Olympics: Team Canada 2018 Roster discussion

[JackSlater]

Any chance Mark Stone makes the team if he keeps up his trajectory?

Have to think so. Canada is going to want a defensive RW, and Carter is getting old. Bergeron probably plays with Crosby. O'Reilly and Couture are C or LW. I've really liked Stone whenever he has played for Canada. At some point I'm going to make a projection, and Stone will be on it.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron
Benn-McDavid-Seguin
Tavares-Toews-Stamkos
Hall-Scheifele-Mackinnon

Vlasic-Subban
Letang-Doughty
Brodie-Pietrangelo

Price
Holtby

 

[JackSlater]

Thinking of potential rosters for Canada, and I am actually very impressed by how many two way wing options Canada has. I've long said that I want Canada to go the speed route, and I still want that, but I can't remember Canada ever having access to this many high end two way wingers.

Left wing options (players who either play LW regularly or have LW experience): O'Reilly, Schwartz, Couture, Marchand

Right wing options (same as above): Stone, Scheifele, Bergeron, Carter

Canada could conceivably ice all forwards with very good to elite defence. That probably hasn't been true since the 1960s. Of course all of those players won't make the team, but it marks an underrated change in Canada's player production. Reinhart looks like a future addition to the above players.

I am also interested in hearing some thoughts about the play of some players from the 2016 World Cup, specifically Couture, Stamkos (bad as people said?), Getzlaf, O'Reilly, Burns and Giroux. Any feedback appreciated.

 

[Get North]

Thinking of potential rosters for Canada, and I am actually very impressed by how many two way wing options Canada has. I've long said that I want Canada to go the speed route, and I still want that, but I can't remember Canada ever having access to this many high end two way wingers.

Left wing options (players who either play LW regularly or have LW experience): O'Reilly, Schwartz, Couture, Marchand

Right wing options (same as above): Stone, Scheifele, Bergeron, Carter

Canada could conceivably ice all forwards with very good to elite defence. That probably hasn't been true since the 1960s. Of course all of those players won't make the team, but it marks an underrated change in Canada's player production. Reinhart looks like a future addition to the above players.

I am also interested in hearing some thoughts about the play of some players from the 2016 World Cup, specifically Couture, Stamkos (bad as people said?), Getzlaf, O'Reilly, Burns and Giroux. Any feedback appreciated.

I thought Burns had a good tourmament overall but I don't know if Burns is right for this type of hockey. He looks really fast and powerful in the NHL but at the World Cup his speed didn't stand out probably because everyone else could skate with him. I also thought defensively he had trouble containing shifty forwards and players who moved the puck quickly. Wasn't recognizable in the round robin, but against Europe he stopped moving his feet a lot. I don't really think we need his size out there when Letang can do more offensively and stay more reliable defensively. I think Burns is a unique player, but overall I don't think he's that good compared to someone like Letang who won the Stanley Cup as a #1 defenceman.

Getzlaf and Giroux were good. Giroux didn't get much playing time but it was more because of how good the team was not because he did anything poorly. Getzlaf was great, I really liked him. I never thought to myself, wow Getzlaf's skating is going to be a problem, he was in good position and his skating looked good enough to me. His puck skills, hockey sense, and size are superb. Stamkos was okay, didn't have many points, but he had chances offensively many times, finishing should have been better. He brought a good all-around game though, took the body, was reliable defensively and was disciplined. Couture and O'Reilly were excellent, came in and looked like better than some of the original selections. Couture fit well with Toews, created offence and had a good motor. He's a good fit on the bottom two lines with Toews IMO and I think Carter would be a good RW on that line. Speed, checking, and skating ability. O'Reilly was a horse, anybody who watched the tournament knows how well he did. All he was asked to do was to keep possession and play a good two-way game, he did exactly that. 0 points and I'm praising him, but you need a guy like O'Reilly just to balance out the offensive, skilled players.

