World Cup: Four Nations Tournament-Team Canada

[JackSlater]

You might want to learn about something called the PP. Lafreniere doesn’t play PP1 for his team. Pretty sure every forward you named there does. And PP2 for the Rangers virtually doesn’t exist because our PP1 is very good and those guys don’t leave the ice. He has some of the best even strength scoring numbers the last two years in hockey.

And you seem to be the only one that hasn’t watched the regular season this year or last year and seems to believe he simply got hot during the playoffs.

To add to this, and I am certainly a supporter of Lafreniere making this team, he brings a different playstyle to the team and has shown that he can contribute to a line without being puck dominant, which is essential if he plays with McDavid or MacKinnon or Crosby. That he is still young and has a strong pedigree helps as well. It is significant that he gets his points without a whole lot of PP opportunities though, because he won't be getting power play opportunities on this team either. Most of these players, if you just want to look at points, should have even strength points isolated because that's where they are going to play at this event in most cases.

There must be a French Canadian player on the roster so that province of Quebec is well represented

Thomas Chabot ?

Lafreniere.

 

[Mathieukferland]

There must be a French Canadian player on the roster so that province of Quebec is well represented

Thomas Chabot ?

Nah, only pick one if they merit it; Lafrenière is the most likely in my opinion. If he doesn’t make it (in addition to there being a real possibility that no player from QC makes the world junior team) well Hockey Québec should wake up to sort out the bureaucratic and political messes at the minor hockey level that plague elite minor hockey teams

 

[PanniniClaus]

Team Canada goalies.....save percentages....Talbot .920% Allen .916% Thompson .913% Blackwood .911% Montembeault .906% and Binnington .887%. who will it be.

I believe the very best choice for our net might not be named here - Joey Daccord. 8-3, 2.51 and a .918.

He is eligible for Canada, USA and Switzerland and I didn't hear that he was approached.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Lafreniere - McDavid - Reinhart
Marchand - Crosby - MacKinnon
Hagel - Point - Marner
Bennett - Thomas - Stone
Scheifele / Konecny

Toews - Makar
Morrissey - Dobson
Theodore - Pietrangelo
Sanheim

Binnington
Thompson
Hill

 

[Nucks2001]

Lafreniere - McDavid - Reinhart
Marchand - Crosby - MacKinnon
Hagel - Point - Marner
Bennett - Thomas - Stone
Scheifele / Konecny

Toews - Makar
Morrissey - Dobson
Theodore - Pietrangelo
Sanheim

Binnington
Thompson
Hill

Really love your team. 4th line is really slow with both Bennett and Stone. Perhaps, Bennett moved up to 1st like with McD and Reinhart. Hagel on 4th to inject some speed or maybe adding Verhaege instead of Bennett might be an option.

 

[centipede2233]

Logan thompson should be the starter.

 

[BKarchitect]

Daccord is the best “Canadian eligible” goalie - and I don’t think it’s particularly close. He’s got the size and athleticism and composure combo. He was great last year. He’s been even better this year. His splits compared to Grubauer behind the same team are other-worldly. Importantly, he’s showing immense growth year after year.

People freaked out when he got his contract extension this summer because he wasn’t some highly touted prospect back in the day but Sens fans have known about his potential before he got plucked by the Kraken.

If he isn’t selected, one would have to assume he turned Canada down (presumably to play for the Swiss)? Because I can’t see a logical reason Team Canada wouldn’t be rushing to his door to get a commitment. He’s just entering his prime and can be the answer now and for the next 4 years, potentially.

 

[therealdeal]

Not to distract from the goalie talk, I like it, but Bedard looked better last night. Really hoping for him he can get back on track and doesn’t get miserable there losing all the time.

 

[Regal]

Daccord is the best “Canadian eligible” goalie - and I don’t think it’s particularly close. He’s got the size and athleticism and composure combo. He was great last year. He’s been even better this year. His splits compared to Grubauer behind the same team are other-worldly. Importantly, he’s showing immense growth year after year.

People freaked out when he got his contract extension this summer because he wasn’t some highly touted prospect back in the day but Sens fans have known about his potential before he got plucked by the Kraken.

If he isn’t selected, one would have to assume he turned Canada down (presumably to play for the Swiss)? Because I can’t see a logical reason Team Canada wouldn’t be rushing to his door to get a commitment. He’s just entering his prime and can be the answer now and for the next 4 years, potentially.

