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.