My projection at 2018 probably goes as:

Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron
Benn-Seguin-Stamkos
Couture-Toews-Carter
O'Reilly-McDavid-Duchene
Tavares/Stone

Vlasic-Weber
Keith-Doughty
Rielly-Pietrangelo
Alzner/Letang

Price
Holtby
Jones

It was a tough roster to project, so many good players left like Toffoli, Scheifiele, MacKinnon, Perry, Getzlaf, Giroux, Hall, Monahan, etc. Much harder than previous ones because of all the young stars and the reliable players from '10, '14, and the World Cup. The tiebreaker was the face-offs. Guys like Duchene, Toews, Tavares, O'Reilly, Crosby, Seguin, Carter who have really high-end face-off skills. Maybe they'll improve their all-around games and the ones on my roster decline a little bit, but I think this group is going to be a good age. Most of these forwards will be around 26-32.

The defence wasn't too difficult. I don't think Ekblad is ready yet, the top 4 RD are clear to me, Weber, Doughty, Letang, Pietrangelo.. Subban, Ekblad, Burns come after. Top 4 LD are Vlasic, Keith, Brodie/Rielly/Alzner/Muzzin fight for 2 spots. I don't think Ryan Murray will get in there. Rather just take veteran Alzner.

 

[JackSlater]

I thought Burns had a good tourmament overall but I don't know if Burns is right for this type of hockey. He looks really fast and powerful in the NHL but at the World Cup his speed didn't stand out probably because everyone else could skate with him. I also thought defensively he had trouble containing shifty forwards and players who moved the puck quickly. Wasn't recognizable in the round robin, but against Europe he stopped moving his feet a lot. I don't really think we need his size out there when Letang can do more offensively and stay more reliable defensively. I think Burns is a unique player, but overall I don't think he's that good compared to someone like Letang who won the Stanley Cup as a #1 defenceman.

Getzlaf and Giroux were good. Giroux didn't get much playing time but it was more because of how good the team was not because he did anything poorly. Getzlaf was great, I really liked him. I never thought to myself, wow Getzlaf's skating is going to be a problem, he was in good position and his skating looked good enough to me. His puck skills, hockey sense, and size are superb. Stamkos was okay, didn't have many points, but he had chances offensively many times, finishing should have been better. He brought a good all-around game though, took the body, was reliable defensively and was disciplined. Couture and O'Reilly were excellent, came in and looked like better than some of the original selections. Couture fit well with Toews, created offence and had a good motor. He's a good fit on the bottom two lines with Toews IMO and I think Carter would be a good RW on that line. Speed, checking, and skating ability. O'Reilly was a horse, anybody who watched the tournament knows how well he did. All he was asked to do was to keep possession and play a good two-way game, he did exactly that. 0 points and I'm praising him, but you need a guy like O'Reilly just to balance out the offensive, skilled players.

My projection at 2018 probably goes as:

Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron
Benn-Seguin-Stamkos
Couture-Toews-Carter
O'Reilly-McDavid-Duchene
Tavares/Stone

Vlasic-Weber
Keith-Doughty
Rielly-Pietrangelo
Alzner/Letang

Price
Holtby
Jones

It was a tough roster to project, so many good players left like Toffoli, Scheifiele, MacKinnon, Perry, Getzlaf, Giroux, Hall, Monahan, etc. Much harder than previous ones because of all the young stars and the reliable players from '10, '14, and the World Cup. The tiebreaker was the face-offs. Guys like Duchene, Toews, Tavares, O'Reilly, Crosby, Seguin, Carter who have really high-end face-off skills. Maybe they'll improve their all-around games and the ones on my roster decline a little bit, but I think this group is going to be a good age. Most of these forwards will be around 26-32.

The defence wasn't too difficult. I don't think Ekblad is ready yet, the top 4 RD are clear to me, Weber, Doughty, Letang, Pietrangelo.. Subban, Ekblad, Burns come after. Top 4 LD are Vlasic, Keith, Brodie/Rielly/Alzner/Muzzin fight for 2 spots. I don't think Ryan Murray will get in there. Rather just take veteran Alzner.

Thanks for the information. Interesting to see Alzner, a few years ago I used to have high hopes for him. Not as much any more.

