You don’t put Hyman on this team. He finds success with McDavid not due to some chemistry a la McDavid + Draisaitl magic. He finds success because he’s good around the net. With the puck he is atrocious and is the cause of a lot of my frustrations with the Oilers (I’m an Oilers fan).
Stone and Point are both much better options than Hyman. Love seeing them both go to the net hard in this tournament AND shore up the areas wingers like RNH and Hyman utterly falter in back in Edmonton. For example seeing Stone collect pucks up off the wall in the defensive end and make a clean pass to McDavid in stride to break out is a rarity back in Edmonton. I posted on the Oilers board that I’ve seen 97 get to skate the puck up the ice in full stride more at this tournament than he has got to all year in Edmonton. Stone and Point are big reasons for that.
In contrast, Marner and Reinhart completely failed in this regard. Reinhart playing well with guys who do their own crash and banging in the last game…but he is a perimeter guy who I don’t necessarily think has a spot in an ideal lineup. Marner and him are fine in very limited roles IN PLACE OF the Cirelli/Konecny/Jarvis guys…you don’t want to be bringing them all.
Crosby-McDavid-Point
Stone-MacKinnon-Scheifele
I think you run a top 6 that has all players going hard. Burning with speed, crashing the net, not afraid to bring it to the paint. This is Canadian hockey as it should be played and this tournament has done a wonderful job illustrating who can and can’t hang in best on best. Willing to move Stone off there if he’s struggling with another player who will play psycho hockey.
Bedard-Celebrini-Marner
That’s a line I would bring to the table to play limited minutes. Young high end skill that may flourish or falter. You bench guys at the Olympics and your players like 97 and 29 can double shift and there’s no issue running 2.5-3 lines in those tournaments. They’re good to go. Bring these kids and see what they have. Sit the kids and bring in your Swiss Army knife players (which we have an endless amount of at this tournament for example) if they aren’t getting it done offensively early on in the tournament.
Bennett-Konecny-Suzuki
I’m a huge fan of Bennett but again, we’re getting to the minute details here and any of 10 players would adequately slot into that spot. He’s my choice though.
Extra options:
Hagel
Johnston
Reinhart
Holloway
Jarvis
Crosby-McDavid-Point
Stone-MacKinnon-Scheifele
Bedard-Celebrini-Marner
Bennett-Konecny-Suzuki