like small sample size, short camp, one game, etc., but...

Is anyone else kind of unsure about Canada's #1 player status in a post-Crosby era?

Tonight, what I saw was vintage Crosby leading an otherwise elitely skilled but lacklustre team in terms of ebbs and flows. I know he's Captain, I know he's Mr. Been There Done That and Check Out The Trophy Case. He really is the best selection for a leadership role for this short tournament but he can't do everything all at once anymore.

My point actually being, I see the younger guys in their primes and while they are all undoubtedly skilled, talented, and able to win, I just don't see who successfully leads the men's teams. Things like lack of chemistry due to play styles or lack of deference to line mates, etc. were fairly obvious especially amongst the forward group. This current edition of Team Canada has a lot more dysfunction and I just feel like there's no replacement personality for Crosby.

I have nothing against McDavid, MacKinnon, or anyone else taking the load on their shoulders but it just seems like they're not the same calibre. Maybe it's just the overall lack of quantity and quality international playing opportunities.

Crosby had similar chemistry issues early in his international career too (not much going early on in tourneys).

Canada’s biggest issue is their goaltending.

 

[finnishflash13]

lots of chatter about Binner's regulation allowed goals (which were not all his fault) and hardly anything about his OT saves. sorry to break it to you, but he's Canada's starter for this tournament.

if you want to throw around spurious claims about Binner then let's do the same for this stacked cast of forwards...only 3 goals in regulation against Sweden??? psh. (see how dumb that sounds...)

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

With Theodore out, Makar, Morrisey and Doughty are going to be leaned on heavily to move the puck up ice.

Doughty looked slow and fatigued. I would have selected Weegar instead of Sanheim. Having an extra PMD is an asset.

 

[Joe Hallenback]

The lack of Cycle game from Canada was a bit of a sore point for me. Way too much off the rush. They never wore Sweden down and allowed them back into the game. I just felt guys were trying to be highlight reels too much.

Ok its been said a bunch of times but couldn't they haved used Scheifele and Suzuki tonight? I think Schief along side Mcdavid makes way more sense, hes like a poor man's Draisatl and could slow the game down in the offensive zone and hold the boards etc.. Thats not saying Marner shouldn't be there but I think you slot him down on that 3rd line.

Oh well see how they do in the next one

 

[Community]

I think swapping Mack and Marner could make sense.

Stone-Crosby-Marner
McDavid-Mack-Reinhart

Or at least try Mack and McDavid together and see how their speed plays off of each other.

While I think this may work out better for Marner since this gives him more touches in transition and allows him to focus more on playmaking, I dont think Mackinnon and McDavid on the same line is ideal. Both love to lug the puck around even more than Marner.

OT seems like a good example of how Mackinnon likes to play... Hes a bit of a puck hog in a good way (because he's so damn skilled).

I wouldn't mind Marner/Mackinnon/McDavid all being on different lines since they're the three best playmakers on the team and each great in transition.

I mean, they're literally the top 3 Canadians in assists this season so far (#1, 3, and 5).

Why Canada is built like a top 6 bottom 6 is perplexing. We have enough skill to have 3 lines playing similar even strength minutes.

Reinhart - McDavid - Konecny
Hagel - Mackinnon - Point
Stone - Crosby - Marner
Marchand - Cirelli - Jarvis

Some roster changes I wouldve made (Scheifele biggest one), but this gives 3 lines that would each be top 5 line in the NHL right now.

Konecny and Hagel stand out as guys who can be switched with one of the guys on the 4th line depending on chemistry.

 

[surixon]

Crosby had similar chemistry issues early in his international career too (not much going early on in tourneys).

Canada’s biggest issue is their goaltending.

Yeah, it's amazing how differently he's remembered now.

Like you said he had some growing pains early but grew into the role. I have no doubt if Canada is to have success post Crosby that McDavid, Mackinnon, Makar etc will as well.

The lack of Cycle game from Canada was a bit of a sore point for me. Way too much off the rush. They never wore Sweden down and allowed them back into the game. I just felt guys were trying to be highlight reels too much.

Ok its been said a bunch of times but couldn't they haved used Scheifele and Suzuki tonight? I think Schief along side Mcdavid makes way more sense, hes like a poor man's Draisatl and could slow the game down in the offensive zone and hold the boards etc.. Thats not saying Marner shouldn't be there but I think you slot him down on that 3rd line.

Oh well see how they do in the next one

My opinion is they couldn't get the cycle game going is because they had issues getting the puck out of their end cleanly after the first. They were often forced to dump with Sweden having numbers back, which lead to a lack puck recoveries.

I thought we saw some cycle play when they were able to establish zone possesion.

