World Cup: Four Nations Tournament-Team Canada

[WarriorofTime]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1849507500074336523

Nice of him to quickly squash any sh*t stirrers before they could start.

 

[JackSlater]

This I agree with. I've long suspected that the management group would consider Wilson (or someone like him...of which there aren't many nowadays) for an event such as this. On NHL-sized ice, for a non-IIHF event...sure, go for it. Why not. Canada isn't exactly stacked with big, physical, truculent wingers like it used to be, and Wilson is pretty good at putting the puck in the back of the net.

Lets see if Wilson can keep up his hot start. Personally I'm more bullish on Wilson than on someone like Lowry. Wilson is a more unique player than is Lowry...he is used to playing alongside star players, and would be an asset in the bottom-6 to provide a physical dimension alongside a smaller stature player like Point (or Marchand, or Suzuki, or any number of depth wingers/centres we've been discussing).

I'm very bullish on Lafreniere to start the season. I think he's a really good bet to make the team. And with respect to Hyman, he's very close to fumbling what should have been a really good chance at a roster spot. I think he finds himself on the outside looking in at this point.

To be clear I wouldn't take Wilson, but I don't think it would be a disaster. Taking him to the Olympics would be a disaster. The unfortunate situation is that Canada has never replaced Benn as a guy who can provide an elite physical presence at this level and still contribute offensively. It is too early in the season to rule anyone definitely in or out, other than the locks established before this season, but I do hope that Canada sprinkles in some young guys like Lafreniere with an eye toward 2026. I want more than just Lafreniere and Bedard among the u23 players though.

Hyman will still probably finish with 30+ goals but people lost all perspective when talking about him just because he had an outlier goal scoring season. It was discussed at length but some people are just going to sort by goals or points and pick based on that. Players get selected, not goal totals. He may still make it because he has utility outside of offence but he is far from one of Canada's best offensive players.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

To be clear I wouldn't take Wilson, but I don't think it would be a disaster. Taking him to the Olympics would be a disaster. The unfortunate situation is that Canada has never replaced Benn as a guy who can provide an elite physical presence at this level and still contribute offensively. It is too early in the season to rule anyone definitely in or out, other than the locks established before this season, but I do hope that Canada sprinkles in some young guys like Lafreniere with an eye toward 2026. I want more than just Lafreniere and Bedard among the u23 players though.

Hyman will still probably finish with 30+ goals but people lost all perspective when talking about him just because he had an outlier goal scoring season. It was discussed at length but some people are just going to sort by goals or points and pick based on that. Players get selected, not goal totals. He may still make it because he has utility outside of offence but he is far from one of Canada's best offensive players.

I doubt I would take Wilson either, and hadn't included him on any of my mockups going back to last spring/summer, but I agree that he wouldn't be a disaster (and may even turn out to be quite valuable for Canada) and I can firmly get behind him being selected if he continues to play well. Personally I would hope for a Morrow OG 2010 level of play from him and we got that, I'd be pleased with the selection.

Lafreniere and Bedard are fairly obvious, and beyond that I'd like to see Byfield and Johnston on the 2025 team.

I'll admit that I advocated for Hyman last spring/summer but for me it was more the "how" he scored than the "how many". I admire his willingness to go hard to the net and other dirty areas of the ice and thought he demonstrated some nice power moves around the net in the playoffs, even independent of McDavid. I suspect he's a player that will be selected (or not) based on his level of production, which is only fair. There are plenty of other players that can provide the non-scoring "intangibles" that Hyman can. If Canada can find some goal scoring capability that makes Hyman redundant, fine by me.

 

[JackSlater]

I doubt I would take Wilson either, and hadn't included him on any of my mockups going back to last spring/summer, but I agree that he wouldn't be a disaster (and may even turn out to be quite valuable for Canada) and I can firmly get behind him being selected if he continues to play well. Personally I would hope for a Morrow OG 2010 level of play from him and we got that, I'd be pleased with the selection.

Lafreniere and Bedard are fairly obvious, and beyond that I'd like to see Byfield and Johnston on the 2025 team.

I'll admit that I advocated for Hyman last spring/summer but for me it was more the "how" he scored than the "how many". I admire his willingness to go hard to the net and other dirty areas of the ice and thought he demonstrated some nice power moves around the net in the playoffs, even independent of McDavid. I suspect he's a player that will be selected (or not) based on his level of production, which is only fair. There are plenty of other players that can provide the non-scoring "intangibles" that Hyman can. If Canada can find some goal scoring capability that makes Hyman redundant, fine by me.

