What's the best possible Team Canada roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off? Ryan Kennedy, Michael Traikos and Adam Proteau each make their projections.
What's the best possible Team Canada roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off? Ryan Kennedy, Michael Traikos and Adam Proteau each make their projections.
The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off is just around the corner, and it's time to gear up for the full roster announcements on Dec. 4.
With less than a week to go until the roster announcements, we're projecting who each team will choose, starting with Team Canada.
We had senior digital correspondent Adam Proteau, editor in chief Ryan Kennedy and managing editor of digital media Michael Traikos each make their projections. And while there are a lot of similarities, things get really interesting when getting into the depth positions.
As it is with each team, the first six picks for Canada have already been made. They are:
F: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
F: Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
F: Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche)
F: Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins)
F: Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning)
D: Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)
The three projected squads also had consensus picks, which are pretty much no-brainers.
Sam Reinhart, Mitch Marner and Mark Scheifele rank among Canada's top 10 scorers currently. Mark Stone once led the NHL in scoring as well before his injury, with 21 points in 13 games.
On defense, the Winnipeg Jets' Josh Morrissey is the top blueliner on the NHL's best team right now, and his 20 points are the second-most among Canadian D-men. While Noah Dobson only has nine points, the three experts felt he's a reliable two-way right-handed player. The 24-year-old is also the youngest blueliner on their lists, and he could be a future mainstay for Canada.
Daccord is the most consistent goalie Canada has, sort of – he's U.S.-born, but his father is Canadian. He's among the league-leading goalies for a middle-of-the-pack Kraken club.
Check out the three roster projections below and vote for your favorite at our forum.
Adam Proteau's Projected Team
(Don't see the list? Click here.)
This Team Canada is built around youth, speed and skill, not around skill-specific players, such as elite penalty-killer Anthony Cirelli.
No offense to the very talented Cirelli, of course. But Canada is so flush with talent that it’s best to take full advantage by stuffing the roster with high-end young players, such as Rangers left winger Alexis Lafreniere.
He’s got eight goals and 16 points in 21 NHL games this year, but putting Lafreniere on Canada’s fourth line with John Tavares and Connor Bedard benefits all three players. Tavares is a do-it-all veteran who can support and set up the dynamic shooter and playmaker in Bedard and the good-finisher, big-bodied Lafreniere, who has 11 takeaways this season and can get to high-danger areas.
Bedard and Lafreniere are also a long-term part of the winning picture for Canada while making a difference right now.
That meant leaving off 34-year-old Steven Stamkos, who was on the initial Team Canada roster projection from 2023. Stamkos has struggled to produce this year, with only seven goals and 11 points in 22 games – not what we usually see from a sniper who generated 40 goals last season in Tampa Bay.
Also missing the cut is Zach Hyman, who put together a 54-goal season last year, only to follow it up with just three goals and eight points in 20 games. That’s too much of a drop in production. There must be roster space to accommodate accomplished veterans, such as Drew Doughty, who is coming off a fractured ankle injury in the pre-season but is still a minute-munching machine.
This Team Canada is focused on pressuring the puck into the offensive zone, and you do that through a high-speed system that prizes quickness, mobility and proactive defense. That’s what this Team Canada is assembled for. - Adam Proteau
Ryan Kennedy's Projected Team
(Don't see the list? Click here.)
Bedard ultimately didn't make it because there's not an appropriate spot for him on the team - and it is all about 'team' when it comes to Canadian international squads.
You're not going to play him at center because you're already loaded down the middle and have other pivots who will have to switch to wing already. McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon and Point will all have scoring-line roles as either centers or wingers, while Tavares and Cirelli are options for shutdown centers.
Then you have the actual wingers, such as Reinhart, Marner and Stone, all of whom are better than Bedard right now. And you're not going to put Bedard on a defensive line because that's not a strength of his right now.
While there's an urge to get him on in preparation for a possible 2026 Olympics roster, just put him on a line with Mack Celebrini for the World Championship this spring instead. - Ryan Kennedy
Michael Traikos' Projected Team
(Don't see the list? Click here.)
There are probably a half-dozen forwards who are having a better start to the season than Bedard. But with the Olympics a couple of years away, expect Team Canada to bring him along for the ride, even if it’s in a depth role.
That’s the luxury this team has up front, where the biggest problem, aside from who gets to play alongside McDavid, Crosby and MacKinnon, might be that there are too many centers — and even more right-handed shots.
Brandon Hagel, who shoots left, is on pace for 101 points and already plays for coach Jon Cooper, so you have to figure he’s got the inside track. Nick Suzuki has been producing on a terrible Habs team and is the closest this roster has to a shutdown center.
In a short tournament, there is value in choosing defense pairs who already play together, which is why Devon Toews and Alex Pietrangelo, who play with Makar and Shea Theodore, respectively, get the nod over Drew Doughty or Dougie Hamilton.
In net, there are no easy answers. Just question marks. Barring victory, whoever is named to the team will inevitably be second-guessed. Jordan Binnington’s boss in St. Louis is picking the roster, so leaving him off will be difficult. Adin Hill just won a Stanley Cup. Fittingly, Daccord might be the best option. - Michael Traikos
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