World Cup: Four Nations Tournament-Team Canada

[Hodge]

This is what I think to. I’m Canadian but I’ve seen 1996, 1998 and 2006, and Canada finished out of top 3 in the latter 2. It happens and it typically happens when it’s a changing of the guard where hall of farmers are past their prime/retired and the Calvary are just entering the nhl.

McDavid, MacKinnon and Makar are literally the three best players in the world and all in their prime.

 

[Nucks2001]

Both Bo Byram and Owen Power have seem to have turned a page in Buffalo. Keep an eye out for them for 2026 Olympics consideration.

 

[centipede2233]

McDavid, MacKinnon and Makar are literally the three best players in the world and all in their prime.

The problem is having the 3 best players in the world doesn’t move the needle in hockey. Edmonton has the best 2 players in the world, how’s that working out for them?

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Would have preferred a Robert Thomas over a Same Bennett. More versatile

This is one of the most absurd comments I've read.

Sam Bennett is arguably the most versatile player in the league. He can literally do everything in all 3 zones, in all 3 positions, in all 3 situations. He's a great skater and puck carrier, great passer, great around the net, heavy wrist shot, elite body checking, and solid defensively. On top of all the skill, he's a gritty competitor, big game player, and is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the league.

He can play the game any way you want. Puck carrying playmaking center? Check.
Power forward who crashes the net? Check.
Two way center? Check.
Energy line pest? Check.
Enforcer? Check.

Dude has averaged a 25 goal 61 point pace during the Panthers two playoff runs, ahead of Reinhart, with excellent possession numbers. And whether you like it or not, his warrior style took key players out of key games vs tough opponents.

He's been Florida's most valuable Canadian player the last two playoffs. In terms of overall impact, Barkov is the only Panther I would take in a best on best playoff style game.



As a USA fan I'm praying that they leave Bennett at home. There's a reason so guys like Tkachuk and Huberdeau had their career seasons from his wing.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

In a predictive situation, anyone can be wrong about anything. Marner could be great and Bedard might suck. Absolutely true.

But Marner has consistently sucked in big moments. Every year it's the same story with him. The bigger the game the worse he plays. I personally would not have him on the roster regardless.

On the flipside, for all the crap Bedard has gotten, he's on the absolute worst team in the league. He's got no assistance and is still putting up decent numbers. His shot is as good as anyone's in the league and I see no reason to believe that he wouldn't kill it with McDavid. I'd take him over Marner all day long.

The best predictor of future performance is past success. Bedard has put up generational numbers in the Juniors. I think with a great team he'd produce here again. Marner on the other hand consistently chokes in big games. I wouldn't want to rely on him for anything.

Pro hockey success is a better predictor of best on best success than junior hockey success. And even if it wasn't, surely you must consider Marner's excellent CHL playoff record, ending in him leading his team to a memorial cup win with 44 points in only 18 playoff games?

Bedard's lack of strength and mediocre skating would not translate very well in the type of hockey we're going to see. Like Marner, Matthews has had some great playoff moments and some not so great, but we're not going to leave him off the team for Logan Cooley or Trevor Zegras.

I personally would've lobbied for Bedard as a 13th forward, if only to give them an option to shake things up if the PP is struggling. He's a great option as a right circle catch and release shooter who can just as easily make a seam pass. With abundant time and space, he's probably already a top 3-5 offensive threat among Canadian forwards. But you'd probably have to heavily shelter him at 5v5 (or maybe hide him completely).

 

[TheBeastCoast]

The problem is having the 3 best players in the world doesn’t move the needle in hockey. Edmonton has the best 2 players in the world, how’s that working out for them?

I mean they did get to game 7 of the cup finals last year.

 

[Tuna99]

Politics is a part of any national team selection but Montembaukt is only there because if not a team Canada wouldn’t have a Québec born player and it would be a thing

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

Politics is a part of any national team selection but Montembaukt is only there because if not a team Canada wouldn’t have a Québec born player and it would be a thing

He’s also the only goalie on the team with any type of international success.

Binnington was dreadful at the worlds while Monty was the teams best player when he went and won gold.

 

[Tuna99]

He’s also the only goalie on the team with any type of international success.

Binnington was dreadful at the worlds while Monty was the teams best player when he went and won gold.

His career high is 16 wins and he has ever sniffed the playoffs let alone been considered a starter.

 

[HFpapi]

Solid roster for this tournament and probably the right (read: safe) picks with guys like Stone, Cirelli, Hagel, Bennett, etc doing so well this season.

I hope once the Olympics roll around however they are more willing to roll the dice on younger skilled guys like Bedard, Johnston, Lafreniere, and maybe even Celebrini.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

His career high is 16 wins and he has ever sniffed the playoffs let alone been considered a starter.

