This week on Wednesday Night Hockey, I\u2019ll have the honour of revealing my final Team Canada picks alongside those of Jen Botterill, Luke Gazdic, and David Amber, and I\u2019m about to give readers a sneak peek.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We should reward literacy in this world, so you deserve a special treat.<\/p>\n
To be clear, these picks are MY picks, as in, who would be on the team if I were the GM, not who I think the current brass will take. That said, I can\u2019t really see where we\u2019ll differ, so it may work either way.<\/p>\n
I last put together my Team Canada roster about a month ago and just a few things have changed, particularly with the forwards.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s who I had for forwards in November, then we\u2019ll get into potential changes. My previous roster:<\/p>\n
Sam Reinhart \u2013 Sidney Crosby \u2013 Nathan MacKinnon
Macklin Celebrini \u2013 Connor McDavid \u2013 Mitch Marner
Brad Marchand \u2013 Brayden Point \u2013 Mark Scheifele
Mark Stone \u2013 Nick Suzuki \u2013 Tom Wilson
Brandon Hagel \u2013 Sam Bennett
Out:\u00a0Travis Konecny, Anthony Cirelli, Seth Jarvis.<\/p>\n
Notably absent, but as I called it \u201cinevitably in\u201d (based on assuming there\u2019s even one injury):\u00a0Connor Bedard<\/p>\n
I had Bedard ranked ahead of the three names listed as \u201cout\u201d at the time, meaning one injury would see him in my lineup.<\/p>\n
Funny, in the time since, I had put him firmly inside the cutoff of the 14 guys I would take, but his recent injury \u2014 combined with hearing that maybe Canada isn\u2019t super comfortable taking both him and Celebrini \u2014 has Bedard back on the outside, just in time for me to write about it again.<\/p>\n
I tend to agree with what I believe to be the Canadian brass\u2019 hesitation to take both Bedard and Celebrini, regardless of how many points they have. In terms of getting points, there aren\u2019t going to be many mistakes to take advantage of out there (nor do you want to commit them), and it\u2019s also just not a learning tournament. It\u2019s for the learned.<\/p>\n
If you look at some of the underlying stats, you\u2019ll see that Celebrini is much more inclined to bring the puck up the ice, transporting it from one end of the rink to the other. That\u2019s spurred on by a good amount of puck touches in the D-zone, which is why you\u2019re hearing him called a \u201c200-foot forward\u201d compared to Bedard, even as Celebrini isn\u2019t exactly a defensive wizard yet himself.<\/p>\n
Yes Bedard is putting up points, but when playing for Canada he\u2019s just not going to get the same opportunities to do it, given the number of forwards he\u2019d be behind in the high leverage situations, which neutralizes his superpower. And as of today, if he\u2019s not getting points, there are other guys more effective at the other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mix in this unfortunate injury that could cost the Blackhawks star a month \u2014 with no certainty on what he\u2019ll look like when he gets back \u2014 and that\u2019s why I\u2019ve got him on the outside looking in. Even with that, it\u2019s close.<\/p>\n
In saying all that, none of this is about\u00a0not\u00a0taking a player, it\u2019s about all the many reasons you\u00a0are\u00a0taking other guys.<\/p>\n
Tom Wilson has gone from fringe to undeniable with his all-around play; he\u2019s been an absolute force. And for me, Nick Suzuki has emerged from the pack of players on the fringe. He\u2019s too valuable defensively, while sitting 20th\u00a0in the league in points (37 in 33 games). He\u2019s mature and savvy and poised in the biggest moments.<\/p>\n
The other note is that Jon Cooper needs his blankie too, as all coaches do. They need something to hold on to for safety when things get tight, and for Coop, that blankie has always been Anthony Cirelli. Who could blame him?<\/p>\n
Now, one note on this: Cirelli has been ice cold \u2014 like, ice, ice cold offensively of late (just one point in his last 10 games). For just about any other player, that might be enough to play their way off the team. But that\u2019s just not what Cirelli does. He made the 4 Nations team as a guy who\u2019s never hit 60 points, so I don\u2019t think they care much about that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cirelli\u2019s just a proven winner \u2014 Memorial Cup, Stanley Cup, and everything in between \u2014 and I think they\u2019ll want him there. You need guys you can trust, and so it makes sense to me, too.<\/p>\n
Without further ado, my forwards for Milan in 2026:<\/p>\n
Sam Reinhart\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Sidney Crosby\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Nathan MacKinnon
Macklin Celebrini\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Connor McDavid\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Brandon Hagel
Mark Stone\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Brayden Point\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Mitch Marner
