Okay, Ladies and Gents. and Team Canada fantasy GM aficionados
Team Canada 25 man roster at the 1/4 pole.
Marchand Sid Bergeron. (there's still 1 gold medal left in these guys as a #1 line)
Huberdeau McDavid MacKinnon
Hall Tavares Marner
O'Reilly Scheifele Stone
Giroux Mantha
Rielly Pietrangelo
Giordano Doughty
Chabot Makar (I'm all in on Makar. kid is electric. and what a dynamic duo these 2 will make. if we ever get to see a real best v best tournament ever again)
Morrissey Burns
Price (I'm giving Price the benefit of the doubt for now, but he's close to demotion to backup role)
Bennington
Fleury
There are a few players here that are underperforming somewhat to start the season, but I'm sure they could pull it together with an Olympic gold on the line.
The B-team is a hot mess at the moment. a whole bunch of underperformers.
Thoughts on the coaching staff? Even before the recent issues, from the perspective of "nothing left to prove" it was highly doubtful Babcock would return as our national team coach. Without putting too much thought into it my initial view be that
Alain Vigneault would get a long look. Highly respected and experienced, recent international experience (2019 Worlds), conservative/safe choice.
I also struggle with how to line up McDavid and MacKinnon, and whether to play them on the same line or deploy them separately. A McDavid / Crosby / MacKinnon trio down the middle would be nice, but McDavid is barely respectable at faceoffs (~50%) while MacKinnon is poor (~42%). This, along with our relatively poor depth at the natural wing positions, would require some centers to shift over to the wing.
For the forwards, for a 2021 World Cup I think a lineup like this would make sense:
O'Reilly / McDavid / MacKinnon
Marchand / Crosby / Bergeron
Tavares / Scheifele / Stamkos
Giroux / Couturier / Stone
Point
By my count, only MacKinnon, O'Reilly and Tavares are not natural, or converted centers. Both Giroux and Stamkos have played significant time on the wing in recent years. Tavares was converted to the wing at the 2016 World Cup and didn't look out of place. O'Reilly has shifted to the wing in the past at international tournaments, and he's needed on the first line to provide defensive cover and corner work for McDavid and MacKinnon, and to take faceoffs (O'Reilly is near the top of the league in this category).
I like Scheifele as the prototypical big bodied centerman, able to take advantage of favourable matchups with Tavares and Stamkos. He's played well in a depth role internationally in the past. I struggled a bit with slotting in Stamkos but he's still able to add elite goal scoring ability from the wing position and has rounded out his game over the past several years. He's also strong on faceoffs (~58% this year) and could be deployed effectiely on one of the PP units.
Fourth line is a depth line, a solid group of defensive players who can add some elite faceoff ability from both sides and chemistry with the Philly players. On the PK, I'd rotate through Marchand/Bergeron, Giroux/Couturier, and O'Reilly/Stone. Looks very solid to me.