We’re building a team for an international tournament not a Stanley cup run. As shown at many international tournaments there is a difference when it comes to goaltending

 

[DRL]

The problem is having the 3 best players in the world doesn’t move the needle in hockey. Edmonton has the best 2 players in the world, how’s that working out for them?

One win away from a cup?

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Politics is a part of any national team selection but Montembaukt is only there because if not a team Canada wouldn’t have a Québec born player and it would be a thing

Montembeault plays on a worse team than Hill, but has a better save percentage and only a slightly higher goals against average

Same thing for Binnington.

Right now, if those are indeed those 3 there's only one goalie with a save percentage over 900 and overall that's pretty sad, but still.

Monty deserves this because he's played well in a weak group, or an extremely weak group if you compare it to what Canada is use to.


I'd take Weegar over Parayko and Sanheim

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Pro hockey success is a better predictor of best on best success than junior hockey success. And even if it wasn't, surely you must consider Marner's excellent CHL playoff record, ending in him leading his team to a memorial cup win with 44 points in only 18 playoff games?

I’ve seen enough of Marner to know that he hasn’t risen to the occasion in the past. No he would not be on my team.

That being said, he has the talent to produce. Every year I wonder if this is finally the year. He’s never done it but that doesn’t mean that he can’t.

To me he falls into that Joe Thornton type player. Super talented but doesn’t show up when it matters. Maybe this is the year…

Bedard's lack of strength and mediocre skating would not translate very well in the type of hockey we're going to see. Like Marner, Matthews has had some great playoff moments and some not so great, but we're not going to leave him off the team for Logan Cooley or Trevor Zegras.

I personally would've lobbied for Bedard as a 13th forward, if only to give them an option to shake things up if the PP is struggling. He's a great option as a right circle catch and release shooter who can just as easily make a seam pass. With abundant time and space, he's probably already a top 3-5 offensive threat among Canadian forwards. But you'd probably have to heavily shelter him at 5v5 (or maybe hide him completely).

I’d take Bedard and throw him with McDavid. As I said, I think they’d kill it and I think Nedard would be better for it going forward. Canada will be counting on him heavily in the future. It’s worth bringing him out for this.

If they don’t… okay cool. But he’d be on my team.

 

[hockey20000]

I’ve seen enough of Marner to know that he hasn’t risen to the occasion in the past. No he would not be on my team.

That being said, he has the talent to produce. Every year I wonder if this is finally the year. He’s never done it but that doesn’t mean that he can’t.

To me he falls into that Joe Thornton type player. Super talented but doesn’t show up when it matters. Maybe this is the year…

I’d take Bedard and throw him with McDavid. As I said, I think they’d kill it and I think Nedard would be better for it going forward. Canada will be counting on him heavily in the future. It’s worth bringing him out for this.

If they don’t… okay cool. But he’d be on my team.

as much as i dislike toronto there's no way marner wasn't making this team lol

 

[Zybalto]

I’ve seen enough of Marner to know that he hasn’t risen to the occasion in the past. No he would not be on my team.

That being said, he has the talent to produce. Every year I wonder if this is finally the year. He’s never done it but that doesn’t mean that he can’t.

The problem with Marner in the playoffs is that the numbers are so divorced from the narrative, it's hard to process.. Guys like Kucherov and Crosby have the same strange variance in that their "elimination game" points production falls off a cliff in the playoffs (I believe there was actually a thread about Crosby concerning this on the main boards a while ago but that got mostly shut down by posters). You can go after him for the Leafs awful PP I guess but it still remains that over the last 3 years in the playoffs, Marner is PPG and is one of the best defensive wingers in the league (who takes matchup minutes against the Kucherovs and Pastas of the league). It's why his 5v5 goal differential is so crazy high in the playoffs.

Ranking the forwards on the team by points/game over the last 3 playoffs:

1. McDavid: 1,792
2. Crosby: 1.667 (but hasnt been there the last 2 playoffs)
3. Marchand: 1.240
4. MacKinnon: 1.184
5. Marner: 1.000
6. Stone: 0.931
7. Point: 0.700
8. Jarvis: 0.675
9. Bennett: 0.653
10. Reinhart: 0.600
11. Cirelli: 0.471
12. Hagel: 0.471
13. Konecny: N/A (hasnt been in the playoffs the last 3 years)

Ranking the forwards on the team by 5v5 goal differential over the last 3 playoffs:

1. Jarvis: 66.42%
2. Marner: 64.20%
3. McDavid: 63.50%
4. MacKinnon: 61.93%
5. Crosby: 58.91% (but hasnt been there the last 2 playoffs)
6. Marchand: 55.47%
7. Point: 51.91%
8. Bennet: 51.37%
9. Reinhart: 51.96%
10. Stone: 49.65%
11. Hagel: 49.07%
12. Cirelli: 41.37%
13. Konecny: N/A (hasnt been in the playoffs the last 3 years)

Statistically, Marner is in the same boat as a guy like McDavid in that his teams have regularly had among the worst support from its bottom six and the Leafs goaltending has been abysmal just like the Oilers and maybe even worse (the Leafs starter has been pulled the last two series and their starter before that was thrown out of the league for being useless).

