Canada sure could've used Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard on Saturday night.

Canada-U.S.A. was worth the wait.

From the three fights in nine seconds to Connor McDavid's early heroics to the sheer level of talent on display, the first men's best-on-best game matchup between Canada and the United States in nine years was everything you could've hoped for.

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Except for a Canadian win.

Besides McDavid's electrifying opening goal, Team Canada just couldn't get its offense going on Saturday night. The United States' Jaccob Slavin-Brock Faber pairing was dominant in front of Connor Hellebuyck, severely limiting Canada's chances.

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With McDavid's line shut down and the absences of Cale Makar and Shea Theodore removing quite a bit of offense from the blue line, it's fair to wonder if Team Canada could've used the services of a couple of Edmonton Oilers against the States.

Zach Hyman's cold start to the season effectively killed his chances at making this team, however unjust that is. But he showed all through December that he can still score goals with the best of them, and nobody in the world is a better fit next to McDavid—except maybe Leon Draisaitl.

Hyman's absence was especially felt on Saturday as McDavid's line struggled to find its rhythm or get to the middle of the ice. On a team full of superstar forwards who thrive with the puck on their stick, Hyman's unselfish net-front play and scoring touch is sorely missed.  

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Stylistic fit aside, you'd be hard-pressed to argue that Hyman is a better player than McDavid's current right winger, Mitch Marner. On defense, however, it's a different story.

Canada's defense has been wracked by injuries, from Alex Pietrangelo bowing out before the tournament started to Shea Theodore's wrist injury against Sweden to Cale Makar's illness on Saturday. Team Canada has had to call on two injury replacements on the blueline, and Evan Bouchard's name hasn't come up once. It's getting ridiculous at this point.

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Back when the team was named, there was a cogent argument that leaving Bouchard off was the right move. With Makar, Theodore, and Josh Morrissey, Team Canada has three elite offensive defensemen and powerplay quarterbacks, and no room for a similar player with less experience. It was debatable, but not egregious.

But as injuries cropped up and Canada called on Drew Doughty and Thomas Harley over Bouchard and iced a blueline featuring almost no legitimate offensive playmakers against the United States, Bouchard's absence loomed large. 

Harley is an excellent young player and was great on Saturday night, and Drew Doughty is a well-respected veteran with plenty of experience on Team Canada, but it seemed that their all-world powerplay was missing a Bouch Bomb, and their breakout was missing Bouchard's deft first pass. 

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Simply put, losing a 3-1 game after snubbing one of the league's best offensive defencemen because of an undeserved reputation as a defensive liability is a bad look.

At the end of the day, there's no knowing if Hyman or Bouchard could have tipped the scales against the United States. Sometimes, you lose a close game. But it sure felt like Team Canada was missing a power forward and an offensive defenseman at times on Saturday. One can only hope that feeling doesn't stick around in their final round-robin game on Monday.

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