Team Canada 2022

[OldGreatWestern]

Huberdeau – McDavid – Mackinnon
Marchand – Crosby – Bergeron
Stamkos – Point – Marner
O’Reilly – Couturier – Stone
Scheifele / Tavares

 

[Sweetpotato]

Huberdeau – McDavid – Mackinnon
Marchand – Crosby – Bergeron
Stamkos – Point – Marner
O’Reilly – Couturier – Stone
Scheifele / Tavares

This is roughly what I'm predicting as well.

 

[jcs0218]

There is time for him to bounce-back. But as of now, Carter Hart has played his way off the team.

Going into the season, a lot of people had Price/Hart/Binnington as the 3 goaltenders.

Hart doesn't look like a good pick at the moment. Unlike Price, he doesn't have nearly the same track-record of success to give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Huberdeau - McDavid - Stone
Point - MacKinnon - Marner
Bergeron - Crosby Marchand
Scheifele - O’Reilly - Couturier
Stamkos

Theadore - Ekblad
Girard - Makar
Nurse - Doughty
Chabot

Fleury
Blackwood
Binnington

 

[jcs0218]

Huberdeau - McDavid - Stone
Point - MacKinnon - Marner
Bergeron - Crosby Marchand
Scheifele - O’Reilly - Couturier
Stamkos

Theadore - Ekblad
Girard - Makar
Nurse - Doughty
Chabot

Fleury
Blackwood
Binnington

That is what I see the forwards looking like. Those exact 13 players.

I think that defense is too young though. Plus, Pietrangelo is a lock. I can't see any scenario where he doesn't make the team, unless he is injured.

For goaltender's, I have always maintained and will continue to maintain that Price will make the team. He is the proven international goalie for Canada. If you take him and he stinks in the first game, then you can move off him. But he will get picked and be given the chance to lose the starting job, the same way Brodeur was in 2010. I won't believe he doesn't the team until I see it happen.

 

[therealdeal]

That is what I see the forwards looking like. Those exact 13 players.

I think that defense is too young though. Plus, Pietrangelo is a lock. I can't see any scenario where he doesn't make the team, unless he is injured.

For goaltender's, I have always maintained and will continue to maintain that Price will make the team. He is the proven international goalie for Canada. If you take him and he stinks in the first game, then you can move off him. But he will get picked and be given the chance to lose the starting job, the same way Brodeur was in 2010. I won't believe he doesn't the team until I see it happen.

I don’t think Price makes it in his current form. He’s not playing well enough. We shouldn’t bring on old dogs, he was well respected by Hockey Canada, no need.

Canada has lots of goalies that are easily capable of winning a gold. They don’t need to be total game breakers, they need to be dependable. MAF wins a lot of games with Vegas, and Team Canada will be equivalent to Vegas on steroids. Pick the best goalies.

 

[heretik27]

I don’t think Price makes it in his current form. He’s not playing well enough. We shouldn’t bring on old dogs, he was well respected by Hockey Canada, no need.

Canada has lots of goalies that are easily capable of winning a gold. They don’t need to be total game breakers, they need to be dependable. MAF wins a lot of games with Vegas, and Team Canada will be equivalent to Vegas on steroids. Pick the best goalies.

Old dogs? MAF is 3 years older than Price. Canada's goaltending situation is crap, you take whoever's the hottest going in and hope for the best.

 

[jcs0218]

I don’t think Price makes it in his current form. He’s not playing well enough. We shouldn’t bring on old dogs, he was well respected by Hockey Canada, no need.

Canada has lots of goalies that are easily capable of winning a gold. They don’t need to be total game breakers, they need to be dependable. MAF wins a lot of games with Vegas, and Team Canada will be equivalent to Vegas on steroids. Pick the best goalies.

Old dogs? MAF is 3 years older than Price. Canada's goaltending situation is crap, you take whoever's the hottest going in and hope for the best.

Fleury has been playing very well this season.