If he played on this would he be “stuck” with Canada internationally afterward? I know Hockey Canada is making the selections but I don’t know if this would count as an IIHF event.

 

[BKarchitect]

If he played on this would he be “stuck” with Canada internationally afterward? I know Hockey Canada is making the selections but I don’t know if this would count as an IIHF event.

No, it seems he would not be stuck since this isn't an official IIHF event. Although one would have to think Canada is looking for a firm commitment if they are going to select him.

 

[JackSlater]

Not to distract from the goalie talk, I like it, but Bedard looked better last night. Really hoping for him he can get back on track and doesn’t get miserable there losing all the time.

The Athletic had an article today that talked about how strangely Chicago has used Bedard in terms of linemates and that h has looked good when playing with suitable players. He needs to be better as well but I think that people are in part holding it against him that he plays on a horrible team.

 

[Mathieukferland]

If they’re going to give a charity spot to Bedard I would almost be tempted to give it Celebrini instead; I think he’s more projectable player to a depth role than Bedard is in 2026

 

[JKG33]

They'd be stupid not to give Wilson a spot. I'd love a 4th line of Konecny-Bennett-Wilson. A line of 1st line quality power forwards/grinders. Or you can split them up to add some toughness to 3 lines. I'd take those 3 over some of the charmain ultra soft players like Marner

 

[AcerComputer]

Hyman - McDavid - Reinhart
MacKinnon - Crosby - Marner
Hagel - Point - Scheifele
Bennett - Marchand - Wilson
Konecny

Toews - Makar
Pietrangelo - Parayko
Morrissey - Dobson
Theodore

Binnington
Thompson
Hill

 

[JackSlater]

If they’re going to give a charity spot to Bedard I would almost be tempted to give it Celebrini instead; I think he’s more projectable player to a depth role than Bedard is in 2026

Hot take here but I'd be fine with both of them there. Canada has LW spots open and many other top young guys aren't impressing. I'm not saying that I would take both at this moment, but with two weeks or so to go until the team is named I'd be watching Celebrini. To be clear, I do not expect that Hockey Canada is or will be watching Celebrini for this event.

 

[MarkT]

You might want to learn about something called the PP. Lafreniere doesn’t play PP1 for his team. Pretty sure every forward you named there does. And PP2 for the Rangers virtually doesn’t exist because our PP1 is very good and those guys don’t leave the ice. He has some of the best even strength scoring numbers the last two years in hockey.

And you seem to be the only one that hasn’t watched the regular season this year or last year and seems to believe he simply got hot during the playoffs.

Where are you getting those stats? Over the this season and past, Lafrenière is 20th in even strength points per 60 minutes. He's behind Verhaeghe, McCann, Wyatt Johnston, and Tavares among Canadian forwards. The only guy with worse even strength numbers that I put on the team is Barzal, who I expect to play on at least Canada's second power play unit. He was also one of my last additions (it was between him, Hagel and Verhaeghe, but I went with Barzal's overall skill). Oh, and Marchand actually is below Lafrenière too, but he shouldn't be anywhere near the team anyway given his play this year.

Have you considered maybe it's you who hasn't watching enough (non-Rangers) hockey or that you might just be biased as a Rangers fan?

 

[qc14]

As a non-canadian, is there any chance Strome makes the roster? 3rd highest scoring Canadian in the league right now driving the 1st line of a top 5 team. Certainly having a better year and probably better last two years than a bunch of the other bubble guys (Tavares, Barzal, Hagel, Bedard, Stamkos, Scheifele)

Also Thompson should be the clear starter

 

[TheDoldrums]

As a non-canadian, is there any chance Strome makes the roster? 3rd highest scoring Canadian in the league right now driving the 1st line of a top 5 team. Certainly having a better year and probably better last two years than a bunch of the other bubble guys (Tavares, Barzal, Hagel, Bedard, Stamkos, Scheifele)

Also Thompson should be the clear starter

Strome has no chance imo. He wasn't at all on the radar before this year and I really don't think they are going to use 1/4 of a season to radically change their preconceived notions of the roster. He's 10th in scoring among Canadians over the past two seasons but guys right behind him like Thomas, Hagel and Konecny have more versatile games. Tavares isn't a bubble guy either tbh, he also has no shot.

