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Team Canada 2026

robbieberns said:
He might not have the explosive scoring touch that a lot of Canadian forward bring to the table, but his toolbox is so much more complete than a lot of guys people want to pick ahead of him.

High IQ coupled with smart and efficient decision making, hustle and intensity levels through the charts, incredible two way game and someone I would already consider to be amongst the best defensive wingers in the game.

He reminds me so much of Marchand, and can really see a similar career trajectory as well with a later career points tally blossom as he matures and gets more comfortable in the league as a smaller frame guy.

As someone born in Canada and raised in Raleigh i’m so proud of Jarvis and happy for the kid, as bias as I am from a Canes standpoint I think he deserves to be a Team Canada mainstay.
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Great post.

Crosby2010 said:
Scheifele, I think.
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Others agree with you...


I'm not sure what to think. Sid is Sid and he's great but, at 37, if he is not 100%, Scheifele is a hell of an add.
 
ORRFForever said:
Great post.


Others agree with you...


I'm not sure what to think. Sid is Sid and he's great but, at 37, if he is not 100%, Scheifele is a hell of an add.
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I think Sid deserves to play at 4 nations even if he's not 100% healthy. Even in a limited role, he will have a positive impact on team. Honestly, nobody from team Canada will have the guts to pull him out of this tournament anyway.
 
trader997 said:
I think Sid deserves to play at 4 nations even if he's not 100% healthy. Even in a limited role, he will have a positive impact on team. Honestly, nobody from team Canada will have the guts to pull him out of this tournament anyway.
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True.

Marchand should not be there. Scheifele should be there instead. Hopefully this will be rectified at the Olympics.
 
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ORRFForever said:
Such as? How is your 2026 team different?
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I don't know 100% yet, since the team isn't made up. But especially if the Olympics are on bigger ice they'll pick some faster skaters. No team one year after the other will be the same.

Marchand won't be there in 2026. They won't have all of Bennett, Cirelli, Hagel and Jarvis. Konecny too perhaps. Doughty probably isn't there. Lots of defenseman for different reasons could be on the 2026 team. Bouchard, Power, Dobson, maybe even Pietrangelo.

A lot can change for Bedard and Celebrini in a year. Maybe Lafreniere, who knows. Wyatt Johnston, Kent Johnson.

The main thing is the goalies. I could see 2/3 goalies changing for next year. The 25-30% is just an educated guess of the changes, nothing more. No team is the same.
 
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Crosby2010 said:
I don't know 100% yet, since the team isn't made up. But especially if the Olympics are on bigger ice they'll pick some faster skaters. No team one year after the other will be the same.

Marchand won't be there in 2026. They won't have all of Bennett, Cirelli, Hagel and Jarvis. Konecny too perhaps. Doughty probably isn't there. Lots of defenseman for different reasons could be on the 2026 team. Bouchard, Power, Dobson, maybe even Pietrangelo.

A lot can change for Bedard and Celebrini in a year. Maybe Lafreniere, who knows. Wyatt Johnston, Kent Johnson.

The main thing is the goalies. I could see 2/3 goalies changing for next year. The 25-30% is just an educated guess of the changes, nothing more. No team is the same.
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According to AI Overview, Italy 2026 will be on NHL sized ice.

Minus Marchand and perhaps Sid, I could see the team staying the same with Hill and Thompson as goalies. Could Celebrini make the team? Maybe, but I doubt it.

Most of Canada's players are in their prime (minus Sid and Marchand) so I don't see much of a change.
 
ORRFForever said:
According to AI Overview, Italy 2026 will be on NHL sized ice.

Minus Marchand and perhaps Sid, I could see the team staying the same with Hill and Thompson as goalies. Could Celebrini make the team? Maybe, but I doubt it.

Most of Canada's players are in their prime (minus Sid and Marchand) so I don't see much of a change.
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25% is one player out of 4. That isn't much. Blackwood could be the #1 goalie along with Thompson fighting it out. I can see the two of them as your top 2 goalies, with Hill probably still being the 3rd. You never know with Skinner either. If the Oilers win the Cup this year do you dismiss the Cup winning goalie?

The results of this tournament will dictate how much the team changes. For example even if we got the chance to re-do the most recent World Junior team the changes to it would probably be close to 50% of the team. A lot can change in a year.
 