Thinking about a roster without NHL participation, which is a rather depressing exercise, it is always interesting to see the success of North American players in the top European leagues. Just looking at the consensus top three European leagues last year for instance, in the KHL three top ten scorers were Canadian and one was American (only two Russian top ten scorers in the NHL). Three Canadian defencemen in the all star game, and all four top scoring defencemen were Canadian. One Canadian, three Americans among the top ten SHL scorers (one Swede top ten scorer in NHL). In the Finnish Liiga, two Canadians were top ten in scoring and one American (No Finns were top ten in NHL scoring). Some of the top Canadians in the KHL now play for Belarus though.

I don't know enough about European hockey to make a roster, but I am guessing that a no-NHL Canadian team, or a no-NHL American team, would be surprisingly good. Throw in the best from those three leagues plus NLA and maybe some AHL talent and they would be competitive it seems.

 

[xxxx]

So how do people think could this team look like if the NHL participates? ...it's just 1 year and 4 months away after all, and the olympic camp will be announced as soon as after this season.

Who is going to make the camp? Who's going to be on the final roster?

And also, what are your thoughts about having McDavid and Crosby on the same team are you as excited as I am for a long time, I wasn't thinking about it much, but then it really hit me.... having Crosby in first line and McDavid in second...oh sweet jesus. This must be the best 1-2 punch in the last 25 years. Imagine them on the same power play even though I can totally see them playing separately to give both units that X factor. And does someone believe this could be the best offensive roster in the last 30 years, or maybe ever? I know there have been a lot of good teams playing for Canada, but I can't remember anything like the Crosby-McDavid duo since Lemieux-Gretzky, and then, players like Benn-Seguin, Tavares, Stamkos (who seems like he switched to the old Stamkos) MacKinnon (who plays really well at the start of this season), Hall (who is driving the NJD) might be somehwere in 3rd/4th lines

the last camp in 2013 had 5 goaltenders, 17 defensemen, and 25 forwards (it was 5/16/25 in 2009)

Here is my guess at the summer camp roster with a few players added who could be on the camp roster as well but didn't make it for me:

Goaltenders: (5x)
Corey Crawford
Marc-Andre Fleury
Braden Holtby
Matt Murray
Carey Price
* Jake Allen
* Martin Jones
* Roberto Luongo

Defensemen: (16x)
Karl Alzner
Tyson Barrie
T.J. Brodie
Brent Burns
Drew Doughty
Aaron Ekblad
Mark Giordano
Duncan Keith
Kris Letang
Ryan Murray
Jake Muzzin
Alex Pietrangelo
Morgan Rielly
P.K. Subban
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Shea Weber
* Jay Bouwmeester
* Travis Hamonic
* Brent Seabrook

Forwards: (25x)
Jamie Benn
Patrice Bergeron
Jeff Carter
Logan Couture
Sidney Crosby
Matt Duchene
Brandan Gallagher
Ryan Getzlaf
Claude Giroux
Taylor Hall
Nathan MacKinnon
Brad Marchand
Connor McDavid
Sean Monahan
Ryan O'Reilly
Corey Perry
Mark Scheifele
Tyler Seguin
Wayne Simmonds
Jason Spezza
Steven Stamkos
Mark Stone
John Tavares
Jonathan Toews
Tyler Toffoli
* Max Domi
*Jordan Eberle
* Ryan Johansen
* Rick Nash
* James Neal
* Nolan Patrick
* Jaden Schwartz
* Patrick Sharp
* Jordan Staal
* Eric Staal
* Joe Thornton

My opinion is that the first 3 lines are basically set already. The Crosby line at the World Cup was so good that I'm convinced this is going to be the #1 line. The second line will obviously feature Connor McDavid. He's either going to be paired with Benn and Seguin or has different linemates. The same applies to Toews. He either plays with Benn and Seguin, or has different linemates. I think that the Benn-Seguin duo will play together, and either with McDavid or Toews. Would be funny if they had their own line too so it would be Crosby-McDavid-Benn+Seguin-Toews as our four lines lol.

From the other forwards, Tavares is a lock obviously, and if the hot starts of Getzlaf (and Perry too) and Stamkos are an indication of good things to come, they are locks too. Then, Carter was in the initial roster for the WC, I'd think he is going to be on the team and could very well play with McDavid or Toews for example.

