Team Canada 2022

[ORRFForever]

This team seems a little underwhelming looking at the rosters compared to 2014. There is excitement but the excitement doesn't feel the same like we're about to witness greatness, an evolution in the history of Hockey.

Even with McDavid. This next generation doesn't come close to the previous generation which was the peak of Canadian Hockey until now.

Do you mean on the backend and in goalie?

Yes, goaltending is "underwhelming" to put it mildly - thank God we only need ONE.

I agree the backend is a little green (they are coming into their own just in the nick of time because, 12 months ago, we had reason to worry) but we also needed a changing of the guard.

Up front... the center looks amazing and you can't beat the Crosby / Bergeron / Marchand as a 3rd line. I do wish we had more scorers, tho.

It's the best roster in the world and we have a bunch of stars on the horizon so... cross your fingers.

The 2005 - 2010 group couldn't last forever and considering we've had some pretty weak drafts over the last decade, it could have been worse.

 

[JackSlater]

With Taraves going on LTIR and Stamkos returning to game action new roster needed.

Don't count out Jeff Carter yet, folks. He could find himself as the 13th. F and getting some PP time on Sid's RW. He's moving up.

S STAMKOS	C MCDAVID	B POINT
J HUBERDEAU	N MACKINNON	M SCHEIFELE
B MARCHAND	S CROSBY	P BERGERON
R O’REILLY	S COUTURIER	M STONE

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

M BARZAL M MARNER

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

S THEODORE	C MAKAR
D NURSE	A PIETRANGELO
T CHABOT	D DOUGHTY
S GIRARD	D HAMILTON

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

M.A. FLEURY

D KUEMPER

J BINNINGTON

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

That's very close to what I'd want at the moment among the skaters, give or take maybe one or two close calls. I'd really like to see Fleury and the Avalanche players have strong playoff runs, with either team making the finals, to instill some confidence. Doesn't look bad so far.

 

[ORRFForever]

With Taraves going on LTIR and Stamkos returning to game action new roster needed.

Don't count out Jeff Carter yet, folks. He could find himself as the 13th. F and getting some PP time on Sid's RW. He's moving up.

S STAMKOS	C MCDAVID	B POINT
J HUBERDEAU	N MACKINNON	M SCHEIFELE
B MARCHAND	S CROSBY	P BERGERON
R O’REILLY	S COUTURIER	M STONE

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

M BARZAL M MARNER

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

S THEODORE	C MAKAR
D NURSE	A PIETRANGELO
T CHABOT	D DOUGHTY
S GIRARD	D HAMILTON

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

M.A. FLEURY

D KUEMPER

J BINNINGTON

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

The more playoffs I see, the more I like your roster...

I would swap Stamkos and Barzal.

I'd drop Hamilton because of what you posted earlier - needing players who have a history of stepping up.

 

[ORRFForever]

Marner trying too hard in the first period against Montreal - to his credit, Matthews knows to stay within himself but Mitch Marner trying too hard is a liability.

Come on Mitch, show us you belong on Team Canada.

 

[Big Phil]

Last year, I did not want Marner on the team - my other exclusions were J.T., Stamkos and Hamilton. Then Marner was spectacular in 2021 so I changed my mind. Then I saw him do stupid things at the end of the Leaf season and he was a dud in Game 1 against Montreal - his shot is so weak so I am on the fence.

Because we need less playmakers and more scorers, I am leaning away from Marner but, I agree, it will be hard to keep him off - especially since he also terrific on the P.K.

I know you can't teach someone to score but... there has to be a way to strengthen/improve that shot.

He's not a big guy, nor a particularly strong guy. Marner still looks like he could be your paperboy. If a player can improve his skating over the years then he can improve his shot. Then again, Crosby has never had a shot with a lot of velocity either, I never thought. Marner isn't the type to score a hard wrister from inside the dots. He is the type to slink around the ice like a slippery eel and lure opponents towards him. There has to be someone on Team Canada he gels with. Tavares I feel is going to be on the wrong side of this selection, so it won't be him on the team.

If Marner is great tonight, I will happily eat my words.

He was good tonight, did what the Leafs stars are supposed to be doing, thankfully. Obviously he needs more of those games at big moments. Who knows, the Leafs could make the semis this year based on a high scoring postseason from Marner.