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Crosby2010 said:
25% is one player out of 4. That isn't much. Blackwood could be the #1 goalie along with Thompson fighting it out. I can see the two of them as your top 2 goalies, with Hill probably still being the 3rd. You never know with Skinner either. If the Oilers win the Cup this year do you dismiss the Cup winning goalie?

The results of this tournament will dictate how much the team changes. For example even if we got the chance to re-do the most recent World Junior team the changes to it would probably be close to 50% of the team. A lot can change in a year.
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That's fair.

I was just thinking about the forwards and d. I see these 11 having little chance of being replaced - Sid's health may be an issue.

McDavid, MacKinnon, Marner, Sid(?), Point, Jarvis, Makar, Toews, Morrisey, Theodore, Pietrangelo

The rest will depend on how well they play in the coming weeks and how well they play next year. Of course, if someone falls off a cliff, they will quickly be replace.
 
waitin425 said:
We are a year and a bit out from this tournament, and we will know who is on this team, this time next year.

There are various spots where I have seen predictions for Team Canada 2026 -- but there doesn't appear to be a dedicated thread.

4 Nations should be a good testing ground for some of the bubble players that they selected. I for one am hoping that Bedard and Celebrini play their way onto the Olympic squad.

Here is my prediction/hope at this time.

Crosby (C) - McDavid (A) - Bedard -- Pass the torch line. We deserve to see this.
Celebrini - MacKinnon (A)- Marner -- Disgusting amount of speed and skill.
Barzal - Point - Reinhart -- Again....Speed can kill and Reinhart can finish. Three killer lines.
Suzuki - Schiefele - Stone -- Defensive unit with a little bit of scoring prowess.
Konecny

Toews - Makar -- Keep the Avs two together.
Morrissey - Pietrangelo (A) -- Solid shut down pair with offensive capabilities and great breakout pass.
Theodore - Parayko -- another solid pair.
Bouchard -- Can be brought into lineup for booming shot and PP speciality.

Binnington
Hill
Montembault

This is a winning team and a team I can get behind. Much better than the dogs breakfast 4 Nation tournament
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Scheifele is terrible defensively
 
What I take away from last night in view of Italy next year is that speed and skill need to prioritised over grit and physicality. Brayden Point tilted the ice against the Tkachuks whenever he was out, leading to their relatively quiet game. Whenever the pace got turned up last night and the game started looking a bit more back and forth, Canada looked like the better team, even with slow players like Marchand and Stone still on the team. But when Canada’s slower bottom lines got dragged into trench warfare by Boldy, Miller, Trochek etc, they looked decidedly second best. Burners like Celebrini, Scheifele, Kyrou Barzal, McMichael, and Wilson need to be given serious consideration; especially when their speed will draw more penalties from IIHF officials
 
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The whole team selection was poorly done in my opinion. Who's running this team? Sweeney? Did they not watch the 2015 draft?
 
Pietro, Theodore, Makar back in defensively for this team

Bedard, Celebrini and Scheifele in up front.

Thompson in on the back end.

Crosby - McDavid - Bedard
Celebrini - MacKinnon - Reinhart
 
Biggest issue for this team overall is size on the wing. Look at the heft on the 2010 and 2014 Olympic teams:

Staal
Iginla
Marleau
Heatley
Nash
Morrow
Perry
Carter
Benn

Most of those guys are 6’2” or above, all are 200+ lbs, all can skate with some effectiveness (Heatley was questionable, Perry was no burner), most played good 200 foot games. Size gives you the ability to penetrate the middle of the ice for scoring opportunities, and to get to the dirty areas.

Team Canada is fairly small on the wing. Most of our wingers are strong 2-way guys and Hagel, Reinhart, Konecny, etc belong on the team in some capacity, but more thought should have been given to overall team size, the ability to win board battles (which was non-existent last night), and the ability to fight through defensive coverage to get to the slot area.

I’m not sure what that really means from a player selection standpoint. Stone has been fairly effective so far. Maybe they should have taken Scheifele and moved him to the wing? Look past Hyman’s very poor start and count on him to turn around his game? Wilson? Lafreniere hasn’t take the next step after a strong playoff last year. Not much in the way of options after that unfortunately.
 
Point - Mcdavid - Hyman
Celebrini - Mackinnon - Reinhart
Stone - Crosby - Marner
Wilson - Scheifele - Koneckny
Jarvis

Makar - Toews
Morrissey - Harley
Theodore - Pietrangelo
Weegar

Thompson
Hill
 
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