If there are two people in hockey that Canadian fans can trust, they’re Steve Yzerman and Mike Babcock. The two were, and are, instrumental in instilling unprecedented playoff success with the Detroit Red Wings, and Yzerman, most recently, has built a surprisingly formidable Tampa Bay Lightning squad.
The two, Babcock as head coach and Yzerman as executive director, were tasked with picking 25 names out of the richest talent pool in international hockey to represent Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games. As much as the two men, and a litany of others, deserve Canada’s trust, the selection of Team Canada has many Canadians scratching their heads, and rightfully so.
Selecting Canada’s top six forwards, top four defensemen and goaltender probably only took about four minutes. Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Toews, John Tavares, Corey Perry and, to a lesser extent, Matt Duchene, were inked onto this roster before this year’s NHL season even began.
The same goes for defensemen Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo and Duncan Keith. Returning gold-medalist goaltender Roberto Luongo was also always going to be the starter, despite national media outlets suggesting otherwise.
Any country would be lucky to boast even close to the same amount of talent as Canada’s top 11 players provide, but depth reigns supreme in hockey and that is where Yzerman obviously had trouble.
Filling out a couple of spots on the bottom half of the roster was easy. For example, forwards Patrick Sharp and Jamie Benn forced Yzerman’s hand with their strong play over the first half of the season. Further down, however, questions seemed to arise.
Yzerman’s strategy in picking this team was based on pre-existing chemistry and balance. Chris Kunitz does not make this team playing anywhere else other than on Pittsburgh’s first line along with Crosby. The same goes for Jay Bouwmeester, as he logs his minutes alongside Pietrangelo in St. Louis.
The case can be made for the inclusion of Kuntiz and Bouwmeester, along with a couple of other fringe player’s; Dan Hamhuis makes this team because Canada’s management wants four left-handed and four right-handed defenseman in order to keep the back end balanced (Hamhuis plays the left side), but his play this season has been very up and down.
Then there are a couple of selections that just do not make sense, especially when compared to players Yzerman left out. The biggest question mark is Rick Nash as opposed to Martin St. Louis. Playing in Russia means a bigger ice surface therefore speed is needed; Nash possesses an incredible combination of skill and size, but his production in New York leaves much to be desired. On the flip side, St. Louis is small, nimble, and has been putting up monster numbers all season.
Also, James Neal in ten fewer games has seven more points than Jeff Carter, and Neal possesses an incredible shot, which would mesh incredibly well with the number of playmakers on Team Canada.
Even after those mentioned, questions still exist. No Joe Thornton? No Claude Giroux? Mike Smith over Corey Crawford?
The sheer number of questions only arises when a talent pool is as deep as Canada’s, and critiquing a team with this amount of skill is a problem most countries would love to have. But if Canada can win gold, there won’t be much to argue.