That leaves me Perry, Giroux, Hall, Duchene, O'Reilly, MacKinnon and Couture as the front runners for the remaing (3-4) spots imo, with Stone, Scheifele, Simmonds, and Gallagher also being in serious conversation.



Brad Marchand - Sidney Crosby - Patrice Bergeron
John Tavares - Connor McDavid - Steven Stamkos
Jamie Benn - Jonathan Toews - Tyler Seguin
Taylor Hall - Ryan Getzlaf - Jeff Carter
Nathan MacKinnon
Ryan O'Reilly/Corey Perry/Matt Duchene

Duncan Keith - Shea Weber
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Drew Doughty
Alex Pietrangelo - Brent Burns
P.K. Subban/Kris Letang/Aaron Ekblad
Morgan Rielly

Carey Price
Braden Holtby
Corey Crawford

 

[JackSlater]

So how do people think could this team look like if the NHL participates? ...it's just 1 year and 4 months away after all, and the olympic camp will be announced as soon as after this season.

Who is going to make the camp? Who's going to be on the final roster?

And also, what are your thoughts about having McDavid and Crosby on the same team are you as excited as I am for a long time, I wasn't thinking about it much, but then it really hit me.... having Crosby in first line and McDavid in second...oh sweet jesus. This must be the best 1-2 punch in the last 25 years. Imagine them on the same power play even though I can totally see them playing separately to give both units that X factor. And does someone believe this could be the best offensive roster in the last 30 years, or maybe ever? I know there have been a lot of good teams playing for Canada, but I can't remember anything like the Crosby-McDavid duo since Lemieux-Gretzky, and then, players like Benn-Seguin, Tavares, Stamkos (who seems like he switched to the old Stamkos) MacKinnon (who plays really well at the start of this season), Hall (who is driving the NJD) might be somehwere in 3rd/4th lines

the last camp in 2013 had 5 goaltenders, 17 defensemen, and 25 forwards (it was 5/16/25 in 2009)

Here is my guess at the summer camp roster with a few players added who could be on the camp roster as well but didn't make it for me:

Goaltenders: (5x)
Corey Crawford
Marc-Andre Fleury
Braden Holtby
Matt Murray
Carey Price
* Jake Allen
* Martin Jones
* Roberto Luongo

Defensemen: (16x)
Karl Alzner
Tyson Barrie
T.J. Brodie
Brent Burns
Drew Doughty
Aaron Ekblad
Mark Giordano
Duncan Keith
Kris Letang
Ryan Murray
Jake Muzzin
Alex Pietrangelo
Morgan Rielly
P.K. Subban
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Shea Weber
* Jay Bouwmeester
* Travis Hamonic
* Brent Seabrook

Forwards: (25x)
Jamie Benn
Patrice Bergeron
Jeff Carter
Logan Couture
Sidney Crosby
Matt Duchene
Brandan Gallagher
Ryan Getzlaf
Claude Giroux
Taylor Hall
Nathan MacKinnon
Brad Marchand
Connor McDavid
Sean Monahan
Ryan O'Reilly
Corey Perry
Mark Scheifele
Tyler Seguin
Wayne Simmonds
Jason Spezza
Steven Stamkos
Mark Stone
John Tavares
Jonathan Toews
Tyler Toffoli
* Max Domi
*Jordan Eberle
* Ryan Johansen
* Rick Nash
* James Neal
* Nolan Patrick
* Jaden Schwartz
* Patrick Sharp
* Jordan Staal
* Eric Staal
* Joe Thornton

My opinion is that the first 3 lines are basically set already. The Crosby line at the World Cup was so good that I'm convinced this is going to be the #1 line. The second line will obviously feature Connor McDavid. He's either going to be paired with Benn and Seguin or has different linemates. The same applies to Toews. He either plays with Benn and Seguin, or has different linemates. I think that the Benn-Seguin duo will play together, and either with McDavid or Toews. Would be funny if they had their own line too so it would be Crosby-McDavid-Benn+Seguin-Toews as our four lines lol.