 

[780il]

He's not a big guy, nor a particularly strong guy. Marner still looks like he could be your paperboy. If a player can improve his skating over the years then he can improve his shot. Then again, Crosby has never had a shot with a lot of velocity either, I never thought. Marner isn't the type to score a hard wrister from inside the dots. He is the type to slink around the ice like a slippery eel and lure opponents towards him. There has to be someone on Team Canada he gels with. Tavares I feel is going to be on the wrong side of this selection, so it won't be him on the team.



He was good tonight, did what the Leafs stars are supposed to be doing, thankfully. Obviously he needs more of those games at big moments. Who knows, the Leafs could make the semis this year based on a high scoring postseason from Marner.

I think Mcdavid and Stone would be very good together so if those two are paired then you could go Marner with Couts/O’Reilly on the 4th line. He could add some creativity and offense to the ‘shutdown 4th line’ while at the same time not hurting them defensively as I feel he’s a solid player in that regard.

 

[LKI]

Not that breaking news: Canadian staff and players are extremely friendly towards their assigned Latvian volunteers and they are treating them like part of their team... Not all teams treat volunteers the same way.

 

[Gold Standard]

The more playoffs I see, the more I like your roster...

I would swap Stamkos and Barzal.

I'd drop Hamilton because of what you posted earlier - needing players who have a history of stepping up.

I didn't say we need players to step up. The roster is filled with players who have made careers of "stepping up" at different times. I only made a comment regarding MacKinnon's compete level, his intensity or whatever you want to call it, that always gets jacked when the games matter most. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Nate gets the most TOI among Canadian forwards next year in China.

As for Hamilton, based on his level of play the past couple of seasons, he deserves a spot in Canada's TOP 8. There are only 2 other RD that I would consider Team Canada Olympic roster worthy at the moment, Ekblad (currently injured) and Ryan Ellis. And if I were to add one of them it would probably be Doughty I would be removing. I'm more concerned about the here and now and not some junior tournament(s) that happened 7 or 8 years ago really doesn't enter the equation.

 

[JackSlater]

The issue only issues with Hamilton are lack of playoffs/international play and his inconsistent defending, and the latter seems to have improved in Carolina. The only poster who I recall dismissing him based on WJC results (despite Hamilton being very good in 2012) clearly changed his mind, despite swearing him off after the Stamkos leg break. Canada could probably use his big shot and he definitely benefits from Ekblad's injury. A good run with Carolina this playoffs and a good start to the next season should have Hamilton right in the mix with various others.

 

[780il]

The issue only issues with Hamilton are lack of playoffs/international play and his inconsistent defending, and the latter seems to have improved in Carolina. The only poster who I recall dismissing him based on WJC results (despite Hamilton being very good in 2012) clearly changed his mind, despite swearing him off after the Stamkos leg break. Canada could probably use his big shot and he definitely benefits from Ekblad's injury. A good run with Carolina this playoffs and a good start to the next season should have Hamilton right in the mix with various others.

Great player, but IMO Makar, Pietro, and Doughty are 3 locks on the right side rn and there’s no better options. Hamilton could take a PB spot but if Ekblad is healthy I’d have him there instead of Hamilton too.

 

[JackSlater]

Great player, but IMO Makar, Pietro, and Doughty are 3 locks on the right side rn and there’s no better options. Hamilton could take a PB spot but if Ekblad is healthy I’d have him there instead of Hamilton too.

I agree that those three are above him and basically locks. Hard to see Ekblad getting healthy soon enough but who knows, and he looked really good this year. Hamilton belongs in the mix with a few other guys like Parayko, Ellis, Letang, probably a few others where a good playoff or strong start to the regular season can probably see them get on the team. They also might focus less on handedness parity with Babcock gone (presumably) and North American ice size, which could help or hurt Hamilton. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out on defence.

 

[ORRFForever]

I didn't say we need players to step up. The roster is filled with players who have made careers of "stepping up" at different times. I only made a comment regarding MacKinnon's compete level, his intensity or whatever you want to call it, that always gets jacked when the games matter most. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Nate gets the most TOI among Canadian forwards next year in China.

We are talking about the same thing - just saying it different.

I want players who come through when you are down a goal (or 2) in the third in an elimination game. That's Sid, that's Nate, that's Marchand, that's Bergeron.

That's not Stamkos and I'm not sure it's Marner.

Marner will just over-pass while Stamkos will miss the net, go to the bench and pound his stick while looking angry.

 

[ORRFForever]

Not that breaking news: Canadian staff and players are extremely friendly towards their assigned Latvian volunteers and they are treating them like part of their team... Not all teams treat volunteers the same way.

That's too bad. There's nothing I HATE more than a Latvian.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

That's too bad. There's nothing I HATE more than a Latvian.

