World Cup: Four Nations Tournament-Team Canada

[JackSlater]

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.

The team is picked in less than two weeks, it isn't that surprising.

It's humorous they're chasing Daccord.

Pathetic really.

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.

I preferred when Canada focused on Canada and other countries focused on Canada too. USA has a good team now, still not something worth fixating on.

 

[oooooooooohCanada]

Pathetic really.

how so? there are loads of american hockey players that are born to a canadian parent and play in canada but then choose the US.

 

[moropanov]

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

Too small sample size these players arent top tier hockey players. Well goalie you can take whoevers hot but Strome's just average nhl player in larger scale.

 

[yessir29292]

how so? there are loads of american hockey players that are born to a canadian parent and play in canada but then choose the US.

yeah usa hockey lives off hockey canada developed players

 

[MarkT]

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.

What? You mentioned he was one of the top even strength performers. I checked the numbers. He was behind a lot of guys who didn't even make my team. What's what I was showing you. Also, I didn't factor in age at all because the tournament is later this year, not some time in the distant future. If we were projecting Olympics rosters, I might care about age. And no, he doesn't need to put up McDavid numbers - he would need to put up numbers that put him among the best 13 or so Canadian forwards, and every scoring stat (and others as well) puts him in the 20-30 range - still a very good player, but not good enough to be on the national team.

The only reason I suggested you might be biased is because I have looked at the numbers and not found any that support your assertions. I have absolutely nothing against Lafrenière and honestly think it would be great if young guys like him made the team. I'm basing my team mostly on stats though because I don't have time to watch every single game.

I will say though, thank you for prompting me to look more at the even strength numbers. It made me go back at look at what I was using and put more emphasis on those - it's why I put Hyman and Verhaeghe on my updated team.

 

[JackSlater]

how so? there are loads of american hockey players that are born to a canadian parent and play in canada but then choose the US.

Yeah, and that doesn't make it less pathetic that Canada may end up hopeful to be selected by Joey Daccord at the best on best level.

 

[MarkT]

Yeah, and that doesn't make it less pathetic that Canada may end up hopeful to be selected by Joey Daccord at the best on best level.

I think you need some perspective. Go look at Team Sweden and how their goalies have been playing. If Canada has Talbot, Daccord, and Thompson, they'll have three guys who have all been playing well this year - that's better than we could have hoped for given how dismal Canada's goaltending options have been for a while. Remember when Skinner was likely a consensus choice?

 

[JackSlater]

I think you need some perspective. Go look at Team Sweden and how their goalies have been playing. If Canada has Talbot, Daccord, and Thompson, they'll have three guys who have all been playing well this year - that's better than we could have hoped for given how dismal Canada's goaltending options have been for a while. Remember when Skinner was likely a consensus choice?

My perspective is that Canada has never gone into anything like a best on best type event and been in a situation where the team would consider hoping that a Joey Daccord level player, who is not even from Canada, would choose Canada. Pathetic is the only word for it. I don't particularly care how Sweden's goaltenders have been playing.

 

[jj cale]

It is indeed pathetic, but that's where we find ourselves at this point in time.

Personally I don't want Daccord, I'd rather lose with the guys we have and get the message through loud and clear to HC then win with him.

We shouldn't need to be doing this. They should have been dealing with this ages ago like we all said.

 

[MarkT]

My perspective is that Canada has never gone into anything like a best on best type event and been in a situation where the team would consider hoping that a Joey Daccord level player, who is not even from Canada, would choose Canada. Pathetic is the only word for it. I don't particularly care how Sweden's goaltenders have been playing.

Call it pathetic if you want, but not putting Daccord on the team doesn't make the choices any less pathetic. It's a best on best tournament - you put the guys on the team who give you the best chance to win. The reason I mentioned Sweden, is all this moaning about team Canada's goalie choices starts to look pretty weird when you see that Sweden (known for developing top goalies, has even worse choices for their team. All their supposed best goalies are playing poorly, and they don't have the top end forward talent Canada does to balance it out.

It is indeed pathetic, but that's where we find ourselves at this point in time.

Personally I don't want Daccord, I'd rather lose with the guys we have and get the message through loud and clear to HC then win with him.

We shouldn't need to be doing this. They should have been dealing with this ages ago like we all said.

I agree Canada's overall development of goalies has become pathetic. But man, I don't envy your priorities if you rank sending a message to Hockey Canada as being more important than winning the tournament.

Like it not guys, but Daccord may end up being the best goalie available to us. Statistically, it's Talbot (now that's sad), but Daccord over the past two seasons is not far behind.

 

[jj cale]

I agree Canada's overall development of goalies has become pathetic. But man, I don't envy your priorities if you rank sending a message to Hockey Canada as being more important than winning the tournament.

Like it not guys, but Daccord may end up being the best goalie available to us. Statistically, it's Talbot (now that's sad), but Daccord over the past two seasons is not far behind.

Point taken and of course you always want to win but it's because of my priorities and the health of our program going forward that sending a message to TC, as painful as it will be, is probably needed.

It's the long game not the short one in some trumped up all star do wa diddy that counts for far more.

Better to swallow the bitter pill now then in future tournaments with far more stature.

 

[PanniniClaus]

Joey Daccord has now reached the level where he will be considered for International play. By whatever measure you want to use... He's in the unusual position of having three countries to chose from. So he chooses one.. I don't see what the big deal is at all as he's going to play for one of them so why not Canada?