From the other forwards, Tavares is a lock obviously, and if the hot starts of Getzlaf (and Perry too) and Stamkos are an indication of good things to come, they are locks too. Then, Carter was in the initial roster for the WC, I'd think he is going to be on the team and could very well play with McDavid or Toews for example.

That leaves me Perry, Giroux, Hall, Duchene, O'Reilly, MacKinnon and Couture as the front runners for the remaing (3-4) spots imo, with Stone, Scheifele, Simmonds, and Gallagher also being in serious conversation.



Brad Marchand - Sidney Crosby - Patrice Bergeron
John Tavares - Connor McDavid - Steven Stamkos
Jamie Benn - Jonathan Toews - Tyler Seguin
Taylor Hall - Ryan Getzlaf - Jeff Carter
Nathan MacKinnon
Ryan O'Reilly/Corey Perry/Matt Duchene

Duncan Keith - Shea Weber
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Drew Doughty
Alex Pietrangelo - Brent Burns
P.K. Subban/Kris Letang/Aaron Ekblad
Morgan Rielly

Carey Price
Braden Holtby
Corey Crawford

Crosby and McDavid should have already played together. The idiocy of the NHL messed that up though. I'm not sure that the top end talent for Canada right now is all that special (recall that even in say 1996 Canada could run, all basically in their primes, Lindros Sakic Messier Yzerman down the middle even with Lemieux sitting at home) but as you suggest, the depth at forward is exceptional. I'm not sure that there has ever been a team Canada with better offensive depth at its disposal. Also, as you said, Stamkos looks much better this year. Simpler, much more effective game from him.

I think you did quite well to name the players that would likely be at a Canadian camp. Maybe one or two young guys (like a Drouin) could surprise this year and make the camp, but it's likely very similar to what you listed. When it comes to who gets picked, even if we assume NHL participation for now, a lot comes down to the coach. I have wanted a speed approach since 2014, and the potential is there for an elite speed team. NHL participation s the biggest thing for now though. Other nations have a lot of good young talent, but in 2018 Canada will still have a massive edge over everyone else. It will be unfortunate if Canada misses out on a relatively easy big win in 2018, because it will be more competitive at the top soon.

 

[SB164]

Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron
Benn-McDavid-Seguin
Tavares-Toews-Stamkos
Hall-Scheifele-Mackinnon

Vlasic-Subban
Letang-Doughty
Brodie-Pietrangelo

Price
Holtby

As long as they're still playing at a high level, and they are, Team Canada will always have a place for Duncan Keith and Shea Weber.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

Marchand Crosby Bergeron
Tavares McDavid Stamkos
Benn Toews Carter
Duchene O'Rielly Mackinnon
Getzlaf

Vlasic Doughty
Keith Weber
Pietrangelo Letang
Brodie

Price
Holtby/Crawford

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Marchand Crosby Bergeron
Tavares McDavid Stamkos
Benn Toews Carter
Duchene O'Rielly Mackinnon
Getzlaf

Vlasic Doughty
Keith Weber
Pietrangelo Letang
Brodie

Price
Holtby/Crawford

Nope, not happening. No experience with Team Canada or performance in high level Hockey (playoffs). Stupid move skipping Worlds last year, he lost his chance. And he can't skate like Jay Bouwmeester.

 

[goteam]

Thinking about a roster without NHL participation, which is a rather depressing exercise, it is always interesting to see the success of North American players in the top European leagues. Just looking at the consensus top three European leagues last year for instance, in the KHL three top ten scorers were Canadian and one was American (only two Russian top ten scorers in the NHL). Three Canadian defencemen in the all star game, and all four top scoring defencemen were Canadian. One Canadian, three Americans among the top ten SHL scorers (one Swede top ten scorer in NHL). In the Finnish Liiga, two Canadians were top ten in scoring and one American (No Finns were top ten in NHL scoring). Some of the top Canadians in the KHL now play for Belarus though.

I don't know enough about European hockey to make a roster, but I am guessing that a no-NHL Canadian team, or a no-NHL American team, would be surprisingly good. Throw in the best from those three leagues plus NLA and maybe some AHL talent and they would be competitive it seems.

