{"id":308948,"date":"2025-11-26T21:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T21:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/308948\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T21:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T21:56:12","slug":"building-team-canada-which-defencemen-goalies-should-go-to-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/308948\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Team Canada: Which defencemen, goalies should go to Olympics?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, when I sat down to write out who I would have in my forward group for Team Canada’s men\u2019s Olympic team<\/a>, I started by addressing the one question I knew many would have: How can you possibly leave Connor Bedard \u2014 who is fourth in NHL scoring \u2014 off your team?<\/p>\n

I had him as Canada\u2019s 15th forward, the next up when someone is inevitably hurt, but yeah \u2014 not inside my healthy 14.<\/p>\n

And so, I started laying out the facts about the other players and team building \u2014 not about Bedard, who\u2019s been excellent \u2014 and that ended up explaining how a guy like the Blackhawks star could get squeezed.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, a full hockey team requires different skill sets \u2014 stuff like penalty killing, checking and other defensive situations \u2014 and so you need some guys who excel in those spots too. Once you add a few of those guys to the outright locks that they\u2019ve already picked, there suddenly aren\u2019t many spots left.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m gonna steal a quote from Bill Guerin in a recent article in The Athletic, where he talks about picking the U.S. team:<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I just don\u2019t think you can put into words how tight those games were (at 4 Nations),” the Team USA GM said, “how little room there was to operate. And how well these elite players can check. In NHL games, they\u2019re not always counted on to do that, but when they are, they can. And not everybody can play in those situations. No matter what their offensive gifts are, if you can\u2019t check, it\u2019s probably not the tournament for you. \u2026 There\u2019s just no room out there.”<\/p>\n

\"RealReal Kyper and Bourne<\/p>\n

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne talk all things hockey with some of the biggest names in the game. Watch live every weekday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ \u2014 or listen live on Sportsnet 590 The FAN \u2014 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Full episode<\/a><\/p>\n

I will say, since I wrote that piece, I\u2019ve also come to believe that the Canadian team won\u2019t even make as many changes as I suggested from the 4 Nations Face-Off. I\u2019m holding pat on Bedard (on the outside, but he could find his way in), and not as sure about Mark Scheifele being on the team as I initially thought, either.<\/p>\n

I get more into those forward conversations here<\/a>, but I mention how it took shape simply to point out that the team\u2019s defence and goaltending positions are \u2026 not like that. It\u2019s strange, actually, how little debate there is to be had about Canada\u2019s defensive core when you consider the hand-wringing that went into the forward group.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, well, here are the seven guys Canada took to the 4 Nations, plus Thomas Harley, who joined in as the eighth guy due to injury. Remember, you can take eight D to the Olympics:<\/p>\n

Cale Makar<\/a>, Colorado Avalanche
Devon Toews<\/a>, Colorado Avalanche
Josh Morrissey<\/a>, Winnipeg Jets
Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights
Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings
Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers
Colton Parayko, St. Louis Blues
Thomas Harley, Dallas Stars<\/p>\n

Welp. That\u2019s a pretty good eight that just won gold a year ago.<\/p>\n

Matthew Schaefer, New York Islanders
Brandon Montour, Seattle Kraken
Evan Bouchard, Edmonton Oilers
Jacob Chychrun, Washington Capitals<\/p>\n

And I don\u2019t have the list much longer than that. There are courtesy mentions to be made past those guys \u2014 both Mike Matheson and Noah Dobson have been great for Montreal, for example \u2014 but like Bedard, it\u2019s more about the quality of the guys they\u2019d have to climb over.<\/p>\n

In the year since the 4 Nations \u2014 where one of Canada\u2019s strengths was this long, rangy defensive group that disrupted just about everything \u2014 I\u2019m not sure anybody did anything to play their way off the team.<\/p>\n

Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
Devon Toews, Colorado Avalanche
Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets
Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights<\/p>\n

Doughty\u2019s track record and competitiveness are known quantities and Canadian advantages. If he\u2019s healthy, he\u2019ll go.<\/p>\n

That leaves this piece of the group:<\/p>\n

Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers
Colton Parayko, St. Louis Blues
Thomas Harley, Dallas Stars<\/p>\n

Sanheim has been good, logging huge minutes (25:27, fifth in the NHL) against top competition with heavy D-zone starts, leading the team in penalty-killing minutes by a mile. Canada needs a guy like that.<\/p>\n

Parayko has a similar profile, albeit not quite as heavy a lift, but his team GM Doug Armstrong knows and trusts him. I can\u2019t see him removing either of these guys.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, we\u2019re up to seven, with one spot left.<\/p>\n

The only guy I\u2019m not as sure about is Harley, whose underlying numbers in Dallas this season have been strangely \u2026 not great:<\/p>\n

