No Caufield, Thompson and Keller on Team USA? Parayko on Canada? Adam Proteau examines some notable inclusions and snubs on Canada and the USA's 4 Nations Face-Off rosters.
No Caufield, Thompson and Keller on Team USA? Parayko on Canada? Adam Proteau examines some notable inclusions and snubs on Canada and the USA's 4 Nations Face-Off rosters.
Team USA and Team Canada will have stacked groups at the 4 Nations Face-Off, but there are a handful of surprises from Wednesday's roster announcement.
The rosters for Sweden and Finland were announced earlier Wednesday, with four specific surprises from that batch, either for the good or the bad.
The Canadians and Americans made some unexpected additions and omissions, some of which differed from the projections we did in the lead-up to the announcements for Team USA, Team Canada, Team Sweden and Team Finland.
Let's get to it:
1. USA Chooses Brock Nelson And Chris Kreider Over Cole Caufield And Tage Thompson
Sweden chose Anaheim Ducks youngster Leo Carlsson over Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund. They chose to have a young talent who can be on Team Sweden for years to come over the depth center.
The Americans were inconsistent in that regard (and more on John Carlson later). But for their depth forwards, they selected veterans Nelson and Kreider – combined age, 66 – over top-five goal-scorer Caufield and Thompson – combined age, 50.
Clearly, U.S. brass valued experience in high-pressure environments in their depth, and Kreider and Nelson’s 1,702 career combined regular-season games must have played into management’s roster decisions. Both players also have multiple Eastern Conference final appearances, although Caufield made it to the Cup final with the Canadiens in 2021.
The Americans still have plenty of skill on offense, with superstars Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes and Jake Guentzel all capable of creating and finishing plays. They also have some younger Americans in Jack Hughes, Brady Tkachuk and Matt Boldy. But they obviously appreciated the value of having some players who’ve brought tons of experience to the table.
2. Canada Adds Colton Parayko And Travis Sanheim
Many Canadian defensemen were left off our projected Canada roster, but veteran D-man Drew Doughty and Dougie Hamilton did not end up on the official Team Canada roster.
In their stead are St. Louis’ Parakyo and Philadelphia’s Sanheim.
Parakyo’s physicality could be seen as his most valued quality. And the same goes for Sanheim’s big body and his willingness to use it to block shots. In a short tournament, sacrifice matters, and Canada certainly intends to ice a team with a fast and slick approach that can overwhelm opponents in waves. But they want to be punishing on the back end as well.
If there is any type of defensive lapse, the Canadians don’t have the bail-you-out goaltending that teams like the U.S. have (and more on that below). That said, Canada’s balanced group of very mature minute-muncher blueliners could propel the team to a championship.
There’s so much talent here, Canada’s skaters have no depth issues whatsoever. It’s just that their chosen mix of talent and character role players will be questioned if Canada doesn’t win the tournament.
3. John Carlson Doesn't Make Team USA – And Neither Does Utah's Keller
While the Americans valued a couple of veteran forwards over some younger players, they went with 22-year-old Calder Trophy runner-up Brock Faber instead of Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson. This writer projected that would happen, but it still raises eyebrows.
Carlson is a Stanley Cup champion, a world juniors champion and a two-time Calder Cup champion. The guy has basically done it all, and he's got 19 points in 25 games for a strong Caps squad right now.
Also, no Clayton Keller for you, America? You know, 15-assists, 22-points Clayton Keller? That feels like a mistake. We can understand keeping Carlson off the roster is more about the other blueliners and not about him. But Keller is a glaring omission.
4. Canada Goes For Roles Or Connections, Not High-End Skill At Every Spot
In many ways, Team Canada decided their approach was not about bringing the absolute best skill to fit into the depth positions – which partially contributed to leaving off centers Connor Bedard, John Tavares and Matt Duchene and having Lightning penalty-killer Anthony Cirelli and left winger Brandon Hagel there instead.
We get it – Lightning and Team Canada coach Jon Cooper will be familiar with having three Tampa players on offense in Cirelli, Hagel and Brayden Point. And to the credit of Cirelli and Hagel, they're both averaging at least a point per game.
But Canada must be hoping that each designated player does what they’re being asked to do, which means role-specific jobs for guys like Cirelli on two-way play. They also seemed to decide against trying to bring on extra centers just to put them on less familiar roles on the wing.
In any case, there’s plenty of room for second-guessing if Canada fails to win it all. Many veteran players can now say they weren’t there, and no one can fault them for any losing the Canadians may suffer.
5. Dept. Of Yikes: Canada’s Goaltending
There was an ongoing worry that Canada's netminding simply wasn’t going to be up to the quality of the Americans or, to a lesser degree, the Swedes. And now that we know who Canada’s goalies will be Vegas’ Adin Hill, St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington and Montreal’s Sam Montembeault – that worry is still there, if not more so.
This is not to say that the Canadian goalies don’t have the capability of winning big games – Hill and Binnington are Stanley Cup winners – but compared to the depth of the Americans, Canada's goalies aren’t nearly as consistent as the best in the business. Hill has a .900 save percentage and 2.67 goals-against average. Binnington has a .899 SP and 2.87 GAA, while Montembeault is at .901 and 2.99.
Canada might have the best collection of skaters in this 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, but their Achilles’ heel may be what many people think it is – their goaltending.
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