They have finally named a day. On the last day of 2009, Team Canada will be officially revealed. There has been a lot of speculation, and there will continue to be a lot more as time goes on. Now that the season is 15 or so games in, there has been some movement up and down on the depth charts. Especialyl as foremer locks like Getzlaf and LeCavalier have struggled, while former long shots like Marleau and Stamkos have excelled. As I have a few times already, I’m going to try and break down the potential team and give my thoughts on who should wear the red and white come February.
LOCKS
Here are the players who are going to make the team no matter what they do really. They are listed in order of how locked I think that they are.
Sidney Crosby, Forward – No questions here. He may have started off slightly below his usual pace, but he’s still the best player born in our country, and captained the reigning Stanley Cup champions. He will be in the debate to captain the team.
Jarome Iginla, Forward- Also starting out slowly, but he’s simply too good to pass up. He does everything except play goalie. But I’m sure he could do that if he had to.
Rick Nash, Forward – Probably our nations best goal scorer. Who is quickly turning into a very complete player under the tutelage of Ken Hitchcock, who just happens to be one of the coaches for Team Canada. On paper he should join the first two forwards on this list as a formidable first line.
Martin Brodeur, Goaltender – Sure he’s struggled out the gate, but his winning pedigree is jsut too much to ignore at this point.
Roberto Luongo, Goaltender – Copy and paste the above comments, but add “Plus they are playing in Vancouver, making it even more of a no brainer”.
Scott Niedermayer, Defense - He’s playing another season in the NHL so that he can play in the Olympics. He has earned way too much respect in the league to be cut from any team. The only debate is if he’ll be captain or not.
Chris Pronger, Defense – Him and Philadelphia really seems like a match made in heaven doesn’t it? Plus he’s got the Olympic experience, a Stanley Cup to his name, and as Matt Carle can see, he is making his partners better all the time.
Jay Bouwmeester, Defense – He’s just too good of a skater to pass up for this. Plus he has the ever elusive Olympic Experience for a Defenseman.
Shane Doan, Forward - Let’s see, he consistently scores points with minimal support, he is one of the best checking forwards we have, he always plays for team Canada, and he captained the team that Gretzky used to own and coach.
Mike Richards, Forward – He’ll probably be joining Shane Doan on the checking line. His offensive numbers have been good, but slightly below great. Still, he can get it done at both ends of the rink like few others can.
Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley, Forward – I lumped these two together because I feel like their fates are tied to one another. They traditionally put up huge regular season numbers and playing for the national team, but they have recent bad results during the playoffs. Also, they are both off to torrid starts, and more importantly have developed an excellent chemistry with one another, which is something that can not be understated in such a short tournament. They would need to both collapse before December to get dropped from the locked list, but even then they’d probably both make it.
That’s 12 players on a 23 man roster already taken up. This leaves 1 goaltender, 4 defensemen, and 6 forwards left.
THE BUBBLE
These are the players who (ranked in order) are on the maybe list to make the team.
Patrick Marleau, Forward – When I last looked at this list, I had Marleau in the “also ran” list after yet another mediocre playoff performance. However, he has been off to a ridiculously good start, even outscoring Thornton and Heatley at the time of this posting. I think that Hockey Canada has too much to gain from a Marleau-Thornton-Heatley line. He could still slip farther down if he does not keep this up though. Doubt it thought.
Marc-Andre Fleury, Goaltender – Has somewhat surprisingly outplayed all of his competition. As I noted earlier both Brodeur and Luongo have struggled a bit, but so have Cam Ward and Steve Mason. He should be the favoured for the third goaltending spot at the moment, and may eve get a start or two if his strong play continues.
Mike Green, Defenseman – His offensive numbers have slumped a bit after his unbelievable year last season. He should bounce back soon. I would be surprised to not see him playing in February, even if it is just on the powerplay.
Dan Boyle, Defenseman – I had him off of my most recent list only barely. I wholeheartedly take that back as Boyle has been among the best D-men in the league so far this season.
Martin St. Louis, Forward – Following his great performance at the world championships with a strong start to the season. He’s such a natural scorer and should excel in the faster Olympic game.
