Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury could help "calm things down" if Jordan Binnington is named Team Canada's starter at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
When it comes to predicting who will be in net for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, the options are practically unlimited.
That's not necessarily a good thing.
Take your pick: whether it's Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, Stuart Skinner, Samuel Montembeault or Darcy Kuemper, none of the goalies in contention for one of Canada's three jobs have stood out consistently enough. At least, not positively.
As of Wednesday, Edmonton's Calvin Pickard (2.91) and Minnesota's Marc-Andre Fleury were the only Canadian goalies ranked among the NHL's top 25 leaders in goals against average. Meanwhile, Winnipeg's Eric Comrie (.915), Detroit's Cam Talbot (.913) and St. Louis' Joel Hofer (.903) were the only goalies with a save percentage of .900 or better.
It's early, and those stats can change by the time management has to hand in rosters in mid-December. But compared to Team USA, which has Connor Hellebuyck, Jeremy Swayman and Jake Oettinger, Canada's goaltending doesn't appear to have the same star power as when Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur or Carey Price were in net.
Of course, not everyone is down on the team's options.
"Listen, we're not in a time when you had (Grant) Fuhr, Roy and Brodeur," ESPN and NHL analyst Kevin Weekes, who was a former goalie, told The Hockey News on Wednesday. "But I'll take our rings. And we've got a lot of rings."
Indeed, Hill (2023), Kuemper (2022) and Binnington (2019) are all recent Stanley Cup winners. Another goalie with a lot of rings on his fingers is Fleury, who no one is really talking about.
According to Weekes, maybe they should.
After all, Fleury won three championships during his time in Pittsburgh. While he is not the same goalie he was back then — or even the same goalie he was in 2018 when he led Vegas to the Stanley Cup final — the 39-year-old could be everything a team lacking a bona fide No. 1 goalie needs.
" 'Binner' is my No. 1, for sure," Weekes said of Binnington. "But I think my No. 2 — and this sounds weird — is 'Flower.' And at No. 3, you can mess around and bring in Skinner or Hill or Logan Thompson. You can make a case for any of them."
Binnington, who is 2-4-0 with a .895 save percentage, may have hurt his chances to represent Canada after struggling at this year's World Championship, where Canada finished fourth. His fiery nature — on Tuesday, he seemed to challenge Swedish goalie Linus Ullmark of the Ottawa Senators to a fight — is also a concern in a pressure-filled tournament.
But considering that Blues GM Doug Armstrong is in charge of picking Canada's roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the odds are good that he'll find his way on the team.
"Binner is not dumb," said Weekes. "He's been around. Some of that fire is what made Binner so good. The fact that he plays the puck is a huge advantage. It means less time in the D-zone for Cale Makar and more time for Connor (McDavid) and Sid (Crosby) to attack. The fact that he's won a Cup in Boston (which is a host city for the 4 Nations Face-Off) is also huge."
If Binnington is on the team, having someone like Fleury, who received an emotional return to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, could serve him well — although the two did try to fight each other once.
"Guys love Flower, and he would help calm things down, especially for Binner," said Weekes. "He's the top-five goalie for wins. He's always going to represent well and add value to the guys.
When asked how Canada's goaltending would stack up against Team USA, Finland and Sweden, Weekes was optimistic.
"I don't mind four rings," he said. "I'll take four rings over what the others have. Listen, if I've got Flower and Binner, I'm good."
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