I mean, you can just not play him on the PP I guess because, other than that, the numbers say not picking Marner for his playoff play to be foolish.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The problem with Marner in the playoffs is that the numbers are so divorced from the narrative, it's hard to process.. Guys like Kucherov and Crosby have the same strange variance in that their "elimination game" points production falls off a cliff in the playoffs (I believe there was actually a thread about Crosby concerning this on the main boards a while ago but that got mostly shut down by posters). You can go after him for the Leafs awful PP I guess but it still remains that over the last 3 years in the playoffs, Marner is PPG and is one of the best defensive wingers in the league (who takes matchup minutes against the Kucherovs and Pastas of the league). It's why his 5v5 goal differential is so crazy high in the playoffs.

Ranking the forwards on the team by points/game over the last 3 playoffs:

1. McDavid: 1,792
2. Crosby: 1.667 (but hasnt been there the last 2 playoffs)
3. Marchand: 1.240
4. MacKinnon: 1.184
5. Marner: 1.000
6. Stone: 0.931
7. Point: 0.700
8. Jarvis: 0.675
9. Bennett: 0.653
10. Reinhart: 0.600
11. Cirelli: 0.471
12. Hagel: 0.471
13. Konecny: N/A (hasnt been in the playoffs the last 3 years)

Ranking the forwards on the team by 5v5 goal differential over the last 3 playoffs:

1. Jarvis: 66.42%
2. Marner: 64.20%
3. McDavid: 63.50%
4. MacKinnon: 61.93%
5. Crosby: 58.91% (but hasnt been there the last 2 playoffs)
6. Marchand: 55.47%
7. Point: 51.91%
8. Bennet: 51.37%
9. Reinhart: 51.96%
10. Stone: 49.65%
11. Hagel: 49.07%
12. Cirelli: 41.37%
13. Konecny: N/A (hasnt been in the playoffs the last 3 years)

Statistically, Marner is in the same boat as a guy like McDavid in that his teams have regularly had among the worst support from its bottom six and the Leafs goaltending has been abysmal just like the Oilers and maybe even worse (the Leafs starter has been pulled the last two series and their starter before that was thrown out of the league for being useless).

I mean, you can just not play him on the PP I guess because, other than that, the numbers say not picking Marner for his playoff play to be foolish.

Marner racks up assists early in the series. And that’s great. But as the series wears on his production dries up. And his goal scoring in the postseason is pitiful.

Here’s his postseason production by game.

Game 1: 4G 5A in 9 games
Game 2: 4G 7A in 9 games
Game 3: 0G 9A in 9 games
Game 4: 1G 9A in 8 games
Game 5: 0G 5A in 8 games
Game 6: 1G 1A in 7 games
Game 7: 0G 2A in 5 games

Absolutely brutal. And that doesn’t even get into the fact that he chokes defensively, takes and dumb penalties in the absolute worst moments. He’s awful under pressure.

Past game 2 in his playoff career he has 2 goals in 37 games. That’s disgraceful.

 

[Hodge]

The problem is having the 3 best players in the world doesn’t move the needle in hockey. Edmonton has the best 2 players in the world, how’s that working out for them?

You can't be serious with this comment. Every single defenseman on Team Canada is better than the Oilers' best defenseman and the forward depth isn't even comparable. Also the Oilers still made it to Game 7 of the SCF last season.

 

[57special]

Both Bo Byram and Owen Power have seem to have turned a page in Buffalo. Keep an eye out for them for 2026 Olympics consideration.

They have? What in the world would make you think that they have "turned the page"?

 

[JackSlater]

There is too much worry about Marner. I am not really a fan of his but he has played his way onto the team. He also does have the stink of his performances in big games, but realistically on Canada he is not a key player but rather a complementary player. I think he'll be fine as a complementary player who can contribute defensively and carry the puck with some skill.