Brad Marchand\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Anthony Cirelli\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Tom Wilson
Sam Bennett, Nick Suzuki
Next up, in order:\u00a0Connor Bedard, Seth Jarvis, Wyatt Johnston, Zach Hyman, Mark Scheifele, Bo Horvat, Morgan Geekie, John Tavares, Travis Konecny<\/p>\n
I think the average fan will have Bedard on their roster, but I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll get named to the official group (he may get named an \u201calternate\u201d in case of injury). I could see any of Jarvis, Johnston, Hyman or Scheifele making it too. Any other names would shock me.<\/p>\n
Now, my take on the defence is extremely boring: if it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it. And buddy, it ain\u2019t broke.<\/p>\n
Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
Devon Toews, Colorado Avalanche
Josh Morrissey, 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
Which other Canadian defender do you have to put on, and at the cost of whom?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew Schaefer is undeniably the most fun pick in that conversation, and a guy who\u2019s going to represent Canada for years to come, though I stand by my \u201cIt\u2019s not a tournament for learning\u201d point from above. He\u2019s not going to be bad at the World Cup in two years because he didn\u2019t make this team at 18. (Reminder: He turned 18 just a few months ago.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
And as of now, he still has some cleaning up to do in his game (of course! He\u2019s only played 34 NHL games!), just getting bigger and stronger and harder to get inside on. When building this team, you\u2019re thinking almost exclusively about defending against the best countries, as all of Makar, Toews, Morrissey, Theodore, Doughty, and Harley can protect the house while moving the puck up the ice, and a couple can run a power play.<\/p>\n
I am Team Schaefer all the way. It\u2019s just a huge ask halfway through his first NHL season to be on the Canadian Olympic roster.<\/p>\n
From there, maybe you like Jakob Chychrun. I do too! But again, this is a matter of roles and how you\u2019ll deploy guys, and without the offensive opportunities for Chychrun, I\u2019m not sure the rest of his game is enough to bump off any of the established names. So, I\u2019m not sure who you leave off for him.<\/p>\n
And so, I\u2019m keeping it the same.<\/p>\n
Finally, goalies haven\u2019t changed for me either.<\/p>\n
Logan Thompson is Canada\u2019s No. 1 goalie with a bullet, no arguments allowed. Jordan Binnington has pushed the limits of \u201cHow bad could a guy play and still make the team based purely on his history\u201d this season, but he\u2019s shown himself to have the cojones when it counts. And last, Darcy Kuemper is a proven, steady NHL pro who has played in huge games \u2013 winning a Stanley Cup \u2014 and shown he can make the saves you need him to make. You don\u2019t need anyone to be spectacular because the rest of the team is. You just need him to be reliable.<\/p>\n
And so, my complete team:<\/p>\n
Sam Reinhart\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Sidney Crosby\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Nathan MacKinnon
Macklin Celebrini\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Connor McDavid\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Brandon Hagel
Mark Stone\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Brayden Point\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Mitch Marner
Brad Marchand\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Anthony Cirelli\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Tom Wilson
Sam Bennett, Nick Suzuki<\/p>\n
Devon Toews \u2013 Cale Makar
Josh Morrissey \u2013 Colton Parayko
Shea Theodore \u2013 Drew Doughty
Travis Sanheim \u2013 Thomas Harley<\/p>\n
Logan Thompson
Jordan Binnington
Darcy Kuemper<\/p>\n
What makes me feel best about this roster, is that it feels boring. We\u2019re not trying to make something happen that isn\u2019t there by overthinking it. There\u2019s no talking yourself into anything. It just makes sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bedard not being on this team is the only part that bothers me. I wish he was healthy and lighting it up, which would complicate things. With an injury to someone else, this concern may not even matter.<\/p>\n
But for now, fully healthy, this is a pretty darn good group to send in pursuit of our first gold medal since 2014. It\u2019s been a long time coming, but Canada\u2019s sending a team that\u2019s past a contender, and probably the favourite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week on Wednesday Night Hockey, I\u2019ll have the honour of revealing my final Team Canada picks alongside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-352101","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\/352101","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=352101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}