 

[boltsfan86]

While I think this may work out better for Marner since this gives him more touches in transition and allows him to focus more on playmaking, I dont think Mackinnon and McDavid on the same line is ideal. Both love to lug the puck around even more than Marner.

OT seems like a good example of how Mackinnon likes to play... Hes a bit of a puck hog in a good way (because he's so damn skilled).

I wouldn't mind Marner/Mackinnon/McDavid all being on different lines since they're the three best playmakers on the team and each great in transition.

I mean, they're literally the top 3 Canadians in assists this season so far (#1, 3, and 5).

Why Canada is built like a top 6 bottom 6 is perplexing. We have enough skill to have 3 lines playing similar even strength minutes.

Reinhart - McDavid - Konecny
Hagel - Mackinnon - Point
Stone - Crosby - Marner
Marchand - Cirelli - Jarvis

Some roster changes I wouldve made (Scheifele biggest one), but this gives 3 lines that would each be top 5 line in the NHL right now.

Konecny and Hagel stand out as guys who can be switched with one of the guys on the 4th line depending on chemistry.

Maybe switch MacKinnon and McDavid. Point and Hagel are both very fast and play well in transition but MacKinnon's "drive it to the net by myself" approach probably would waste their skillsets. If opponents have to deal with Point and McDavid in transition I am dubious of their abilities to keep up. If you give McDavid and Point 20ish minutes of ice time together, I'd guess there would be at least 2-3 odd-man rushes or breakaways, and there aren't many better players in those situations. But once they're in the OZ, I don't know where each would go since Point is most effective between the circles right in front of the goal and McDavid would probably need to move around behind the net to get him the puck, which probably doesn't maximize his talents.

I'd honestly prefer to keep Hagel in the bottom 6 because he's a two-way demon, and he and Cirelli bring the best out of each other, but I have seen a few comments about uniting Point and McDavid, and I'd like to see it, too.

My idea would be to put Marner with Hagel and Cirelli. They play a similar style, Marner with a bit more finesse and skill offensively, Hagel and Cirelli with a bit more bite. I think that line could really open the ice up, and I don't think Marner's line or the Hagel-Cirelli line were playing all that great for most of the game. But I do think that line would cause headaches for the other team.


You could tell Cooper was searching for cohesiveness and chemistry towards the middle of the third period. He even put Hagel-Point-Cirelli out for a shift, which tells me that the lines weren't really clicking that well.

 

[Soundwave]

People need to understand too, in a lot of ways a 4 Nations setup is tougher than like an Olympics.

There is no Norway or Belarus or Switzerland games early in the tournament to get into a groove for Canada, they are thrown into the mix straight away against Sweden which is a very good team.

 

[NyQuil]

lots of chatter about Binner's regulation allowed goals (which were not all his fault)

No, just two of three. At the worst possible times of the game.

He redeemed himself in OT but it never should have gotten there.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Ah yes, the old fall back. You disagree with me, so you don't know anything.

Jarvis was really good last night. Doesn't mean someone else wouldn't be an upgrade.

Bedard is objectively terrible defensively. If you don't see that, then you really don't understand hockey.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

they need to try Crosby with mcdavid. The way mcdavid was going while MacKinnon didn't really do much till the ot they should have given him and a cross y a couple shifts

 

[leafsfan2point0]

Some of these Marner takes are embarrassing. Marner is tied for 4th in points with Mcdavid. He was never going to be scratched even if he didn’t get the OT goal.

 

[LetsGoBLUES91]

lots of chatter about Binner's regulation allowed goals (which were not all his fault) and hardly anything about his OT saves. sorry to break it to you, but he's Canada's starter for this tournament.

if you want to throw around spurious claims about Binner then let's do the same for this stacked cast of forwards...only 3 goals in regulation against Sweden??? psh. (see how dumb that sounds...)

AMEN.

 

[NyQuil]

AMEN.

Another Blues fan.

 

[johnnyonthspot]

You never wanted the player 4th in the league in scoring? Cmon...

He admittedly looked awful early. So did Reinhart for that matter. There was no time to build chemistry. And McDavid is a unicorn. I'm sure it takes time to learn how to play with someone like him. He was deferring and not playing like himself. I thought he started to come alive in the 3rd period. It was really nice to see him score a goal like that in a moment like that. Stuff it to the haters that were ready to pounce.

Now if you want to say he would mesh better wish Crosby, I can definitely see that

The fact is Zac Hyman should have been on the team to play with McDavid. This is a short tourny and hard for players to 'gel'.
Crosby has a history of making players on his line better; McDavid not so much other than Hyman. I am think Crosby with McDavid might be gold.

 

[toddkaz]

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