I am high and Johnston and would love for Byfield to get there. I'm definitely open to both. We'll see how the year goes. Hyman was and remains a Kunitz, but I could at least see him as a solid fourth line all around contributor if he ended up there.

Worst case scenario for Wilson is rampant penalties obviously. Best case scenario, he's the number one physical presence at the tournament and some countries have some elite but small defencemen who could be in trouble with Wilson bearing down on them and elite players waiting to pick off bad passes. Would have been nice if he'd gone to the IIHF world championship some time in his life.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Marchand-Crosby-MacKinnon
Lafrenière-McDavid-Bédard
Johnston-Point-Stone
Reinhart-Thomas-Marner

(Bennett, Byfield, Stankoven, Kyrou, Jarvis, Konecny, Verhaeghe, Barzal, Hagel, Hyman, Scheifele)

Toews-Makar
Theodore-Pietrangelo
Morrisey-Harley(RH)

(Power, Guhle, Doughty,
Bouchard, Weegar, Dobson, Dunn, Parayko)

Binnington
Hill
(Skinner, Ingram)


First mock of the season, Lafrenière’s combination of skill and physicality finds him replacing Hyman in the top 6. Keep an eye on Sam Bennett, he’s taken his offensive game to another level this year and brings a sought after physical game. Harley replaces an injured Doughty for the time being. Goaltending options are atrocious, but Binnington showed last night when he can play high on his crease and keep his footwork calm, he can shutdown the best goal scorer in the NHL.

 

[HighLifeMan]

Lafreniere - Crosby - Mackinnon
Point - McDavid - Reinhart
Bedard - Scheifele - Marner
Konecny - ROR - Stone

Toews - Makar
Morrissey - Dobson
Theodore - Weegar

Binnington

 

[waitin425]

Marchand - Crosby - Mack
Laf - McDavid - Bedard
Reinhart - Point - Marner
Johnston - Schiefele - Stone

 

[Regal]

He’s been put on the roster already, but it might be time to question Marchand’s inclusion at his age. His 5v5 production has tumbled the past two years and it hasn’t been a good start for him yet this year. I wonder if the roster should be built with him being the extra forward at this point rather than on Crosby’s wing as assumed.

I also don’t think Bedard is one of the current best 14 forwards for Canada and I don’t think he should be there as it stands but probably will be because of name recognition and getting experience for 2026

 

[Nucks2001]

Crosby-McDavid-Reinhart
Lafreniere-MacKinnon-Point
Bedard-ROR-Marner
Johnston-Thomas-Stone
EXTRA: Marchand, (IF Thomas remains injured (Suzuki or Barzal).

Toews-Makar
Theodore-Pietrangelo
Morrissey-Dobson
Power-Weegar

Binnington
Skinner
Hill

 

[White Out 902]

Was there any really a serious discussion about who would be captain anyways? McDavid hasn't won a goddamn thing, Crosby is a leader and a winner.

I'd make MacKinnon captain before mcdavid

 

[waitin425]

Crosby-McDavid-Reinhart
Lafreniere-MacKinnon-Point
Bedard-ROR-Marner
Johnston-Thomas-Stone
EXTRA: Marchand, (IF Thomas remains injured (Suzuki or Barzal).

Toews-Makar
Theodore-Pietrangelo
Morrissey-Dobson
Power-Weegar

Binnington
Skinner
Hill

Suzuki hasn't shown he deserves this honor with his play. pains me to say

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Marchand - Crosby - MacKinnon
Lafreniere - McDavid - Reinhart
Johnston - Point - Bedard
Bennett - Thomas - Stone
Extras: Marner, O’Reilly

Toews - Makar
Theodore - Pietrangelo
Morrissey - Weegar
Extra: Bouchard

Binnington
Hill
Skinner

 

[Bouboumaster]

Jersey is Gorgeous I must say

 

[Eye of Ra]

Marchand - Crosby - MacKinnon
Scheifele - McDavid - Reinhart
Hagel - Point - Bedard
Bennett - Thomas - Stone
Lafreniere

Toews - Makar
Theodore - Pietrangelo
Morrissey - Weegar
Bouchard

Binnington
Hill
Skinner

 

[HighLifeManIsHigh]

Lafreniere - Crosby - Mackinnon
Point - McDavid - Reinhart
Bedard - Scheifele - Marner
Konecny - ROR - Stone

Toews - Makar
Morrissey - Dobson
Theodore - Weegar

Binnington

Marchand has already been named to the team

 

[Mathieukferland]

Watched Chicago-Dallas; even if the points don’t reflect it Johnston plays the right way, the numbers will come. Bedard and Harley both excellent. Duchene leads Dallas in scoring but I don’t think he impacts the game offensively 5v5 to be considered

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Marchand has already been named to the team

What an idiotic decision. With those first five picks the only thing you can do wrong is pick a player early who might not be good enough for the team when the time comes.

