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Team Canada 2022

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jcs0218 said:
No NHL participation cost multiple players from adding an Olympic Gold Medal to their resume.

Hall is one. His draft comparable Seguin is another.

I would have had both on a 2018 team, but neither are anywhere my 2022 roster candidates.
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Hall and Seguin are the forwards who really missed their chance in 2018. I would have had Giroux as well but I'm less confident that he would have made it. Difficult to see any of the three there on a 2022 team. Bad luck for them. Not sure that they would have been adding a gold medal for certain, but I am confident that Canada would have been a sizable (larger than in 2022) favourite in 2018. Ah well.
 
Here is TSN's

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JackSlater said:
Most of the names, with one glaring exception, are reasonable enough. Rielly being on both is... interesting, but it is TSN. I prefer Johnson's team.
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Yeah, Gourde is a nice player but doesn't belong anywhere near an Olympic team. He has very little utility to Team Canada - not an elite checker/shutdown center, below 50% on faceoff, no real unique or tangible offensive skill that fills a hole. I get the Suzuki and Horvat picks to some degree, but not Gourde. Surprised Button would put his name to this, tbh.
 
100% pelech is on the team before half these guys listed up there. So is barzal.

all these rosters were pencilled in before Isles stars started making a name for themselves
 
86Habs said:
Yeah, Gourde is a nice player but doesn't belong anywhere near an Olympic team. He has very little utility to Team Canada - not an elite checker/shutdown center, below 50% on faceoff, no real unique or tangible offensive skill that fills a hole. I get the Suzuki and Horvat picks to some degree, but not Gourde. Surprised Button would put his name to this, tbh.
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I'm surprised that one of them didn't throw Hyman in there now that he has at least some potential to Kunitz his was onto an Olympic team. Dreger may have done it, even if he isn't on Toronto anymore.
 
JackSlater said:
I'm surprised that one of them didn't throw Hyman in there now that he has at least some potential to Kunitz his was onto an Olympic team. Dreger may have done it, even if he isn't on Toronto anymore.
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If Hyman plays with McDavid and puts up 35 goals and 80 points, then he isn't much different than Kunitz was with Crosby.
 
Rabid Ranger said:
Button must have been drunk with that Gourde addition.
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It was an extremely questionable pick.

Zamuner in 1998 and Draper in 2006 even made more sense, since those two were elite penalty killers.

Gourde doesn't really offer much. He sometimes plays the penalty kill, but isn't an elite penalty killer. Plus, he wouldn't be killing penalties when players like O'Reilly, Stone, Bergeron, and Marchand are already on the team.
 
brendhan garrels said:
If Bo Horvat and Yanni Gourde are on the team, Canada is in trouble they aren't even elite checkers. I can see why Button is no longer a GM lol
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Gourde is a bad pick. But I could see the use for Horvat.

He has a physical edge to him, and would have some value standing in front of the net on the PP.
 
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jcs0218 said:
If Hyman plays with McDavid and puts up 35 goals and 80 points, then he isn't much different than Kunitz was with Crosby.
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That's what I'm getting at. TSN was already hyping Hyman up before. If he is with McDavid and off to a good start up to December, like top 25 in scoring for instance, he'll be getting buzz. I am certainly hopnig that no one can Kunitz their way onto the team.
 
JackSlater said:
That's what I'm getting at. TSN was already hyping Hyman up before. If he is with McDavid and off to a good start up to December, like top 25 in scoring for instance, he'll be getting buzz. I am certainly hopnig that no one can Kunitz their way onto the team.
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Even if he does that...Hockey Canada has to realize that his spot would cost them having a player like Point, Marner, Barzal, etc. who would most likely double Hyman's offensive contribution.
 
Stewie Griffin said:
Even if he does that...Hockey Canada has to realize that his spot would cost them having a player like Point, Marner, Barzal, etc. who would most likely double Hyman's offensive contribution.
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I'd guess that they probably realize that... but they also took Kunitz over Giroux in 2014 just because he was the guy who happened to leech off Crosby in the NHL. It will be interesting to see what happens.
 
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Am I crazy for not liking Hamilton on the team? He's a good player, but I don't think his strengths fit the team. He's good at limiting scoring chances against, but that's often due to his offense, and Canada will control play enough that they'll always be good at dominating possession regardless, and he's not as great when the puck is in his own end. He's not bad, but he can be tentative to fight to retreive loose pucks or go after aggressive forecheckers, and his positioning is so so. Meanwhile, his offense, which is what makes him elite, is also very shot-focused, and not just from the point, but he has an eagerness to come down into the slot as well as join the rush. He shots a lot and from a lot of quality places. While this can be very valuable to most teams, and I'm sure Canada's numerous playmakers could find him coming in off the point for goals, it also lead to the potential to get caught going the other way, which can be dangerous in one game tournaments and doesn't really fit the MO of how the last Team Canada wanted to play which seemed to be heavily focused on making the right plays, not taking unnecessary chances and letting their talent eventually capitalize without making mistakes that could cost them the other way. Hamilton's passing and transition game are good, but not as elite as what you would expect from someone with his point totals and underlying statistics, and I think those are more valuable for a team like this.
 