Of note for Canada is where some of the presumably selected players are in terms of even strength scoring. For most of these players it does not matter how they play on the power play because McDavid, MacKinnon, Makar are the focal points of the power play and probably Point/Reinhart/Crosby to some degree. It is notable that at the moment, Konecny and Hagel are top 10 in even strength scoring with Konecny clear away as Philadelphia's best even strength scorer and Hagel ahead of Kucherov. Reinhart is 11 in even strength scoring, Marner and Cirelli are top 20, while Crosby and Bennett are top 30.

This is one of the most absurd comments I've read.

Sam Bennett is arguably the most versatile player in the league. He can literally do everything in all 3 zones, in all 3 positions, in all 3 situations. He's a great skater and puck carrier, great passer, great around the net, heavy wrist shot, elite body checking, and solid defensively. On top of all the skill, he's a gritty competitor, big game player, and is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the league.

He can play the game any way you want. Puck carrying playmaking center? Check.
Power forward who crashes the net? Check.
Two way center? Check.
Energy line pest? Check.
Enforcer? Check.

Dude has averaged a 25 goal 61 point pace during the Panthers two playoff runs, ahead of Reinhart, with excellent possession numbers. And whether you like it or not, his warrior style took key players out of key games vs tough opponents.

He's been Florida's most valuable Canadian player the last two playoffs. In terms of overall impact, Barkov is the only Panther I would take in a best on best playoff style game.



As a USA fan I'm praying that they leave Bennett at home. There's a reason so guys like Tkachuk and Huberdeau had their career seasons from his wing.

If there was always going to be a Wilson or Bennett on the team, which is probably the case, then Bennett was clearly the right choice. Bennett deserves it with his play this year and has a solid pedigree.

 

[Nucks2001]

This is one of the most absurd comments I've read.

Sam Bennett is arguably the most versatile player in the league. He can literally do everything in all 3 zones, in all 3 positions, in all 3 situations. He's a great skater and puck carrier, great passer, great around the net, heavy wrist shot, elite body checking, and solid defensively. On top of all the skill, he's a gritty competitor, big game player, and is one of the best pound for pound fighters in the league.

He can play the game any way you want. Puck carrying playmaking center? Check.
Power forward who crashes the net? Check.
Two way center? Check.
Energy line pest? Check.
Enforcer? Check.

Dude has averaged a 25 goal 61 point pace during the Panthers two playoff runs, ahead of Reinhart, with excellent possession numbers. And whether you like it or not, his warrior style took key players out of key games vs tough opponents.

He's been Florida's most valuable Canadian player the last two playoffs. In terms of overall impact, Barkov is the only Panther I would take in a best on best playoff style game.



As a USA fan I'm praying that they leave Bennett at home. There's a reason so guys like Tkachuk and Huberdeau had their career seasons from his wing.

Robert Thomas is a better playmaker, skater, passer, face-off taker, actually kills penalties very well (something that Bennett does not), younger and is just flat-out more skilled. Yes, Bennett is perhaps a better forechecker and more of a “power forward,” but to say he’s not a better player than Bennett, let alone a fit for Team Canada is absurd. Thomas has also played the RW before as well. Could Sam Bennett be an interesting piece to add? Sure, but I can’t justify taking him over Robert Thomas, especially because of all the grinders that Canada is speculating to take. You need a mix of skill and grit in the bottom 6 and I don’t like the fact that potentially Canada’s 3rd and 4th line centers are Bennett and a Cirelli, when you have legit 1st line superstars that could fill those center spots and move Cirelli and Bennett to the wings.

 

[Voight]

Thomas not making the team is pretty surprising, as good as Bennett is, I wouldn't take him over RT.

Jarvis being chosen over the likes of Thomas and Schiefele is.... interesting to say the least.

 

[Voight]

Their loss

Not really. Suzuki doesn't move the needle.

 

[Voight]

Just a reminder that Stamkos (and St. Louis) were both left off the 2010 Olympic team BY THEIR OWN GM, at a specific time iirc when Stamkos was leading the NHL in goals as a sophomore.

Anyone surprised by Bedard's omission, if that is indeed what happens, shouldn't be.

To be fair, Team Canada rarely brings sophomores to the Olympics. Doughty was a special case given his instant impact as an elite defensemen. They usually give non lock spots to veterans and guys who've been around a while.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

Thomas not making the team is pretty surprising, as good as Bennett is, I wouldn't take him over RT.

Jarvis being chosen over the likes of Thomas and Schiefele is.... interesting to say the least.

I can get why they chose Jarvis over Scheifele. Scheifele probably isn't the guy you want starting as your 13th forward, getting minimal ES minutes (or even game action) and no PP time, not great defensively, doesn't PK.

Thomas is a head-scratcher, if for no other reason that he's a natural centre and you can really never have enough centres...particularly when some of the centres that were chosen may be better suited to the wing (e.g., Bennett).