The only thinking involved is don’t pick players who might be on a decline. Of course you have dinosaur GM’s making the picks, so that’s what you get.

 

[PatrickMcC]

Hyman-McDavid-Bedard
Point-Mackinnon-Barzal
Marchand-Crosby-Marner
Reinhart-Thomas-Stone
Johnston-Lafrenière

Toews-Makar
Morrissey-Bouchard
Theodore-Dobson
Doughty

Binnington/Montembault/Skinner

 

[Nucks2001]

Hyman-McDavid-Bedard
Point-Mackinnon-Barzal
Marchand-Crosby-Marner
Reinhart-Thomas-Stone
Johnston-Lafrenière

Toews-Makar
Morrissey-Bouchard
Theodore-Dobson
Doughty

Binnington/Montembault/Skinner

Who are your Thomas and Doughty replacements if both are not able to play? (injuries)

 

[Mathieukferland]

The forward group that TSN came up with

 

[Nucks2001]

Darnell Nurse is being considered for Team Canada’s roster at Four Nations Faceoff

The first "best-on-best" international competition since the 2016 Soch...

oilersnation.com

I'm HOPING this is not true. Why are Canadian executives overthinking this??? Tom WIlson? Darnell Nurse??? NO

 

[JackSlater]

View attachment 923350
The forward group that TSN came up with

I could live with it, though I would make some changes with an eye toward 2026. Pretty bad time, compared to most of history, for building a Canadian roster at the best on best level at the moment. In some level the lack of top end quality simplifies things though.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Darnell Nurse is being considered for Team Canada’s roster at Four Nations Faceoff

The first "best-on-best" international competition since the 2016 Soch...

oilersnation.com

I'm HOPING this is not true. Why are Canadian executives overthinking this??? Tom WIlson? Darnell Nurse??? NO

NHL GMs must be size queens because the only reason that anyone like Nurse, Lowry, or Wilson (Wilson less so than the other two) must have a change is because Hockey Canada, Salmond, Armstrong, or whoever it may be, seem hellbent on recreating the 2010 when the best players simply do not fit that mould anymore. I think Darnell nurse might be the 9th best left-handed Canadian defenseman available.


I always advocated for Sakic as GM because team Canada should be built like the 2022 Colorado avalanche, fast, puck moving, and high to low scissor transitions in the offensive zone that are impossible to contain. In the way that physicality is emphasized in the playoffs, speed and skill becomes emphasized in best on best. The management team seems to think they’re building team to play the 2012 Los Angeles Kings in the first round, not Sweden or the USA in a gold medal game…. It’s some syndrome permeating through hockey Canada recently


You forgot the worst part, « One executive did mention the question of how many power-play defencemen Team Canada can have. You need players who can play defensively and fill two-way roles. That’s where Darnell Nurse and Travis Sanheim »

TRAVIS SANHEIMhe’s not even good defensively (nor is nurse)size queens ffs

 

[NordiquesForeva]

View attachment 923350
The forward group that TSN came up with

There are two players I'd prefer to have in the forward group - namely, Johnston and Byfield - but overall this is fairly decent. The one change I'd propose making to the line combinations is to switch Marner and Point. MacKinnon and Marner have played together (successfully, I may add) at the WCs, and more importantly I feel as though the chemistry could be off with McDavid and Marner. McDavid doesn't need a pass-first playmaker like Marner on his wing; he needs a finisher, and someone that can contribute defensively (and take faceoffs on his strong side). To me, Point fits the bill perfectly there.

All things being equal, I've always felt Reinhart, Stamkos or Point would look best alongside McDavid.

 

[jj cale]

That can't possibly be that stupid to take Nurse along.

I think the writing is looking like it is already on the wall but if they take Darnell then it has been done in spray paint.