World Cup: Canada 4 Nations Tournament 2025 Roster Talk

[Community]

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.

The original poster stated they didn't want Marner on the team.

Real arguments can be made for adding Scheifele, Hyman, Suzuki, and even Bedard, but added players would be replacing Marchand, Hagel, Jarvis, Cirelli, and/or Konecny. Not Marner given his top end offensive talent and good defensive/PK ability.

I do feel like Team Canada took a few too many forwards they viewed as role playing guys considering we already have top PK guys and great defensive players playing in the top 6 already. It might not make a difference considering their Bottom 6 are still very talented, but you never know.

Hell, why do you really need the bottom 6 to all be two-way guys when you have 4(?) of your top 6 forwards that have one or more top 5 finishes in Selke voting in their careers. I'd rather have a few more of our top offensive talents being available in case we're chasing a game since your top 6 can still be trusted when ahead. It's not like our top line is P. Kane - Kuznetsov - Ovechkin or something.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

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.

Huh? he turned Pat Maroon into a 27-goal guy...hasn't come close since leaving

but yes, Hyman should have been there...he's a dog on the puck

 

[Avsfan1921]

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).

Don’t let a one game sample size fool you. He likes to carry the puck, and he’s damn good at it, but way too much is being made of this. For example, necas has absolutely thrived playing with MacKinnon and has had the puck on his stick an awful lot since joining.

This was simply a case of a guy that’s amped up and in the moment. Don’t let jaded Edmonton and Tampa fans pull you into the echo chamber.

I’m sure he’ll do more solo runs, as will Mcdavid, they are built on speed and power. But that is part of their game.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Another Blues fan.

The thing with Binnington wasn't *just* the questionable goals against, it was the fact he was swimming a lot in his net, constantly reacting to shots after they were already on the way to the net, rather than being square in his net and already in position to make the save.

So I never had confidence in Binnington even before that atrocious second goal because he looked so erratic all night.

 

[cneely]

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

Bedard isn't tasked with being a defensive player. On that team, his priority is to score.

If you can't see that, you really don't understand hockey.

 

[Community]

Don’t let a one game sample size fool you. He likes to carry the puck, and he’s damn good at it, but way too much is being made of this. For example, necas has absolutely thrived playing with MacKinnon and has had the puck on his stick an awful lot since joining.

This was simply a case of a guy that’s amped up and in the moment. Don’t let jaded Edmonton and Tampa fans pull you into the echo chamber.

I’m sure he’ll do more solo runs, as will Mcdavid, they are built on speed and power. But that is part of their game.

I'm 100% for it. If you're able to pull the D out of position fairly consistently then why wouldn't he? I'm also aware he is an excellent playmaker.

What I meant is that I'd rather him and McDavid both do that, but they can't do it very well if they're on the same line.

They're two of the absolute best players at attacking a d pairing in transition in a way that pulls the defense to them and allows for others to get open.

For example, Marner and Crosby's best attributes are their hockey IQ and playmaking. While Mackinnon and McDavid have that (obviously), their skating ability with the puck is their absolute best weapon IMO. Therefore, of the forwards, I think the puck should be on McDavid and Mackinnon's stick the most in transition. Once they've pulled the defending team out of position, they either attack the net or give the puck to Marner/Crosby with extra space to utilitze their best skillset.

 

[1989]

Just thinking about past international Team Canada rosters and how badly now Canadians would wish for even one of Smith, Ward, or Turco to be amongst this group.

I can't even dislike the goalie selections the staff made because it's basically what's available + international experience, I just lament the loss of greatness in Canadian goalie development.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Highman didn't make the team for a reason.

 

[Ratsreign]

Bennett seems a bit under rated by some in here, or maybe he’s seen as strictly an agitator/grinder.

But I’m ok with him being the scratch Saturday night.

 

[NyQuil]

I can't even dislike the goalie selections the staff made, I just lament the loss of greatness in Canadian goalie development.

Since the end of the Roy-Hasek-Brodeur era, the breakdown of Vezina winners by nationality:

USA - 5 (Thomas x2, Hellebuyck x2, Miller)
Russia - 4 (Bobrovsky x2, Vasilevsky, Shesterkin)
Canada - 3 (Price, Holtby, Fleury)
Finland - 2 (Rask, Rinne)
Sweden - 2 (Ullmark, Lundqvist)

2 of 3 of Canada's winning netminders are retired (with Fleury sort of kicking around but not really).

Canadian media like to point to Stanley Cup winners but that's more of an odds thing IMO given the quality of the netminders we have and the number of them in the league.

As far as the true elite guys, we are as sparse as we have ever been in our history as a hockey nation.

Looking at end of season All-Star team berths over that same span of time:

USA - 10
Russia - 8
Canada - 6
Sweden - 5
Finland - 3

 

[ORRFForever]

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

You must not have been around the International Thread very much. I caught grief for YEARS over how much I bash Marner (I'm a Leaf fan) and how I did NOT want him anywhere Team Canada.

Posters would say, "Remember that idiot (me) who did not want Marner on Team Canada".

La direction de Team Canada regrette sa sélection de Samuel Montembeault

Voyez les détails!

www.habsolumentfan.com

According to Lebrun, Thompson wasn’t even their next choice, Blackwood was. Strange situation

What? That's insane.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Bedard isn't tasked with being a defensive player. On that team, his priority is to score.

If you can't see that, you really don't understand hockey.

All of the top players in the game are also tasked with scoring. Yet they are all much better defensively than Bedard.

There's a reason he was demoted to 13th forward at the WCs.