Duncan Keith, Defense - He’s played great in a shutdown roll yet again. I think that he’s going to be on the team.
Brent Seabrook, Defense - The other half of the Hawks dynamic duo. I think if there’s only room for one of them it should be Keith, but they way they are both playing right now maybe there’s room for both.
Corey Perry, Forward – Scoring at over a point a game, and getting penalties at a similar rate. He’s a great grinder and could fit in just about any position needed.
Drew Doughty, Defense - FLYING up the depth chart with his strong play. He’s currently third among d-men in scoring, and is playing well in his own end too. If he keeps this strong start up he may just be a surprise addition to the team.
Robyn Reghr, Defense – He’s starting out well and all, but I think that he is going to get bumped by the Hawks duo.
Brendan Morrow, Forward – Seems to be reminding people that he is indeed back. I’d be shocked to not see him suit up.
Ryan Getzlaf, Forward – He’s off to a rather slow start, but I think that he has too much of a part of Team Canada’s future to be off this list. His slow start may have lowered his ice time though.
Shea Weber, Defense – Sure he’s hurt, but he’s still got loads of talent. I don’t think that he’ producing quite enough yet to get on the list.
Vincent LeCavalier, Forward – How the mighty have fallen, eh? I mean he still has all of the talent to make the team. He should be on the team, but I am not certain at this point. If the time were chosen right now he’d probably get passed over in favour of…
Steve Stamkos, Forward – He really has taken off at the start of this season scoring at a faster pace than Sidney Crosby. I think that if the team were being chosen right now (which hey, that’s what I’m doing) he would be on the squad ahead of LeCavalier.
Jeff Carter, Forward – Has started out well, but not nearly at the same pace that he set last year. His stock is falling a bit I think.
Brad Richards, Forward – Who saw this coming? The former third of Tampa’s terrible trio is doing great things in Dallas to start the season. He has international experience and has a proven record as a clutch performer. He has got to be on people’s radars.
Ryan Smyth, Forward - Just when you start to count Captain Canada out he makes a big charge. I still think that he’ll be on the outside looking in. But he could make it interesting for someone like Morrow or Perry who play similar styles. Although one has to wonder if his current point total is just a result of Kopitar’s ridiculously strong stretch or his own doing.
Patrick Sharpe, Forward - I had him pegged as a surprise member of the team, but his start has been rather luke warm. Should be good for a spot on the alternates though due to his versatility.
HOPES FADING
The list of players who are playing their way out of contention
Dion Phaneuf, Defense – Simply not getting it done as much as he needs to. I mean he’s not playing bad but he hasn’t been great this season. Nine points and an even plus minus is not enough for a two way defenseman, especially when people like Doughty and Boyle are tearing it up.
Eric Staal, Forward – Simply a disasterous start that has to have him off of a lot of people’s lists right now. If he turns it around real quickly then he could shoot past people like Perry or St. Louis, but I wouldn’t bank on it.
Cam Ward and Steve Mason, Goaltender – The other two goalies invited to camp have been off to very sluggish start. Both with Save Percentages below 90 right now. That’s simply not good enough to be on this team, unless a huge turn around happens.
Jonathan Toews, Forward - His concussion certainly won’t help him make the team. His start was not great, and he needed his start to be great to make this team.
Jason Spezza, Forward – Sure he’s hurt, but his start has been pretty miserable. He was a late invite to the camp and he hasn’t done himself any favours.
Sure there are more players that could be discussed, but this should do it for now.
THE LIST
Here’s the 23 man roster (with three alternates) as I see it….
GOALTENDERS
Roberto Luongo
Marc-Andre Fleury
Martin Brodeur
DEFENSE
Pronger – Niedermayer
Bouwmeester – Boyle
Keith – Seabrook
Green
Alernate: Doughty
FORWARDS
Nash - Crosby – Iginla
Marleau – Thornton – Heatley
Perry – Getzlaf – St. Louis
Morrow – Richards – Doan
Stamkos
Alternates: Carter, Sharp
Tune in on December 31st to see if this is the real deal or not…
Until next time,
G
Tags: canada, Hockey, Laying it on the line, Olympics