Liar.

 

[ORRFForever]

Liar.

I HATE Latvians - see post below. Always have. Always will.

 

[ORRFForever]

Liar.

Years ago, I won the lottery. A cool $10,000,000. Of course, I intended to spend half the money on booze and strippers and blow the other half.

That night, I was at a strip club when a Latvian dancer approached me - her name was Agnese. She was beautiful! Dark hair, dark eyes. She was missing a few teeth but it was dark in the club so I didn't notice.

Later that night, as we laid in bed, she convinced me to tell her my bank pin number. We had a connection, the kind men do with exotic dancers, so, needless to say, I trusted her. BIG MISTAKE!!!

Shortly after that, I passed out - I'm not sure why since I'd been drinking diet Pepsi all night.

Two days later, when I awoke, she was gone, and I realized she'd removed $10,000,000 from my bank account and flown back to Latvia. Needless to say, I've hated Latvians ever since.

True story.

 

[ORRFForever]

The more playoffs I see, the more I like your roster...

I would swap Stamkos and Barzal.

I'd drop Hamilton because of what you posted earlier - needing players who have a history of stepping up.

Nurse has been beyond AWFUL tonight. Perhaps he's not right for Team Canada.

Edit : He's played better as the night went on.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Going to be a stacked roster. Somewhat surprising that the two best Canadian GMs in the league are not part of the management group.

 

[86Habs]

With Taraves going on LTIR and Stamkos returning to game action new roster needed.

Don't count out Jeff Carter yet, folks. He could find himself as the 13th. F and getting some PP time on Sid's RW. He's moving up.

S STAMKOS	C MCDAVID	B POINT
J HUBERDEAU	N MACKINNON	M SCHEIFELE
B MARCHAND	S CROSBY	P BERGERON
R O’REILLY	S COUTURIER	M STONE

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

M BARZAL M MARNER

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

S THEODORE	C MAKAR
D NURSE	A PIETRANGELO
T CHABOT	D DOUGHTY
S GIRARD	D HAMILTON

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

M.A. FLEURY

D KUEMPER

J BINNINGTON

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

This seems realistic, IMO. Huberdeau is having a great first round so far and may be in the process of playing himself onto the team...we'll see. Also, if I was a betting man I'd bet on Bo Horvat making the team, even if its in a 13th/14th forward role. Hockey Canada has always liked dem big boyz with "C"s on their chest in depth roles, and Horvat fits that mold. Anthony Cirelli is another player to keep your eye on, especially if Cooper is named head coach. Jeff Carter...I still like him (I always have), but he's a little long in the tooth at this point. But never doubt Hockey Canada's innate conservatism.

The guys like Carter, Marleau, and Nash aren't really around now. Not many players like that are being produced for whatever reason. Big, fast, good goal scorers, solid defensively. They wouldn't carry a line at the international level but they did bring some of everything while taking nothing off the table. Even before the last generation you could find some similar players who were better than you'd think internationally like Gartner at the Canada Cup in the 80s. It would be great if Canada had equivalents of prime versions of Carter and Marleau to pick as utility players though Stone, O'Reilly, and Marchand are decent options as the new utility players.

Yeah we seems to be at a point in the player development cycle where we're producing a lot more centers, and the wingers we're producing are oriented more towards playmaking. These things tend to correct themselves, or Hockey Canada adapts and builds teams to accommodate the skillsets on offer. There are several young guys coming up that could be good senior team players for us at C or W in the future...Lafreniere, Dach, maybe Dubois continues to improve, maybe even a guy like Konecny. Marleau didn't make a best-on-best team until he was 30, and was never really seen as a viable candidate until he ended up on Thornton's wing.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Going to be a stacked roster. Somewhat surprising that the two best Canadian GMs in the league are not part of the management group.

It’s somewhat worrying to me as well that the two GMs that have built the fastest and most well rounded teams, Sakic and Brisebois, aren’t you going to be involved. Hope there are not too many homer picks by Armstrong. Sakic especially is a surprising omission given his Olympic experience

 

[86Habs]

It’s somewhat worrying to me as well that the two GMs that have built the fastest and most well rounded teams, Sakic and Brisebois, aren’t you going to be involved. Hope there are not too many homer picks by Armstrong. Sakic especially is a surprising omission given his Olympic experience

I wouldn't be too concerned with Armstrong. He will for sure pick a more conservative roster than a lot of posters on here may like (see comments above regarding Huberdeau, Marner, Barzal), but he was involved in 2010/2014 and was EGM in 2016 so he won't be removed by Hockey Canada until he doesn't win. O'Reilly should and will be on the team, Parayko has a reasonable chance (and I wouldn't necessarily call him a homer pick...he's in the mix for a RHS depth defenceman), I can't see him take someone like David Perron with others on the board. Perron had a great season though, plays both wings, adds a bit of grit and defensive play, and was a pretty key piece in St. Louis's 2019 Cup run. Personally, I would only be mildly surprised if he was selected.