But let's not forget that he was starting to fall off a cliff a year ago, and is 36 years old now. Things were starting to deteriorate so fast for Fleury that he had lost his starting job with Vegas, and he was a candidate for "our player for a 7th round pick" type of deal just so Vegas could get rid of his salary-cap hit. If any team in the NHL was willing to absorb his salary cap hit, then he wouldn't be with Vegas now. I am sure Vegas would have rather traded Fleury rather than Schmidt when trying to make room for Pietrangelo.

This season might be a late career rebound, or it might also be his last gasp as an effective goaltender.

It isn't out of the realm of possibility that he declines very hard between now and 9-10 months from now when the team is picked.

 

[JackSlater]

You're probably right about the handedness. I don't remember anyone ever talking about it (or about faceoff handedness), so I presumed it was a Babcock thing. Shows how attentive to detail these high-level coaches are. Our thoughts are aligned on Huberdeau, as they are with Stamkos lining up on the left side - I like the idea of him playing on his wrong side, with a better shooting angle at the net. The guy catches some criticism for not being quite the same player as he used to be, but he's still very good, very good at faceoffs (Schiefele is weak on the dot), and still Canada's best pure triggerman. Would you propose matching up the Crosby line against the opposition's top scoring line (like the Toews lines in Vancouver and Sochi)? That's how I would play it. McDavid/MacKinnon would draw the checkers, the Crosby line would be the matchup line, and this in theory would provide favourable matchups for Scheifele (likely) and Couturier (almost definitely) to take advantage of.

I was more thinking that any of the Crosby/Scheifele/Couturier lines could be matched up against the top lines from other countries depending on personnel and who is gelling. I would like a Marchand Crosby Bergeron line against a theoretical Russian top line with Panarin and Kucherov on the wings, but probably less so against a theoretical top American line for instance. I may be way off base but I don't think that Canada's defencemen, as things look right now, can be fully trusted against loaded lines. It may be important to have at least one elite defensive forward on each line to help pull the defensive weight.

 

[therealdeal]

Old dogs? MAF is 3 years older than Price. Canada's goaltending situation is crap, you take whoever's the hottest going in and hope for the best.

An old dog is any player that is brought along due to old pedigree rather than how they are playing now. Price could get his game back, I have no idea, but as it stands, he doesn’t belong on the team.

I agree with bringing in the best at the time. I think if you bring in the absolute hottest Canadian goalie of the last three months prior to selection (November, December, and January), and then the best two goalies of the last full year.

 

[Mathieukferland]

André Tourigny named as an assistant coach for the Olympics

 

[ShameOnYouZidlicky]

At this point it seems like the consensus is that 12 forward spots are wrapped up with 2 up from grabs

McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Bergeron, Marchand, Stone, O’Reilly, Scheifele, Stamkos, Point, Marner, Couturier

Contenders for the final 2 spots would be: Huberdeau, Barzal, Horvat, Tavares, Couture, Toews (???)

Defense is wide open right now with left handed contenders being

Theodore, Rielly, Chabot, Nurse, Chychrun, Girard, Morrissey, Toews

and right being

Pietrangelo, Makar, Doughty, Weber, Hamilton Ekblad, Parayko, Letang,

 

[Big Phil]

Fleury has been playing very well this season.

But let's not forget that he was starting to fall off a cliff a year ago, and is 36 years old now. Things were starting to deteriorate so fast for Fleury that he had lost his starting job with Vegas, and he was a candidate for "our player for a 7th round pick" type of deal just so Vegas could get rid of his salary-cap hit. If any team in the NHL was willing to absorb his salary cap hit, then he wouldn't be with Vegas now. I am sure Vegas would have rather traded Fleury rather than Schmidt when trying to make room for Pietrangelo.

This season might be a late career rebound, or it might also be his last gasp as an effective goaltender.

It isn't out of the realm of possibility that he declines very hard between now and 9-10 months from now when the team is picked.