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Regal said:
Am I crazy for not liking Hamilton on the team? He's a good player, but I don't think his strengths fit the team. He's good at limiting scoring chances against, but Canada will control play enough that they'll always be good at dominating possession regardless, and he's not as great when the puck is in his own end. His offense is also very shot-focused, which can be useful, but I don't know if it's the most efficient use of Canada's talent.
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You're not alone in those thoughts. Canada could use his shot but he can be an adventure in his own zone. Nearly a decade since he last played internationally and no deep playoff runs yet, though some impressive scoring the last few years. It will be interesting to see how he looks in New Jersey without a rock solid defensive LHD next to him. If he looks really good in the first few months next year then welcome aboard.

As of right now I'd rather a healthy Ekblad, but that may not be an option and thing can change.
 
Looking forward to this, barring a collapse this team will mop the floor with the competition. The US is probably closest to us, at least on defense, and looks to have hypothetically stronger goaltending, but their centre depth is still horrible. As a Leafs fan, Matthews can be reliably shut down 5v5 and put off his game with tight checking, and with Eichel’s health status we’re likely going to be matching up McDavid, MacKinnon, Point, and Crosby against Larkin, Trocheck, and Nelson.
 
JackSlater said:
That's what I'm getting at. TSN was already hyping Hyman up before. If he is with McDavid and off to a good start up to December, like top 25 in scoring for instance, he'll be getting buzz. I am certainly hopnig that no one can Kunitz their way onto the team.
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A lot of Hyman's hype from TSN was due to the fact he played on Toronto. I am surprised they weren't also hyping Muzzin.

As for Kunitz in 2014? Some of that had to do with the idea a lot of people had regarding Crosby being difficult to find linemates for. Many people have suggested that Crosby needs to play with grinding and mucking type players to reach optimal levels of success.

I will say that I hope Canada does take 1-2 grinding/mucking type players, because I value having a team with some diverse skillsets. This is especially true in situations such as the PP, where I think you need to take 1-2 players who may not be the most skilled but are capable of taking abuse while standing in front of the other team's goaltender. You don't want to have 5 players passing the puck around the perimeter. In a standard 1-3-1 PP formation, you need to have one player who is comfortable and adept at screening the goalie or whacking away at rebounds close to the net.

Hyman is a player who fits this. However, there are probably more skilled versions of Hyman who can play this role.
 
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jcs0218 said:
A lot of Hyman's hype from TSN was due to the fact he played on Toronto. I am surprised they weren't also hyping Muzzin.

As for Kunitz in 2014? Some of that had to do with the idea a lot of people had regarding Crosby being difficult to find linemates for. Many people have suggested that Crosby needs to play with grinding and mucking type players to reach optimal levels of success.

I will say that I hope Canada does take 1-2 grinding/mucking type players, because I value having a team with some diverse skillsets. This is especially true in situations such as the PP, where I think you need to take 1-2 players who may not be the most skilled but are capable of taking abuse while standing in front of the other team's goaltender. You don't want to have 5 players passing the puck around the perimeter. In a standard 1-3-1 PP formation, you need to have one player who is comfortable and adept at screening the goalie or whacking away at rebounds close to the net.

Hyman is a player who fits this. However, there are probably more skilled versions of Hyman who can play this role.
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I’ve always wondered how well Crosby do with McDavid on his wing. I don’t think their styles are compatible. Though who knows. Rick Nash did not work out well with Crosby in 2010.
 
gotyournose said:
I’ve always wondered how well Crosby do with McDavid on his wing. I don’t think their styles are compatible. Though who knows. Rick Nash did not work out well with Crosby in 2010.
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I don't think Nash had the high-level hockey IQ required to mesh well with Crosby, and he wasn't really a grinder or mucker either.

Crosby works well with either grinders/muckers who he can work the cycle game with, or players with extremely high levels of hockey IQ but don't require constant possession of the puck.

McDavid has a high hockey IQ, but McDavid also needs the puck on his stick at all times. Both McDavid and Crosby are pure playmakers. They both require the puck on their sticks to do what they do best. There is only 1 puck though, and this creates a stylistic dysfunction.

This is why Crosby has such great chemistry with Bergeron and Marchand. Bergeron has a high hockey IQ and Marchand is a grinder/mucker, and neither require the puck on their sticks at all times. This allows Crosby to be the puck-handler and make plays happen.
 
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We tried the elite checking line in Nagano. It was an epic fail. Let's not repeat that mistake again Mr Button
 
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Dominance said:
Looking forward to this, barring a collapse this team will mop the floor with the competition. The US is probably closest to us, at least on defense, and looks to have hypothetically stronger goaltending, but their centre depth is still horrible. As a Leafs fan, Matthews can be reliably shut down 5v5 and put off his game with tight checking, and with Eichel’s health status we’re likely going to be matching up McDavid, MacKinnon, Point, and Crosby against Larkin, Trocheck, and Nelson.
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Russia for me, after seeing Vasilevskiy in elimination games I would say they are the team I would least like to face…
 
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