I posted such a roster earlier in this thread

 

[OldGreatWestern]

Tavares - Crosby - Stamkos
Benn - McDavid - Seguin
Duchene - Toews - Mackinnon
Hall - Getzlaf - Perry

Keith - Doughty
Vlasic - Weber
Pietrbngelo - Burns

Price

 

[Mighty Makar]

As long as they're still playing at a high level, and they are, Team Canada will always have a place for Duncan Keith and Shea Weber.

I agree, they'll be on the team if NHL players are allowed to go.

 

[Tutu to]

marchand-crosby-bergeron
stamkos-mcdavid-tavares
carter-toews-giroux
benn-getzlaf-seguin
perry

 

[Butch26]

LOCK IN
Crosby
Bergeron
Benn
Seguin
Stamkos
Tavares
Toews
Mcdavid
Marchand

So top 9 are lock

Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron
Benn - McDavid - Seguin
Stamkos - Toews - Tavares
Duchene - Giroux - Scheifele
Mackinnon

Scheifele deserve a spot . Dominant this year and have big size . Typical player of Team Canada
Giroux . 1 pts per game , deserve a spot too .
Duchene will made it . Play very well when is play for Team Canada
Hall/Mackinnon/Couture is good option for 13th . Loving to see Mackinnon but he have to be more dominate at Av's

Perry and Geztlaf could be back too . But i really think that Scheifele will make this team and dont know how Team Canade can cut Giroux

 

[jj cale]

LOCK IN
Crosby
Bergeron
Benn
Seguin
Stamkos
Tavares
Toews
Mcdavid
Marchand

So top 9 are lock

Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron
Benn - McDavid - Seguin
Stamkos - Toews - Tavares
Duchene - Giroux - Scheifele
Mackinnon

Scheifele deserve a spot . Dominant this year and have big size . Typical player of Team Canada
Giroux . 1 pts per game , deserve a spot too .
Duchene will made it . Play very well when is play for Team Canada
Hall/Mackinnon/Couture is good option for 13th . Loving to see Mackinnon but he have to be more dominate at Av's

Perry and Geztlaf could be back too . But i really think that Scheifele will make this team and dont know how Team Canade can cut Giroux

Not sure Giroux would get the nod in 2018, he was even the guy in the press box at the WHC, still, he does have a decent enough chance.

I think Mackinnon will get the call in 2018. He is young and has blazing speed with a rocket shot and has shown when he plays with good/great players that he can be a real force. Think he will be almost an automatic pick in 2018 and be thrown on the wing.

 

[Calgareee]

Nope, not happening. No experience with Team Canada or performance in high level Hockey (playoffs). Stupid move skipping Worlds last year, he lost his chance. And he can't skate like Jay Bouwmeester.

As far as both he and Gio skipping the worlds I can agree that they kinda shot themselves in the foot as far as getting some experience with the national program.

But the bolded... I gotta wonder, do you watch many Flames games? Granted Brodie hasn't been great to start this year but he is one of the best skating defenseman in the league and is at bare minimum on par with Bouwmeester. And Jaybo isn't the skater he was.

 

[Butch26]

Feel bad for Giroux . Never have her chair . One of top player of world since 2010.... I put him on team because he deserve it but i will not shock if Couture or Geztlaf gets in

 

[Appleyard]

Feel bad for Giroux . Never have her chair . One of top player of world since 2010.... I put him on team because he deserve it but i will not shock if Couture or Geztlaf gets in

Seemed from the World Cup that management really wanted/thought he would be a big part of the team and Babcock thought otherwise tbh.

