After Canada announced the 42 players invited to its orientation camp on Friday, Tony Marinaro, the host of The Sick Podcast, revealed that, according to his sources, Montreal Canadiens’ defenseman Lane Hutson would not be invited to attend the Team USA orientation camp.

While Canadiens’ fans were hoping to see the fan favourite get an opportunity on the biggest stage of them all, the decision should not come as a shock. Assembling a team for that kind of tournament does not necessarily mean just picking the best player. It’s not about creating an All-Star team; it’s about making the team that will give you the best opportunity to win by having pieces that complement each other.

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While Hutson is an essential part of the Canadiens’ blueline, the role of an undersized offensive defenseman is already taken by Quinn Hughes on Team USA. The soon-to-be 26-year-old Vancouver Canucks defenseman has six years of NHL experience under his belt and has put up 409 points in 433 games. He’s an inch taller and 18 pounds heavier.

Perhaps somewhere down the line, Hutson will overtake Hughes, but right now, the latter has got the upper hand on the former. The Canucks captain wasn’t available for the 4 Nations Face-Off, and the Americans iced an excellent blueline nonetheless with Adam Fox, Brock Faber, Noah Hanifin, Charlie McAvoy, Jake Sanderson, Jacob Slavin, and Zack Werenski.

Hutson’s time will come, but it hasn’t arrived yet. While he must be looking forward to playing for his country, the February break will allow the sophomore defenseman to have a break from the daily grind of the NHL. Well, as much as Hutson can enjoy a break, unless he’s forbidden to hit the ice by the team, chances are he’ll still be on there daily,

It will be interesting to see if Cole Caufield gets an invitation to the orientation camp. He wasn’t part of the 4 Nations roster, but with more spots on the Olympics roster, the Canadiens’ sniper may just have a chance. However, the American roster that fell just short against Canada only featured three forwards who were under six feet: Vincent Trochek, Jake Guentzel, and Jack Hughes. At 5-foot-8, he’s got an uphill battle ahead of him even if he does get an invite.

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

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