Harley played through injury for a while (and was apparently sick for a stretch) this season before the Stars put him on IR, so he\u2019d be able to get right. What\u2019s hard is, we know how good he can be \u2014 as his new contract validates \u2014 and we saw how incredible he was as an extra D for Canada at the 4 Nations (I can\u2019t overstate that enough, at times he looked like their best D). I\u2019m inclined to just keep him, as I believe his game will come around.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not as into the analysis of any of the last three names, there\u2019s the \u201cfringe selections\u201d list, with my thoughts:<\/p>\n

Matthew Schaefer, New York Islanders<\/p>\n

If he continues to play at his current clip, it\u2019s going to put the Team Canada brass in a tough spot. My god, is he good. He\u2019s still young, though, and still takes risks and makes overly aggressive mistakes. Because of that, he doesn\u2019t play the toughest matchups, so I\u2019m not sure how it\u2019d look in best-on-best, but having an elite partner would definitely help. At this point, though, he looks like one of the world\u2019s most dynamic players, and if he can sustain that label, boy, he\u2019d be tempting as your eighth guy. He can get the puck up the rink and into the hands of your elite forwards, there\u2019s no doubt about that.<\/p>\n

Brandon Montour, Seattle Kraken<\/p>\n

Montour is having a great year, and can provide a bit of everything, which might be the knock on him in the end. A \u201cJack of all trades, master of none\u201d sort of thing. But he\u2019s won a Cup and he\u2019s competitive as hell, and Canadians sure love that in a player.<\/p>\n

Evan Bouchard, Edmonton Oilers<\/p>\n

I made the case for Bouchard making it on Twitter awhile back, noting that after a slow start he seemed to be finding his usual dynamic game. I made the case that there are few in the world who can create like him, and if scoring becomes an issue, you could see him getting plugged into the lineup as a specialist. More than anything, his astronomical 1.08 points per game in the playoffs backs up his reputation as a big-game player (he generates 0.69 in the regular season). He\u2019s been in the biggest moments, and can handle the heat.<\/p>\n

The problem is, he needed to be excellent for this exact stretch while the team was making its decisions, and he just hasn\u2019t been. He\u2019s had some good games, but the lost battles, the brain farts, the little frustrations with him just never seem to get cleaned up. I advocated for him before, but I just can\u2019t see this management group actually rolling the dice on him for extra offensive upside, while the team is this loaded up front.<\/p>\n

Jacob Chychrun, Washington Capitals<\/p>\n

Chychrun has a better case than you may think. He plays a ton, and in all situations, has nearly a point per game and is a big guy who competes. I find it hard to believe he\u2019d jump Harley, but I think Chychrun might be close. If there are injuries, I bet they find themselves talking about him an awful lot.<\/p>\n

The one thing I keep hearing through all this is that it\u2019s the same management, they won a year ago, and it\u2019s not going to be wildly different. Betting on the same eight guys is definitely the odds-on favourite with Canada\u2019s D-corps, and at this point, they\u2019re the same guys that I would be taking, too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m gonna try to keep it tight on goalies, because it no longer seems all that complex:<\/p>\n

Jordan Binnington<\/a> is going. He\u2019s developed the reputation as a big-game guy, as a clutch player, and he delivered in the biggest moments just a year ago. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re going to take him.<\/p>\n

Logan Thompson is going. We\u2019re consecutive years into him being one of the NHL\u2019s elite goalies, and no other Canadian keeper\u2019s numbers are even close to his. He\u2019s made comments about getting things cleaned up with Kyle Dubas and the Team Canada brass, and I just find it impossible to believe they\u2019d let whatever relationships issues from the past get in the way of taking their best guys. He\u2019s gonna go.<\/p>\n

So then we\u2019re left with a pool maybe something like this:<\/p>\n

Darcy Kuemper, Los Angeles Kings
Scott Wedgewood, Colorado Avalanche
Jet Greaves, Columbus Blue Jackets
Jake Allen, New Jersey Devils<\/p>\n

For me, Kuemper is the third guy.<\/p>\n

He was a key part of a Stanley Cup run just three years ago, emerging as the victor. He\u2019s a six-foot-five veteran who\u2019s got a career .915 save percentage(!), and has a .910 this year in a league where \u201caverage\u201d is officially sub-.900. If you have to turn to someone you trust, he\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

As for the rest, it seems to come down to taking the hot hand. Can one of these guys get red-hot at the right time, the exact month when selections are being made?<\/p>\n

Wedgewood seems to be doing that, but Greaves has a case as one of Canada\u2019s goalies of the future. You\u2019ve heard it said that if Canada needs its third-stringer, it’s in trouble, anyway, so you might as well let him gain the experience.<\/p>\n

Finally, Allen is a reliable back-up who would be \u2026 fine. He\u2019d be fine, I like him. Four Nations goalies Sam Montembault and Adin Hill don\u2019t seem like very viable candidates, at this point.<\/p>\n

All told, I could live with something like:<\/p>\n

Thompson
Binnington
Kuemper<\/p>\n

Give the top two names a game each early, then ride the hot hand. This tournament is about getting hot at the right time, and with goaltending, you\u2019ve gotta lean into that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last week, when I sat down to write out who I would have in my forward group for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-308948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}