 

[JackSlater]

LOCK IN
Crosby
Bergeron
Benn
Seguin
Stamkos
Tavares
Toews
Mcdavid
Marchand

So top 9 are lock

Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron
Benn - McDavid - Seguin
Stamkos - Toews - Tavares
Duchene - Giroux - Scheifele
Mackinnon

Scheifele deserve a spot . Dominant this year and have big size . Typical player of Team Canada
Giroux . 1 pts per game , deserve a spot too .
Duchene will made it . Play very well when is play for Team Canada
Hall/Mackinnon/Couture is good option for 13th . Loving to see Mackinnon but he have to be more dominate at Av's

Perry and Geztlaf could be back too . But i really think that Scheifele will make this team and dont know how Team Canade can cut Giroux

That's a good projection. It is difficult to predict though (even assuming that the NHL participates) until we know who the coach and GM are. For instance if Babcock is back and the GM is someone pretty typical, Jeff Carter will (deservedly) get a lot of consideration for a RW spot. As of right now I would be very satisfied if your forward group was sent to represent Canada though.

 

[Butch26]

Yeah your right ! But i think Carter will not come back , time to put some new guys in this group like what we do in 2010 when Canada put some young star

In D
Lock In are Drew Doughty , Duncan Keith and Shea Weber . Not a fans of Weber but these 3 will come back so we have 2 R and 1 L . Think Vlasic play very well with Team Canada and fit in system so he will come back too . The third L is always tigh . Why not try Rielly ? Have a good feet and some offensive upside , i think he's better than Giordano/Muzzin/Bouwm but i don't think TC will take it . I put Burns and Letang in for 2 last spot . If i was GM , Subban will be on my team but he's not the stye of TC .

Keith - Weber
Vlasic - Doughty
Rielly - Burns
Letang

Price
Holtby
Crawford

 

[chunkylover53]

On that with the previous posters, yeah there are guys the current regime likes and doesn't. For example, they like Jeff Carter but don't like PK Subban. As I see things right now I don't see Subban making that roster. You can kinda start to predict guys they like and don't.

 

[DJB]

Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron
Benn - McDavid - Seguin
Tavares - Toews - Stamkos
O'Reilly - Getzlaf - Carter
Hall, Perry

For the record I don't want Carter or Getzlaf, just what I expect the team too look like

 

[jaric1862]

Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron
Benn-Mcdavid-Seguin
Tavares-Toews-Stamkos
O'Reilly-Getzlaf-Mackinnon
Duchene-Carter

Keith-Weber
Vlasic-Doughty
Bouwmeester-Burns
Pietanglo

Price-Holtby-Crawford

Next time around is when i see more of a youth injection into the lineup.

 

[therealdeal]

LOCK IN
Crosby
Bergeron
Benn
Seguin
Stamkos
Tavares
Toews
Mcdavid
Marchand

So top 9 are lock

Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron
Benn - McDavid - Seguin
Stamkos - Toews - Tavares
Duchene - Giroux - Scheifele
Mackinnon

Scheifele deserve a spot . Dominant this year and have big size . Typical player of Team Canada
Giroux . 1 pts per game , deserve a spot too .
Duchene will made it . Play very well when is play for Team Canada
Hall/Mackinnon/Couture is good option for 13th . Loving to see Mackinnon but he have to be more dominate at Av's

Perry and Geztlaf could be back too . But i really think that Scheifele will make this team and dont know how Team Canade can cut Giroux

I think in your LOCKED IN portion, I would take out Marchand. I think he played really well there for a little while, but I don't know if he's necessarily a lock. Also, I think that Carter is a lock. Hockey Canada friggin loves that guy, and he's having another good season. He can skate, and he's big, and he knows defense.

Toews I don't think should be a lock. But I agree that he is.

I think the most worrying thing about the team could be the defense. I think there are tons of great options, I'm just interested to see who they pick.
-I don't think Weber is good enough anymore for the bigger ice. I think on the smaller ice, he may be okay to go still in 2018, but not the big ice. However I believe they'll still pick him.
-I don't get to watch Keith a lot, so I admit ignorance here, but is he slowing down at all? He's not young anymore.
-That Bouwmeesters name keeps getting thrown around in here a lot is pretty scary.
-I think we'll see Reilly there for two reasons, he's pretty damn good, and he'll have 2 full seasons of Babcock, so he should be more defensively sound.
-It's scary in the past that they've gone with subpar rosters, leaving off Subban, Letang, Gio for players that aren't as good.

I think the locks that I'm actually confident in on defense are:
Burns
Doughty
Vlasic
Petro

Edit: And throw Chabot in there, just to be safe.