I don't know if it is possible to say a goalie who has won three Cups and been on teams that reached 5 Cup finals has gotten the "shaft" but in a way he has. He gets hurt in 2016, has Murray come in and perform well in the postseason and then he sort of splits the regular season and postseason with him in 2017 and then Pittsburgh figures the younger, cheaper Murray is a better fit. Which was wrong. Then he takes an expansion team to the Cup final and loses his starting job in 2020 to Lehner. Gets it back in 2021 and the team is doing very well. Bottom line is, there aren't a lot of goalies with Fleury's capabilities. He's been a classic "bounce back" goalie his whole career. I don't know the exact stats, but he has been superb when he has had a bad game the following game. He's having a great year again in 2021. Yeah, he's as good of a goalie as you'd want at the Olympics, on any country. I'd feel very secure with him in there.

 

[Mathieukferland]

I doubt Ekblad is back for next year, cross him off the list

 

[gotyournose]

I doubt Ekblad is back for next year, cross him off the list

That sucks, he was playing well.

 

[Gold Standard]

man, that sucks a lot for Ekbad. wishing him a speedy recovery.

With Pietrangelo, Parayako and now Ekblad on LTIR, things are getting a little thin on RD. a new TOP 8

D NURSE	D DOUGHTY
S THEODORE	C MAKAR
T CHABOT	S WEBER
S GIRARD	D HAMILTON

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[RussCourtnallsGhost]

Maybe I'm crazy, and, as much as I hate him, I think I'd rather have Tom Wilson on my 4th line than someone like Scheifele/Tavares/Stamkos. The USA team has some tough/annoying players, so I'm worried we don't have a response to them.

 

[Beau Knows]

Maybe I'm crazy, and, as much as I hate him, I think I'd rather have Tom Wilson on my 4th line than someone like Scheifele/Tavares/Stamkos. The USA team has some tough/annoying players, so I'm worried we don't have a response to them.

I'd rather not have to kill off a 5 minute major in a big game though. International refs can often be more strict, and he's someone who gets suspended even in the NHL.

 

[therealdeal]

The real question is, where will Connor Bedard play, 1st line with McDavid, or 2nd line with MacKinnon?!

Ekblad had certainly played his way on, hopefully it’s not a bad injury and he’ll have 3 months to play back on again. I never thought I’d say it, but Nurse has played his way onto the team. He’s big, he’s fast, I don’t think he’s great defensively, but he’s good enough with a great team around him.

Tavares unfortunately hasn’t earned a spot. Too many great players ahead of him, and I love Tavares. He’s been a great player for Canada many times.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Maybe I'm crazy, and, as much as I hate him, I think I'd rather have Tom Wilson on my 4th line than someone like Scheifele/Tavares/Stamkos. The USA team has some tough/annoying players, so I'm worried we don't have a response to them.

There’s more to the tournament than playing the USA, Tom Wilson would get baited so easily by European players who are known to embellish

 

[86Habs]

Maybe I'm crazy, and, as much as I hate him, I think I'd rather have Tom Wilson on my 4th line than someone like Scheifele/Tavares/Stamkos. The USA team has some tough/annoying players, so I'm worried we don't have a response to them.

No f****** way. Wilson isn't disciplined enough for the international game and he'll cost us, especially with IIHF refereeing. Besides, we're Canada, we don't build teams with specific players because we're worried about other countries...other teams should be worried about playing us.

 

[therealdeal]

Maybe I'm crazy, and, as much as I hate him, I think I'd rather have Tom Wilson on my 4th line than someone like Scheifele/Tavares/Stamkos. The USA team has some tough/annoying players, so I'm worried we don't have a response to them.

If all we had were Barzals and Points and Marners, he might have a place on the team. But when you bring Stone and O’Reilly and Coutier and Nurse you don’t really have to worry.

 

[Boonk]

If all we had were Barzals and Points and Marners, he might have a place on the team. But when you bring Stone and O’Reilly and Coutier and Nurse you don’t really have to worry.

Barzals, Points and Marners would easily be chosen over Tom f***ing Wilson.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Barzals, Points and Marners would easily be chosen over Tom f***ing Wilson.

Rather hilariously to illustrate your point Barzal gassed Wilson and the entire team last night

 

[therealdeal]

Barzals, Points and Marners would easily be chosen over Tom f***ing Wilson.

Of course, but I think the person I was quoting was arguing that the team will have no sand paper and will get pushed around.

I don’t think that, but I was making an argument against him.