Thompson is hopefully in the mix though, goaltending is so bad that they can't overlook anyone playing well.

 

[MarkT]

I've changed my roster after including more stats and learning that Daccord could be on the team:

Hyman - McDavid - Reinhart
MacKinnon - Crosby - Marner
Verhaeghe - Point - Stone
Marchand - Thomas - Konecny
(Scheifele)

Toews - Makar
Sanheim - Bouchard
Morrissey - Burns
(Dobson/Doughty/Dunn)

Talbot
Daccord
Thompson

Players that almost made the team (in order):
F: Strome, Tavares, Kadri, Hagel, Barzal
D: Chabot, Theodore, Weegar, Matheson, Pietangelo, Hamilton
G: Binnington, Montembeault, Hill

 

[NordiquesForeva]

Looking at some of these rosters and seeing Carter Verhaeghe...I really wish the guy had gotten off to a better start this season. Really good triggerman at LW, a position that is relatively weak for us, and an excellent recent playoff track record. He may still get selected, but personally I was kind of hoping he'd be making a stronger case for himself at this point.

Aside from the 5 forwards who have already been named to the team, I think the only other forwards we can safely consider locks are Reinhart, Stone and Marner. That's 8 forward spots already spoken for...and 5 open spots still TBD.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Where are you getting those stats? Over the this season and past, Lafrenière is 20th in even strength points per 60 minutes. He's behind Verhaeghe, McCann, Wyatt Johnston, and Tavares among Canadian forwards. The only guy with worse even strength numbers that I put on the team is Barzal, who I expect to play on at least Canada's second power play unit. He was also one of my last additions (it was between him, Hagel and Verhaeghe, but I went with Barzal's overall skill). Oh, and Marchand actually is below Lafrenière too, but he shouldn't be anywhere near the team anyway given his play this year.

Have you considered maybe it's you who hasn't watching enough (non-Rangers) hockey or that you might just be biased as a Rangers fan?

You are now moving the goalposts. You used the most unflattering stats to paint why he shouldn’t be on the team. Stats that have no relevance. You yourself admitted he has better even strength numbers than guys you listed. He’s also younger than every single one of them. Not sure what you are expecting. Does he need to put up McDavid numbers? He puts up pretty elite numbers as a youngster (relatively speaking).

And please, save the ad hominem towards me. It is completely ineffective. I admit that I don’t have any affiliation towards Team Canada. At the same time, I am allowed to call out a bad faith argument when I see it. If you seriously think after this interaction that he only had a hot playoffs (your claim), the biggest agenda to push of anyone here is you.

 

[Zybalto]

On Wed., Armstrong was asked how many spots are still up for grabs on the team and he answered:

"Probably not as many as people think"

Team is pretty much set. Hope they make the right calls but I'm wondering if we get any big surprises....like all of a sudden we get Barzal, Tavares, Cirelli and Stamkos all on the team lol.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

It's humorous they're chasing Daccord.

 

[Dominance]

Don’t mind me, just licking my lips over how likely Four Nations names stack up right now in terms of P/GP between Canada and the US

MacKinnon - 1.70
Stone - 1.62
Reinhart - 1.50
Strome - 1.47
Eichel - 1.45
McDavid - 1.39
Marner - 1.30
Scheifele - 1.26
Connor - 1.26
Konecny - 1.15
Point - 1.14
J. Hughes - 1.14
Thompson - 1.13 (injured?)
Cirelli - 1.06
Hagel - 1.06
B. Tkachuk - 1.05
Boldy - 1.05
Suzuki - 1.00
Guentzel - 1.00
Crosby - 0.95
Bennett - 0.95
Tuch - 0.95
Miller - 0.94 (out?)
Thomas - 0.89
M. Tkachuk - 0.87
Matthews - 0.85 (injured?)
Larkin - 0.84
Keller - 0.84
Caufield - 0.84
Lafreniere - 0.83 (basically all ES)
Bedard - 0.75
Marchand - 0.67
Robertson - 0.61
Trocheck - 0.56
Kane - 0.53
Kreider - 0.50

Key US defensemen taking a step back too. A beautiful sight.

Side note: underperformers like Hyman, Verhaeghe, Barzal have zero business being anywhere near this team when the roster will come together essentially right before the tournament starts. Inexcusable to do anything other than ride the hot hands - and such stupidity to have named Marchand to this team over the summer.