Other than Armstrong, Francis is involved, and Sakic's time will (hopefully) come at some point too. I know Yzerman caught a lot of grief for initially leaving St. Louis off the 2014 team (and for leaving Stamkos and St. Louis completely off the 2010 team), so Sakic may want to avoid all of that and focus on his day job with the Avs. If that is the reason, I can't say I would blame him.

 

[JackSlater]

It would be good having Sakic involved but I wouldn't blame him for not being interested after he saw the situation with his number 19 counterpart, as already suggested. As long as they follow the general path that was established during Yzerman's run then the team should be well picked.

Yeah we seems to be at a point in the player development cycle where we're producing a lot more centers, and the wingers we're producing are oriented more towards playmaking. These things tend to correct themselves, or Hockey Canada adapts and builds teams to accommodate the skillsets on offer. There are several young guys coming up that could be good senior team players for us at C or W in the future...Lafreniere, Dach, maybe Dubois continues to improve, maybe even a guy like Konecny. Marleau didn't make a best-on-best team until he was 30, and was never really seen as a viable candidate until he ended up on Thornton's wing.

The winger thing is somewhat interesting to me. Marleau did make the 2004 World Cup team, though he didn't play, but he followed a somewhat typical route where they tried him at centre for years. This is probably more oriented to the history section but for a long time in Canada during development the best forwards usually spend some time at centre even if they end up as wingers in the end. Bobby Hull was a centre through junior and the beginning of his time in Chicago and Montreal experimented with Lafleur at centre, plus I believe at least part of hi junior career was at centre. Mikita is the opposite in that he was converted to centre from RW. Messier's conversion from LW to C of course happened in the NHL. I also don't think that it's a coincidence that a lot of Canada's top wingers of recent memory were relatively late bloomers - Marchand, Stone, Benn, St. Louis, even Brett Hull a bit further back. Other than Benn I don't recall any of them being tried at centre, and I'd guess that's because it was because they were further along in their development and getting less attention. More highly touted guys like Marner, Hall and Huberdeau did have experimentation at centre (especially Huberdeau) in junior or the NHL. Same with Drouin, though he hasn't lived up to his talent. Giroux was successfully converted from a RW to a centre, though he has dabbled on the wing as well. I'd theorize that someone like Kariya probably got more development time at winger due to taking the less common junior A/NCAA route, as St. Louis and Hull also did. With the young guys you've mentioned it does stick out that Dubois, Konecny, and Dach each has wing and centre experience, and makes me wonder about how Lafreniere didn't find his way to centre at some point... as far as I know.

Anyway that's pretty much rambling at this point. There does seem to be a clear desire to have the top forwards developed in Canada playing at centre though. It's not always the case, Iginla or Bossy for example though I could be wrong, but it's a clear pattern. It's probably an unintended asset for international hockey though, as Canada usually has plenty of forwards with experience at multiple positions.

 

[sabresEH]

This is what I came up with for the D. I know HC likes to have their veterans. And without having NHLers in 2018 it makes for a weird transition phase. With that said:

Theodore - Pietro
Keith - Doughty
Girard - Makar
Morrissey - Letang

A mix of new and old. Not gifting a spot to an older veteran(maybe Keith but he’ll be more than fine for 8 games) and taking talent while having security.

 

[XXIV97]

This is what I came up with for the D. I know HC likes to have their veterans. And without having NHLers in 2018 it makes for a weird transition phase. With that said:

Theodore - Pietro
Keith - Doughty
Girard - Makar
Morrissey - Letang

A mix of new and old. Not gifting a spot to an older veteran(maybe Keith but he’ll be more than fine for 8 games) and taking talent while having security.

I don't think Girard will make it. Probably one of Nurse/Morrissey

 

[sabresEH]

I don't think Girard will make it. Probably one of Nurse/Morrissey

Those were the guys I had fighting for a spot there. Along with Chabot. I thought perhaps HC would go with chemistry. I thought I had seen the two of them play together but maybe they don’t do it regularly? But I agree there are others who are better to take that spot.